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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 15 December 2024:
Psalm 50:7-9. 16, 17, 23 — Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds…. What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you…. The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!
You cannot remain in right fellowship with God while unrepentant sinfulness remains, and you cannot expect God to honor your prayers and worship while you continue to dishonor Him. I read this story from Norman Vincent Peale: “When Peale was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit it up. When he saw his father approaching, he quickly put the cigar behind his back and tried to act casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus. ‘Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.’ His father’s reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot. ‘Son,’ he answered quietly but firmly, ‘I learned long ago never to approach my Father with a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.’
In today’s readings, Psalm 50 gives God’s perspective on the disobedience of His people. Next Sunday, in Psalm 51, David will give us a model of repentance as he pleads with God to “restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit (Psalm 51:12).” David understood God’s perspective: “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16, 17).” While through Christ we have eternal fellowship with God (Romans 8:38, 39), our sins hinder our temporal fellowship with Him (1 Corinthians 3:3). Daily we must practice 1 John 1:9:
– 1 John 1:9 — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 50:14 — Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High.
Your daily attitude and actions are your worship to God more than your religious activities.
Psalm 50:15 – …and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
“Did you know that you bring glory to God by calling upon Him when you are in distress? God promised He would deliver you if you turned to Him. You deny the Lord honor that is rightfully His every time you find yourself in difficulty and you fail to call upon Him for help! There may be times when God allows you to reach a point of need so that you can call upon Him, and thus let Him demonstrate to a watching world the difference He makes in the lives of His children. If God never allowed you to experience need, people around you might never have the opportunity to witness God’s provision in the life of a Christian. If you never faced a shortfall, you might be tempted to feel self-sufficient and without any need of God in your daily life.
Pride will tempt you to think that you do not need to seek God’s assistance. Self-regard will seek to convince you that you can handle your dilemma through your own wisdom, resources, and hard work. Pride will also rob glory from God and seek to give it to you. Don’t allow your pride to take what rightfully belongs to the Lord. Call upon your Lord and wait exclusively upon Him to rescue you. Then give Him the glory that He deserves.
Self-sufficiency can greatly hinder your ability to experience God and bring Him honor. The next time you are in distress, turn to Him!” (Henry T. Blackaby)
Psalm 50:16-18 — But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “
Studying, memorizing and reciting the Bible is pointless if you aren’t intent on living the words of God with the desire of unifying with God in love. A true Christian will walk the talk. Some false Christians can be very deceptive in their religious speech, perhaps even deceiving themselves. James warns, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22) With a mere intellectual ascent into spiritual truths we can wrongly convince ourselves that we have somehow grown in our spirituality or holiness, but knowledge is not understanding or wisdom, and information is not transformation. We have not ‘arrived’ until we embody God’s word and will through passionate obedience done naturally (not through force of will) as fruit of the Spirit within us.
Beyond what we say we believe, our choices and deeds often reveal the truth of what is in our hearts. But “good deeds” are nothing but “filthy rags” if not done from a heart of selfless, genuine love for God, intentionally submitting to His will. Sometimes people will use religious activity, charitable activity, and Bible knowledge to conceal or attempt to compensate for a wicked, self-centered heart. Sometimes people will justify to themselves their self-centered behavior by claiming it to be acts of “service.” But virtue only comes from a truly virtuous, selfless heart. Everything else is a façade. God always knows the difference between genuine selflessness and disguised selfishness, and usually other people figure it out over time.
Watch out for the Christian that frequently uses the words “I” and “me.” Check yourself too. Why do you do what you do? Honestly, is it for you or only for Him? In honesty, we can all say that our motives are mixed – there is always a bit of selfishness in there, but recognizing, acknowledging, and addressing that with the Lord is key – it is humility. None of us are perfected in love, but we must genuine love our endeavor.
“If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.” Contrary to popular misinterpretations of the Bible, Jesus did not ‘hang out’ with unrepentant sinners, and He doesn’t want you to either – He is seeking repentant sinners, the poor in spirit, those who are willing to acknowledge their complete spiritual bankruptcy and turn to Him alone for salvation with a desire to follow Him. He certainly engaged and challenged the unrepentant sinner (in love), but He fellowshipped with those who sought Him. Jesus ate with the “repentant sinners” and tax collectors, those sinners who sought a right relationship with Him, though very imperfectly. Who do you prefer to hang out with? How often do you talk about Jesus, in regular conversation, with your good friends? What you discuss with your close friends says much about the foundation of your friendship.
Psalm 50:21 — These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
God’s apparent silence before your sin does not signal His indifference or acceptance. He will hold you accountable. God will not be mocked.
Psalm 50:22 — Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
When you choose to sin, you have forgotten or disregarded God in that moment. You have defied the KING. You have committed cosmic treason. You have removed Love from the equation. Fortunately, God’s fidelity does not depend on our fidelity, and His love is not limited by the limits of our love, but in our reliance on and confidence in grace, we must not lose perspective on the seriousness of sin; we must not take grieving the Spirit lightly. Our love and appreciation for Christ should make sin horrific to us.
Psalm 50:23 — The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!
Are you living out thanksgiving? A thankful heart is an obedient heart. Obedience is a demonstration of gratitude, love, and an act of worship.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 15 December 2024: Show your gratitude to the Lord today through your humble obedience, grateful heart, and humble obedience, while forgiving others as God has forgiven you because God is God, and this is His will for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:18 — …give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
– Ephesians 4:32 — Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
– Matthew 6:14-15 — For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
– Colossians 3:13 — Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
– Matthew 18:21-22 — Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
– Mark 11:25 – “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
– John 13:15-17 — For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 