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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 16 February 2025:
Psalm 59:4-5 — Awake, come to meet me, and see! You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
Much of the Old Testament deals with man’s response to God pre-Christ, before an understanding of the Gospel and God’s plan for redemption and reconciliation. Much of what is written deals with man’s struggle to appreciate how God, in His perfect holiness and love, could be both perfectly just while also merciful, forgiving, and full of grace. Meanwhile the Bible reveals our nature which wants God to give us mercy and grace in His love, but justice to our enemies; and when He shows patience, mercy, grace, and compassion to our enemies, we have a tendency to interpret that as God being distant, uncaring, or unobservant. The whole story of Jonah deals with Jonah’s resentment of God’s mercy and grace offered to the Ninevites, and Jonah’s lack of compassion and responsiveness to God in dissatisfaction. The book of Ecclesiastes deals with Solomon’s pessimism over what he perceived to be the “meaningless” of this life “under the sun,” lacking an understanding of what God is doing and the promise of eternal life in Christ. Jesus told the parable of the Prodigal Son, in part, to point out both the grace of the father as well as the lack of grace shown by the older brother who felt the father’s grace was somehow unfair, unjust. The older brother did not share the father’s heart for the younger. Jesus called us to a different kind of love – “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…. (Matthew 5:44)
The psalmist misinterprets God’s heart for sinners as some sort of inattention – “Awake… rouse yourself” – in much the same way the disciples misinterpreted Jesus’ restfulness in the back of a boat caught in the middle of a catastrophic storm – “But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Matthew 4:38) We misinterpret both God and our circumstances when we fail to see things from the perspective of God’s perfect sovereignty, perfect love, and perfect providence, when we lose sight of the fact that God is always faithful and true. The psalmist, in his myopic, self-centered view, wanted “deliverance” from what God has ordained in His perfectness. He didn’t have the perspective of Romans 8:28-29. Often, we want God to remove from us the very circumstances God has given us so that we can grow in Christlike character. We want relief from His refiner’s fire intended to purify us like silver into increased holiness for His noble purposes.
The psalmist’s prayer is imperfect but honest, and therefore, a great example of prayer for us today. God wants us to come to Him honestly but humbly with what is truly on our hearts. In actuality, we can come to Him in no other way, since He knows our hearts better than we do. We cannot hide our motives and thoughts from God with our words like we can with another person. When we approach God in a dishonest way, praying only what we think we should, we are only deceiving ourselves, failing to address the real issue of the gap between our heart and God’s heart on a particular matter. We must admit to God, and to ourselves, where we lack faith, love, joy, peace, patience, confidence, gratitude, trust, and contentment in His perfect love and sovereignty, where we don’t want to follow Christ by carrying our cross today, and we must learn to say, “thy will be done,” rather than “my will be done;” and when we pray, we need to trust that whatever happens next in our lives is God’s perfect answer to our prayer, even when that answer isn’t the one we wanted. God answers our prayers the way we would have asked Him to if we understood all that He understands and loved as He loves. How much you believe that will determine your peace, contentment, and joy.
Psalm 59:7 — …for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
Sinners think they are getting away with something. Sometimes we think they are too. Check your perspective.
Psalm 59:9 — …you, O God, are my fortress.
When God is your fortress, what worries should you have? Who can threaten you?
Psalm 59:11 — Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
David’s sins deserved death, and God could have delivered it, but God made an example of David that His people would never forget; and God used David to reveal the greater truth of His grace.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 16 February 2025: Today, seek to love and trust God enough to pray for your enemies, to love your enemies, and to be content in your circumstances, appreciating that God, who loves you so much He gave His Son for you, counts every hair on your head, collects your every tear, knows exactly what is happening with you, is in complete control of all things, and is using your circumstances to fulfill His perfect plan which conforming you to Christlike character and drawing you closer to Him for an eternity with Him. Also, trust God with your doubts and sins, approach Him honestly in prayer, confess, repent, and continue to walk with Him as the Holy Spirit continues to coach you.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 