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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 4 May 2025:
Psalm 70:1 – Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!
Desperation leads to urgent prayer. David’s cry is not polished—it is raw, real, and pleading. Christians are invited to bring their need and distress honestly before God. When trouble presses in, the first and best response is to run to the Lord with urgency and trust. God is never distant from a humble, desperate cry.
Psalm 70:2 — Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!
The adversaries “delight in [David’s] hurt.” Their actions stem from malice, cruelty, and selfish gain. They take pleasure in injustice and in the suffering of the innocent. Their motivation is rooted in wickedness and hostility toward God’s anointed servant.
David, on the other hand, is not delighting in their downfall—he is appealing to God’s justice, not his own personal revenge. He is not taking pleasure in their shame but asking God to uphold righteousness and to defend the innocent. His request is not driven by hatred, but by a longing for vindication and the restoration of what is right. He trusts God to deal with evil, rather than acting in retaliation himself.
This distinction reflects the difference between a heart that seeks God’s will—even when wronged—and one that seeks to harm for selfish or satisfaction. David submits the situation to God, while his enemies acted without reverence or restraint. This same spirit is echoed in the New Testament where Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God…” (Romans 12:19). David models that—he brings his pain and plea for justice to the only One righteous enough to administer it rightly.
Jesus’ command to love our enemies is one of the most radical and Christlike expressions of God’s love, revealing His character and calling us to reflect His grace. Loving our enemies does not mean approving of evil or abandoning justice—it means seeking their ultimate good, desiring their repentance and reconciliation with God rather than their destruction. It’s about responding to hate with mercy, to offense with forgiveness, and to evil with good, because that is how God responded to us.
The foundation for this love is the gospel itself. Romans 5:10 reminds us: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” If God loved us while we were still His enemies, we must extend that same undeserved love to others, even those who hurt us.
- Matthew 5:43–45 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
- Luke 6:27–28 – “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
- Romans 12:20–21 – “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
- Proverbs 25:21–22 – “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”
- 1 Peter 3:9 – “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
The aim of loving our enemies is not weakness—it is to demonstrate the power of grace and to open the door to reconciliation. It reflects the cross, where Christ bore our sins while we were still enemies, and it calls us to forgive as we’ve been forgiven, to love as we’ve been loved, and to hope for redemption rather than revenge. True Christlikeness seeks not to win battles, but to win souls.
Psalm 70:4 – May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!”
Seeking God leads to joy. Even in the midst of trial, those who pursue God can rejoice in Him. Loving God’s salvation naturally leads to praise. For the Christian, the call is to fix our hearts on the greatness of God rather than the weight of circumstances. This verse calls us to worship in the waiting and exult in the character of the God who saves.
Psalm 70:5 – But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!
Spiritual poverty is the doorway to divine help. David declares his need, not his strength, and anchors his hope in God’s sufficiency. Christians grow in Christlikeness when they abandon self-reliance and live in constant dependence on God’s deliverance. This humility is not weakness—it is the foundation of real strength, because it draws from God’s power, not our own.
Deuteronomy 12:19 – “Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.”
The Levites were not given an inheritance of land that they would be fully dedicated to their roles of spiritual leadership. Therefore, they depended economically on the faithfulness of the people. We will read later, unfortunately, that the people do end up neglecting the Levites. Of course, God knew that would happen, but He called the Levites into their dependent positions nonetheless. God is faithful when no one else is. He calls us to reflect His character by making our fidelity unconditional too. Love others who don’t love you back. Forgive the unforgiving. Give to the ungrateful. Display the love and faithfulness of Jesus. It won’t be easy, but it will be joyous if you are motivated by love.
Deuteronomy 12:2-3 – “You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.”
God wants you to remove every obstacle to total devotion to Him. Radical devotion requires the removal of idolatry, substitutes for God, things which have, even for a brief time, more influence over your decisions than He. God commands Israel not to tolerate the false worship practices of the land they are entering. For Christians, this means identifying and eliminating anything that competes for the loyalty of our hearts. Half-hearted faith that coexists with idols cannot stand. To walk with God in purity, we must destroy—not manage—our idols.
Deuteronomy 12:4–5 – “You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose… to put his name and make his habitation there.”
Worship must be according to God’s will, not our preferences. God is not honored by sincerity alone—He is honored by obedience. The command to worship at the place He chooses points to the centrality of God’s presence and authority. Christians are called to worship in spirit and truth, with reverence and submission to God’s Word, not the world’s patterns.
Deuteronomy 12:8 – You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes.
Self-defined worship and morality are rejected by God. This verse exposes the spiritual chaos that results when people live by their own standards. Christians are reminded that holiness is not subjective. We must align our lives with God’s revealed truth, resisting the temptation to define right and wrong by personal opinion or cultural norms.
Blessing and rest are linked to obedience. When God brings His people into peace, it is not a time to forget Him but to worship Him with gratitude and faithfulness. For Christians, times of peace should not lead to complacency but to deeper devotion. Worship is not a duty we perform when things are hard—it is a joyful offering in every season.
Deuteronomy 12:10-11 – But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD.
God wants to give you rest and joy which comes from obediently following Him.
Deuteronomy 12:28 – Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
Obedience brings generational blessing. The ripple effects of faithful living extend far beyond us. This verse is a call to legacy—obeying God not just for our own sake but for the good of those who come after us. For the Christian, obedience is a long-term investment in a life and lineage of faithfulness, rooted in doing what is good and right in God’s eyes.
Deuteronomy 12:30 – …take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?— that I also may do the same.’
Victories bring new temptations. Be careful not to become prideful. God has a plan to remove all pride from your life. Notice is the Bible that God allows people to fail in their strength areas in order to humble them, to help them see their total dependence on God’s grace. Abraham was known for his faith, but he lied about his wife being his sister and had Ishmael with Haggar. Moses was the humblest man of his day, but his pride and anger kept him out of the Promised Land. David was known for his integrity, but then Bathsheba. Solomon was known for his wisdom, but he destroyed the kingdom and ended his day writing of his woes in Ecclesiastes. Peter, known for his courage, denied Jesus three times. You get the point. Our best will never be good enough. God will tear down our pride idols so that we can learn to rest in Him and Him alone.
Deuteronomy 12:29, 30 – “When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them.”
Christians, living as ambassadors for Christ in a foreign land, must be very, very careful not to conform to the morals and habits of society. In most matters, the faithful Christian will stand in stark contrast to the general population, as a bright light. But the unfaithful Christian will look and act like the world around them.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 4 May 2025: Today, earnestly seek God with urgency and remove anything in your life that competes with wholehearted worship.
Psalm 70 teaches us to cry out to God quickly and honestly in our need, depending on Him alone as our help and deliverer. Deuteronomy 12 commands the complete removal of idolatry and the intentional pursuit of worshiping God as He prescribes—not casually or according to personal preference, but with reverence and submission.
Putting this into practice means starting your day by urgently turning to God in prayer and Scripture, asking for His help, direction, and presence. Then, examine your heart and habits: is anything stealing your affection, attention, or obedience from God? Whether it’s entertainment, control, comfort, ambition, or even fear—name it, surrender it, and actively remove it. This twofold practice of urgent dependence and intentional purification forms the soil where Christlike character takes deep root and grows strong.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 