YEAR 2, WEEK 42, Day 7, Sunday, 19 October 2025

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 19 October 2025:

Psalm 94:1-7 — O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

The psalm begins with an appeal to God’s justice — not from vengeance of the flesh but from zeal for righteousness. The psalmist cries to the “God of vengeance” not for personal revenge but for the vindication of God’s holiness and the defense of His people. Immediately, the psalmist acknowledges God has authority over vengeance, not people — “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30)

Later, Paul reminds us that God commands us to, “Never be wise in [our] own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all… ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 17:21) Like the psalmist, when we are tempted to avenge ourselves, we need to immediately recite and respond to God’s word and not our emotions based on our limited human perceptions.

In a world where evil seems unchecked, this cry echoes throughout the generations (Revelation 6:10). The arrogance of the wicked is not merely moral corruption but theological rebellion — they act as if God neither sees nor judges. Such unbelief fuels oppression. But the Lord’s apparent silence is never absence. His timing refines faith and reveals hearts. The wicked interpret His patience as permission; the righteous perceive it as purpose.

Psalm 94:8-15 — Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge — the LORD — knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Sinners have lost perception of the holy, omnipresent God and of His Sovereignty as LORD. They are the “dullest of the people.” Remember Jesus’s very first recorded words on the Cross — “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) This is the same Jesus who said to His disciples when arrested on the night of His betrayal, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) He also said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18) Jesus’ response to persecution wasn’t vengeance, it was to forgive, submit, and seek the lost, driven by love for the Father and for sinners, His persecutors, which gave Him the joy to endure the Cross. He made this choice from a position of perfect righteousness and with all power and authority, unlike us who are unrighteous and lack power and authority, which is why God doesn’t give us access to twelve legions of angels – we can’t be trusted with them. Jesus wants us to have His heart for those who would persecute us (Romans 8:28); He has given us His power, authority, and presence, not for Vengeance but the ministry of reconciliation; and Jesus tells His true disciples (not the CHINOs – Christians In Name Only), “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) This is a choice we need to act on day by day, and the more we come to appreciate the Love of Christ and learn to love God and others, the more we will embody 1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

• Hebrews 12:1-5 — Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
• Philippians 2:3-11 — Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The psalmist rebukes those who confuse God’s patience with blindness. The same God who created the eye and ear surely sees and hears all (Proverbs 15:3). This is both comfort and warning. Those who belong to Him are disciplined, not destroyed. Divine discipline is proof of sonship (Hebrews 12:6). God’s law becomes the training ground for rest; His justice the assurance of restoration. “Justice will return to the righteous” — even when truth seems lost, it is never defeated. The wicked may dig pits for others, but God ensures they fall into their own (Psalm 7:15). This is not karma but covenant faithfulness: God always vindicates His people. The question for us is how are we going to live in the meantime?

• 2 Peter 3:9 — The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
• Jude 1:18-23 — “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
• Proverbs 11:30 — The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

Palm 94:11, 12 — The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile. Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law.

Throughout the Bible, God points out that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) So, Proverbs counsels: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil…. Do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:5-12)

How important is Bible study in our daily walk with the Lord? Here are just a few thoughts from Psalm 119: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” Read all of Psalm 119 to understand more. I give thanks that God has given us so many resources and tools with which to study His Word, I pray that more and more Christians would return to God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17)

God’s discipline is painful but is intended to be a blessing to teach you how to live in the future while growing closer to God each day. Those who don’t despise God’s blessings and who are willing to learn will be blessed. Those who defy God’s discipline and insist on repeating their folly will be cursed.

Psalm 94:16-23 — Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute? They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

The psalmist personalizes faith amid injustice. When no human defender could stand, God became his refuge. This foreshadows Christ, the righteous sufferer who bore injustice yet trusted the Father fully (1 Peter 2:23). The “cares of the heart” are stilled not by circumstances changing but by the consolations of divine presence (Philippians 4:6–7). The psalm ends not in despair but certainty: “The LORD has become my stronghold.” In a world where rulers “frame injustice by statute,” the believer must not lose hope or compromise holiness. God Himself stands as the advocate of the righteous. Psalm 94 thus points to the sovereign Lord who governs history and guards His people, preparing hearts to trust Him through the crises of kings and nations, which leads directly into 2 Kings 20.

Psalm 94:19 — When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

In times of trouble, fear, pain, or sorrow, it is God’s comfort and support that you need.

Psalm 94:20 — Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?

If a person, an organization, or a nation defies God’s commands, they are defying God Himself. If a nation makes laws promoting what God condemns, the nation has become an adversary of God.

Psalm 94:23 – He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.

God is patient and gracious, but He will deal with all unrighteousness. Condemnation comes to those who reject His Son, Jesus.

2 Kings 20:1 — Thus says the Lord, “Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.”

The story of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18-19 is one of the most powerful testimonies of faith in the Bible. The reader can’t help but be humbled by Hezekiah’s example — “He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.” (2 Kings 18:5) Unfortunately Hezekiah’s story doesn’t end there and doesn’t end well.

The turning point in Hezekiah’s life appears to have been when God told him it was time for him to die. “Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ‘Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” At first glance, Hezekiah’s response not only seems natural but also seems to mirror Jesus’ appeal to the Father on the Mount of Olives before the Cross — “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me…. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:42-44) However, Hezekiah’s prayer lacked Jesus’ heart and motivation – “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) At some point, Hezekiah became more concerned about himself than about fulfilling God’s will for his life and glorifying Him. At some point, Hezekiah lost the heart of Psalmist – “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Psalm 63:3)

Hezekiah simply didn’t want to die, whether it was God’s perfect timing or not. In this case, I believe God allowed Hezekiah to live another 15 years to expose the condition of Hezekiah’s heart and to bring glory to Himself. Instead of dying at a highpoint of honorable and faithful service to the Lord, Hezekiah lived on, dooming Judah to captivity and producing Manasseh, one of Judah’s worst kings. Manasseh subsequently reversed all the good Hezekiah had done in his lifetime. Facing death, Hezekiah took a turn away from the Lord’s will which led him down a path of ever-increasing self-centeredness and selfishness, shockingly summarized in his last recorded words when Isaiah prophesied of the doom which would befall his family and nation as a result of his actions — “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?” (2 Kings 20:19) Wow!

• Romans 15:4 — For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction….

Hezekiah’s story is intended to teach us and warn us: It is not how you start; it is how you finish. Will you end your life on a pinnacle of faithfulness? Strive (and prepare) for your last day on earth to be your best day for God’s glory.

• 1 Peter 5:8-10 — Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
• Proverbs 4:23 — Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
• Colossians 4:2 — Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving….
• Matthew 26:41 — “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
• 1 Corinthians 10:12 — Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
• 1 Corinthians 16:13 — Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
• Revelation 3:2 — ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

Like Hezekiah, we will all face the test of death. How we face the test will depend on the relationship we have established with the Lord in life and in our faith and hope in the ultimate victory we have over death in Christ. Like Hezekiah, we must trust God through life, but unlike Hezekiah, we must also trust God through death.

“To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him…. You can’t know anybody that you don’t spend time with.” (Adrian Rogers) It all depends on knowing God and spending time with Him today and every day. When we follow the Good Shephard in life we will learn to trust Him enough to say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me…. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:4, 6)

• Romans 14:8 — For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
• 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 — So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
• 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 — I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Someone once said, “Live as if you will die tomorrow.” However, the Bible says we are live each day dead to self and alive in Christ with the understanding that everything we do has an eternal impact.

• Galatians 2:20 — I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Galatians 5:22-26 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
• Mark 8:35 — For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
• Romans 12:1 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
• 1 Corinthians 15:31 — I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
• Colossians 3:3 — For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
• Romans 6:3-14 — Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Ultimately, Hezekiah lacked the faith and courage to surrender His life to the Lord in death. Do you have the faith and courage to die to self and live for Christ today? Will you aspire to live out Galatians 2:20 today and everyday? “… I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31)

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 19 October 2025: From Psalm 94 and 2 Kings 20 we learn that God’s justice and mercy operate with perfect balance — He disciplines to refine, delays to reveal hearts, and delivers to glorify His name. The call today is to confront pride and complacency in our own hearts. Like the psalmist, cry out to God for justice and refuge amid evil. Like Hezekiah, turn your face to the wall in humility, but unlike him, do not stop short at personal healing but holiness and oneness with Him — True faith does not only seek healing; it seeks holiness. The exercise of the day: confess any self-glorifying attitude that parades God’s blessings as personal achievement, and commit to use every victory, talent, or possession as a testimony of His grace. Worship God not for what He gives, but for who He is — the just Judge, the merciful Redeemer, and the Lord of all things.

Pray: “Righteous Judge and merciful Father, You see the arrogance of the wicked and the frailty of the righteous. Teach me to trust Your justice and to rest in Your mercy. Guard my heart from pride when You bless me and from despair when You discipline me. Help me to walk humbly, giving You glory for every victory and faith in every trial. Let my life declare Your steadfast love and truth across generations. May I never be content with peace only for myself but long for righteousness to flourish in my family, my church, and my nation. You are my stronghold and the rock of my refuge. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”