Category: Devotions

FRIDAY 9^th

Psalm 49

NIV (v1) – ‘Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world . . .’

ESV (v1) – ‘Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world . . .’

This psalm starts of with a call to the whole world to listen, to hear, regardless of status or position, for the psalmist was going to declare words of wisdom, a message all needed to hear, and he would give the message with the accompaniment of music.

The message in a nutshell is that no matter where we are or who we are, we will all go the same way! Even if a man or woman should have an abundance of wealth, it would never be sufficient to give a ransom for their life, death will one day call them. The rich die, the poor die, the wise die, the foolish die, the pompous die, and the beggar dies. Those who boast will die, those who are humble will die.

Death is an appointment we will all have to keep, we do not know when that moment has been set, but it will surely arrive for us all. The calamity is that death will lead to destruction, death will lead to hell, unless something can be done about it, and of himself man has no power to do anything about it, but the psalmist in what at first seems to be a rather sombre and sad song makes a powerful statement in verse 15 ‘But God will ransom my soul, from the powers of Shoel, for he will receive me.’ The translators add a little word here, ‘selah’ which is taken to mean ‘pause and think on this’ or ‘pause and think about this’. In other words, the psalmist had received wisdom as he meditated in his heart that in the gloominess of what seemed to be the determined end for every man and woman there was hope, and the hope was not to be found in man himself, not even with his wealth and riches, pride, or wisdom, but to be found in God himself. In other words, do not trust in your wealth, your riches, your wisdom, and pride—hope only in God! For there is way that will lead from eternal destruction to eternal life, there is way that will lead from hopelessness to hope, there is a way that leads toward life everlasting and it is not to be found in anything that man can ever try to achieve, it is only to be found in what God would do, and the psalmist trusted in God, he believed that as he trusted God, a way would be made available for him to walk in the way everlasting, that he would be delivered from Shoel.

And the way was provided, in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he came into this world as the one who is the truth, the life and the way, he came to be the one who would pay the ransom that even the wealthiest of individuals could never pay, and he paid it by laying down his life for us, he paid it by taking the punishment and the wrath of God for us, he paid it by shedding his own life blood that we in exchange would be able to receive life everlasting.  

The message that the psalmist proclaimed to all the world in this psalm those thousands of years ago, still needs to be proclaimed, it is still the same message, it has never changed and will never change, there is a way that seems right to mankind but it will lead to death, to everlasting destruction, but God has provided a new and a living way, he has provided all the means through the Lord Jesus Christ for our souls to be redeemed, and to put us on the road that leads to life everlasting.

To sum it up with the words of the apostle Paul, ‘By grace you have been saved. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8)

And this grace is a gift from God because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)

We have two choices, we do nothing and accept the fate that will fall to all unrepentant mankind and that is to face Hell, eternity separated from God’s amazing love, a place of eternal punishment, or come believing by faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on our behalf, to know what it is to be redeemed because he has paid the ransom and to spend eternity in the presence of God.

I end this devotion with the first words of this psalm again, ‘Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world’ This is the message that I want you to hear and to receive through this devotion today, ‘God loves you, he gave his Son for you, his Son gave his life for you, there is hope for you for time and for eternity, and you can receive it if you give your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.’ ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)

THURSDAY 8^th

Psalm 48

NIV (v1-2) – ‘Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.’

ESV (v1-2) – ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.’

This psalm continues with the theme as to why the LORD should be praised, that is because he is great!

It continues with where he should be praised – in the city of our God. For us this would be in the place where we come to worship him together—the house of God.

Let’s consider the greatness of God, he is great in every way, he is as we see first in Scripture the great Creator, as we contemplate the beauty and wonder of all that has been created, ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in his ongoing provision and in his sustaining of all that he has created. As we see the resources that are continually available to this world for food, sustenance, and the ongoing management of life, ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in who he is in himself, as the triune God, the Eternal One, the Great I Am, ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in his lovingkindness toward mankind, despite man’s rebellion, God has loved with an everlasting love, his love is great, his mercy is great. We see how he has aided mankind down through the generations. ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in Calvary, he loved us enough to give himself for us, ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in the abundance of blessing he has made available to us through Christ Jesus. ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is great in all that he has done and continues to do for each one of us as individuals. ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

He is greater than all the gods of this world put together – Psalm 96:4-6 ‘For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.’ ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised’.

I could continue, but today stop and think of all that God has done for you personally, and all that he is to you and begin to praise him, for great is the LORD and greatly to be praised.

‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art.’

WEDNESDAY 7^th

Psalm 47

NIV (v1) – ‘Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.’

ESV (v1) – ‘Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!’

A psalm that calls the people of God to clap their hands and to shout to God with loud songs of joy! It is a psalm that reminds us again that God is sovereign over all, therefore sing praises.

We have just recently gone through some of the hymns from the Redemption Hymnal, hymns that have blessed God’s people and which we have enjoyed singing over the years, for the children of Israel, they had these psalms that we are enjoying at present as a means of expressing their praise and worship and through which they also declared the goodness, greatness, and faithfulness of God. Song is good, singing is good, it is a means of expressing from our hearts and through our lips along with music and melody how we appreciate God and his unfailing love and mercy toward us. Hopefully, the day is drawing ever closer when we can begin to lift our voices with gusto to sing praises to God, to shout to God with loud songs of joy!

It seems a long time ago when I mentioned in a devotion that I am looking forward to Iain being on the guitar and Tim on the piano leading us in worship restriction free (it was probably a year ago!)—but will we be restriction free? For although the government restrictions will go, too often we put our own restrictions in place, too often we can be reticent to let ourselves go as it were in the presence of God. On a recent Sunday morning, someone began to clap at the end of a song, and there was a brief pause as others decided whether to join in and clap or not and it fizzled out—it was my intention at the end of the service to encourage us all to give God a clap offering, to do what this psalm encourages us to do, to do what that person on that Sunday morning wanted to do, to clap your hands, all people, but I forgot!

We have much to praise God for, we have much to give God thanks for, beside the fact that we should willingly honour him and praise him for who he is, as verse 6 says, ‘Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!’ And then verse 7, ‘For God is the King over all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!’

Well, whether it be a psalm, a hymn, a song, a chorus, or even as we read in Ephesians 5 a spiritual song, may we be eager to not only make melody in our hearts but lift our voices in unison to worship our God and our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

My soul shouts glory to the Son of God,

For the work free grace has done;

My faith looks upward with a steadfast eye

That is clear as the noonday sun.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah to the Saviour I adore;

I will praise him, I will praise him,

Hallelujah I will praise him evermore.

TUESDAY 6^th

Psalm 46

NIV (v10) – ‘He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”’

ESV (v10) – ‘”Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”’

‘Be still’, we often sing that song, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord, is moving in this place’, there is an older hymn that goes, ‘Be still my soul . . .’ (lyrics at the end) It is good to be reminded that in the rush and the hustle and bustle of life today that we still need to take time out and to be still, to be hushed and to spend time in the presence of God. The psalmist continues, ‘Be still, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ in other words, do not forget God in all your rush and hustle and bustle, do not forget who God is, the sovereign One, the creator and the One who sustains all things, the one who rules and reigns, ‘Be still’ silence everything else and stop everything else and ponder anew who the Almighty is and what the Almighty can do.

It is in those moments when we learn to ‘be still’ that we can know the very present God in verse 1 ministering into our souls, meeting our needs, and moving us on in his purpose. It is in those moments of being still that we can as Isaiah puts it ‘Wait on the Lord’, and know our strength being renewed, mount up like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not be faint, (Isaiah 40:31)

Some of us have trouble in being still, I am one of them, I like to be on the go all the time, doing something, being somewhere, we can be like this spiritually, forgetting to stop and being still in the presence of God. The old song goes ‘Silence is golden’ and in the spiritual realm it really is, for it is in our silence with God, those moments of being still, that we can know those golden moments, those moments when he touches us deep within our spirit and soul, he touches us anew and fills us again with fresh spiritual vigour and zeal, when he touches us deep within and rekindles our love for him and for the things he is wanting us to do.

‘Be still’ during everything that is going on around us. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I fear (in a right sense) for what this world will be like in even five years, with the spiralling trend toward ungodliness and unrighteousness, but the answer is to ‘be still’ for God will be exalted among the nations, he will be exalted in the earth! He is the Lord, and he reigns on high!

I wonder if this short psalm is one that we often turn to during the moments of loss, I know that for me it is a psalm that has blessed me and ministered to me during loss, in fact one of the most difficult times when I have had to read this psalm was during the funeral service of a close family member who was also a friend and colleague, but it always reminds us to ‘be still’ and to know that even in our loss, God is there. The lyrics of this hymn are based around those thoughts.

Be still my soul the Lord is on thy side,

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain,

Leave to thy God to order and provide,

In every change he faithful will remain.

Be still my soul thy best, thy heavenly friend,

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still my soul when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then shalt thou better know his love his heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still my soul the waves and winds shall know,

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still my soul the hour is hastening on,

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot love’s purest joys restored.

Be still my soul when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

MONDAY 5^th

Psalm 46

NIV (v1) – ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’

ESV (v1) – ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’

We will spend two days with this short psalm, a psalm which I am sure we have all turned to during a difficult time, reminding us that God is our refuge and strength, and that he is also a very present help in time of trouble.

In times of trouble there are those who will turn to drink, others who will turn to other vices, seeking to try to numb the issues and hope they will go away, but for us who have a confident faith and hope in God our Saviour we turn to him, for in having set our hope in him, we have a confident assurance that he will always be there for us, a very present or an ever present help in time of need.

In a later Psalm, Psalm 121, the psalmist says, ‘I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?’ He then gives the answer, ‘My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’ In other words, ‘I am in trouble, or I have a problem or need, where or who should I turn to, well the obvious answer is to the one who made me, for he knows everything about me!’ And we the redeemed of the Lord, turn to or go to the one who has not only made us, but has also re-created us in Christ Jesus. He is our helper, he is our refuge and strength, he is the one who is a very present help in the time of trouble.

The psalmist is so confident in the assistance or help that he will get from the LORD that he lists in the next few verses in today’s psalm, the extremes that could happen in life, such as the earth giving way, mountains being moved, or trembling, the waters roaring and swelling, perhaps what we understand as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruption etc. those natural phenomenon that would cause us to fear and yet he says even if these things happen, if the whole world around me falls apart, I am confident that God will be my refuge and strength, he will be my very present help.

He then continues in the psalm to talk of the river whose streams will make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High, a river of blessing, streams of blessing, reminding us that God is with his people, he is there in the midst of all the turmoil that happens around her, with the declaration, ‘The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.’ These words are a promise to Jerusalem, the city of God, and in the modern world in which we are living in, with its antagonism towards Israel, we can be reminded that God is still with his people Israel, he is still the One who watches over her, and he will fulfil all that he has planned for her, and one day his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ will sit on the throne in Jerusalem. This should further remind us that with all that is going on in the world at this moment, God is outworking his plans, his purpose, he is still in control, and he will always be in control, therefore we too like this psalm writer can confidently place our trust in him. God is still on the throne, and he will remember his own. May it also be a reminder for us to pray for Israel, pray for the city of Jerusalem, that it will know the ongoing peace of God.

FRIDAY 2^nd

Psalm 45

NIV (v1) – ‘My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.’

ESV (v1) – ‘My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.’

The title that has been placed in my ESV for this Psalm is ‘Your throne, O God, is forever’. The Psalm commences with the words, ‘My heart overflows with a pleasing theme . . .’ and it begins to describe the king, describing him as handsome, with grace poured on his lips, and being blessed by God forever.  It is then in verse 6 we have the words, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever . . .’ It is a messianic psalm that although in its original context was referring to King David, is also a prophetic proclamation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, for we discover that in the book of Hebrews and chapter one, the reference is given to refer to the Son whom God has spoken through in the last days, the Lord Jesus Christ.  ‘But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever . . .’ Hebrews 1:8.

There are a lot of themes or as the KJV puts it good matters that we can allow our hearts to overflow with, at this moment while I am preparing this for many it will be all about the football, for others it will be something else, but for us as the people of God, the pleasing theme or good matter which should be the priority or most noble is the one who is enthroned forever, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The psalmist continues ‘my tongue is like the scribe of a ready scribe’ or as the KJV puts it, ‘my tongue is the pen of a ready writer’—Do you remember the song based on these words, it starts off by mentioning the sound of rustling in the leaves of the trees, the Spirit of the Lord has come down on the earth and continues in the chorus with ‘My tongue shall be the pen of the ready writer, and what the Father gives to me I’ll sing, I only want to be his breath, I only want to glorify the King.’ We have a grand and glorious theme to proclaim, and the more we allow our hearts to overflow, the more willing we should be for our tongues to be a ready pen, that is to speak forth the good news of the gospel of Jesus, to speak forth his praise, to exalt him on our lips and through our lives.

I wonder how many of us as believers show more excitement over other things than we do over knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! How much easier do we find it to gossip about so many other themes and what might be good matters but are so reticent to gossip the gospel, we need the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to come again and to thrill, not like a rustle in the leaves of the trees but a shaking in our hearts, deep within us and to cause our hearts to overflow with the greatest of all themes, the best of all matters – Jesus and his wondrous love.

The throne we are reminded is eternal, it is forever and ever, it speaks of the temporality of everything else, later in the psalm we have verses 13-14, portraying a picture of the princess being led into the palace of the King, I see here a picture of the Church as a bride which one day will be led into the presence of the King of Kings, as Paul reminds us, that Christ ‘will present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ (Ephesians 5:27) This is a good matter, this is a pleasing theme, this is worth talking about, one day all that is temporal will be done away with, but we who are the redeemed of the Lord will be stood standing around the eternal throne, in awe of our God and Saviour, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee his praise should sing!

THURSDAY JULY 1^st

Psalm 44

NIV (v1) – ‘We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.’

ESV (v1) – ‘O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old . . .’

This psalm, another Maskil, (a well-crafted song) commences with a backward look to what God had done for the people of Israel through verses 1-8 and then from verse 9 there is a lament for the LORD has seemingly rejected the people and disgraced them, (verses 9-22) even though the composer of the psalm is sure that they are in a right place with God (vv17-18) it ends with a plea or prayer for the Lord to visit them again ending with the words in 26, ‘Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!’

There is a lesson we can learn from this psalm that can be applied to the Church, firstly we can take the first 8 verses and look back, especially in the infant days of the modern Pentecostal Movement and see the amazing and spectacular things that God did among them, we only have to pick up and read some of the books that were written to record the exploits and we can say without any shadow of doubt that the power of God was at work, bringing many souls to salvation, setting many who were bound by the enemy free, and bringing healing and deliverance to those who were sick and diseased. It was also evident by the spectacular growth that took place as the pioneering took place, bringing about the establishment of churches throughout the United Kingdom and the whole world, to use a phrase that the Apostolic Church used, ‘Belting the Globe’(which was a feature of all the main Pentecostal movements) with the good news of the gospel. But a period came about which we could call the stage the psalmist refers to in verses 9-22, the various Pentecostal Movements have continued and survived  and could apply verses 17-18 ‘. . . we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way . . .’ Yet the spectacular things that happened in the early days are not happening on the same level today and haven’t done for many years, (although we thank God for the pockets of amazing things that are happening) and we need to come to verses 23-26 and in our own context refine them to become a prayer to ask the Lord God to come again, to visit us again with revival, with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that the things we can refer back to in the early days, no longer remain something of the past, but become something which we will experience ourselves.  ‘Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us (restore us, revive us) for the sake of your steadfast love!’

Revive thy work, O Lord,

Thy mighty arm make bare;

Speak with the voice that wakes the dead,

And make thy people hear.

Revive thy work, O Lord,

Disturb this sleep of death;

Quicken the smould’ring embers now

By thine almighty breath.

Revive thy work, O Lord,

Create soul-thirst for thee;

End hung’ring for the Bread of Life

O may our spirits be.

Revive thy work, O Lord,

Exalt thy precious name;

And, by the Holy Ghost, our love

For thee and thine inflame.

Revive thy work, O Lord,

While here to thee we bow;

Descend, O gracious Lord, descend,

Oh, come and bless us now.

TUESDAY 29^th

Psalm 42

NIV (v1) – ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.’

ESV (v1) – ‘As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.’

The words of this psalm are familiar to us as we often sing the song based upon it:

As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you.

You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.

You alone are my strength my shield.

To you alone may my spirit yield.

You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.

The heading of this psalm says that it is ‘To the Choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah’ (Also found at the commencement of other psalms) A Maskil means a well-crafted song, whoever wrote or composed the song originally, is painting a picture of a deer that is thirsting and panting as it seeks out water to satisfy its thirst. Goldingay comments that the nuance for the word ‘pant’ is ‘to stretch the head in a certain direction’, giving the implication of going in that direction to satisfy the thirst. The psalmist realises that he needs to raise his head in a direction that is toward God to satisfy the thirst in his soul. It is a psalm that reminds us that the only genuine source to satisfy the thirsting soul is to be found in God himself.

The author of this psalm was obviously going through a period of spiritual dryness and barrenness, he was in despair because of his predicament, and he wanted to get back to the place of refreshing and satisfaction, he remembered the joyful and pleasurable times when he had gone to the house of the LORD with others (v4), but this was temporarily lacking, and it caused him to be downcast in his soul. (5) and he knew that the cure was to hope again in God, to be restored again to a place of satisfaction deep in his soul, and so he pants, he sets his head toward the LORD God determined not to stop, but to persevere till he came back again to the living God. (v2)

We can attempt to satisfy our spiritual hunger in many ways, but deep, lasting satisfaction will never be found until we set our heads and our hearts toward God, anything else will be the dirty, polluted waters of this world that will seem to satisfy until the ‘poison’ they contain begins to damage the soul.

Twice in this chapter the composer says, ‘Why are you downcast, O my soul’ (vv5&11 and again in Psalm 43:5) and this will be the verdict for everyone who seeks to get soul satisfaction from any other source other than the true and the living God, the psalmist knew this and continued, ‘Hope in God’, for the only hope that is genuine and eternal is to be found in him, the only hope that can bring satisfaction in the here and now and for eternity is found in the living God.

Where are we setting our desires, where or to whom are our heads turned toward?

Turn toward the living God, thirst for him, pant for him, come to the source of living water and know that in coming to him we will be satisfied.

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,

But, ah! the waters failed!

E’en as I stooped to drink they fled,

And mocked me as I wailed.

Now none but Christ can satisfy,

None other name for me!

There’s love and life and lasting joy,

Lord Jesus found in thee.

Monday 28^th

Psalm 41

NIV (v1)  – ‘Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble.’

ESV (v1)  – ‘Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him . . .’

We return today to our looking through the books of the Bible and to the next forty Psalms, 41-80.

This first verse in the forty first psalm starts with a statement, ‘Blessed is the one who considers the poor’ or as the NIV translates it ‘the weak’ Scholars say that it could be translated either way ‘poor or weak’ the surrounding verses indicating that here it is regarding someone who is sick for v3 mentions the sickbed ‘The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.’

Considering the poor and weak are an important aspect of the outworking of our faith, we can look back over relatively recent history and think of those such as Florence Nightingale or Dr Barnardo who had an empathy toward those who were less fortunate, Nightingale towards the sick and suffering and Barnardo to those who were orphaned and homeless. Others of course were just as concerned and so should all who have been touched by the grace of God. We see it outworked today with the Foodbanks which have been set up by charitable and Christian organizations, and in relief agencies that have sprung up over recent decades to give aid to those in parts of the world that have been devastated through war, famine, or pestilence.

Proverbs 14:21says, ‘Whoever despises his neighbour is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.’ We are also encouraged in Proverbs 31:9 to ‘defend the rights of the poor and needy.’

In the New Testament it is James who reminds us that ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this; to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.’ We need to apply this to our modern society and its application would be to consider those who are poor, needy, and sick. How we consider them is a personal thing, some may be able to give out of their own resources, others may be able to give of their time giving encouragement and consolation, others may be able to show it by doing something practical that will be a means of blessing to the one who has the need, it is all about doing what Jesus would want us to do in expressing his love and concern for those around us, especially of the household of faith.

Moving on into the rest of this chapter we find that it is a psalm of David and he himself is weak and sick, he acknowledges that his sickness is a result of sin ‘As for me, I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me for I have sinned against you!’’ (v4) But he knew that as he came and confessed it before the LORD God, that God would be faithful towards him and would raise him up. (v10) As I have said before, not all sickness is a direct result of personal sin, but it behoves us if we are suffering to examine our hearts before God and ask that should there be anything in us that is dishonouring to God, that we confess it and bring about healing. ‘And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.’ (James 5:15-16)

The psalm ends with an exaltation of the LORD God, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.’ (v13) It has a double amen, a double affirmation, of ‘be it so’ or ‘so be it’ This chapter ends what is normally classed as the first book of the Psalms, the Psalms being divided into five books or sections.

Friday 25^th  

Luke 23:33

NIV – ‘When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.’

ESV – ‘And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.’

Jesus was slain for me, at Calvary.

Geo Perfect – RH177

We come to the last of the devotions looking at one of the hymns from the Redemption Hymnal, thank you to all that have commented that you have enjoyed revisiting these older hymns, I have enjoyed it too. For the last one (unless I look at some more in the future) I have turned to ‘Jesus was slain for me, at Calvary’. This is a wonderful hymn centred around what Christ has done for us at Calvary and surely there is no better way to conclude a series than at the Cross.

It is a hymn which was obviously the testimony of the author but, is written in such a way that it is the testimony for every individual that has come to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. It is a hymn that is full of personal pronouns in which when sung expresses our born-again experience.

Here are the words, mid-way through the devotion instead of at the end, read through them and begin to rejoice in the wonder of the power of the Cross in your own life.

Jesus was slain for me,

At Calvary.

Crowned with thorns was he,

At Calvary.

There he in anguish died,

There from his opened side,

Poured forth the crimson tide,

At Calvary.

Pardoned is all my sin,

At Calvary.

Cleansed is my heart within,

At Calvary.

Now robes of praise I wear,

Gone are my grief and care,

Christ bore my burdens there,

At Calvary.

Wondrous his love for me,

At Calvary.

Glorious his victory,

At Calvary.

Vanquished are death and hell,

Oh, let his praises swell,

Ever my tongue shall tell,

Of Calvary.

O the wonder of the Cross, O the wonder of the love of God, O the wonder of his precious blood, O the wonder of knowing that as we have come to believe we are forgiven, cleansed, and robed not only in robes of righteousness but also in robes of praise. O the wonder of his victory, vanquished are death and hell, the devil is defeated, death has lost its sting, the grave will only be a temporary stop-over, oh, let his praises swell, may our tongues ever tell, of Calvary!

I have just realised while typing the previous line that we started our look at the hymns with the great hymn of Charles Wesley, ‘Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praise’, and we end with a line so similar, ‘ever my tongue shall tell of Calvary’.

Calvary is worth singing about, Calvary is worth talking about, for it was there at the Cross we have been reconciled to God and have become recipients of all that God had stored up to give to those who would become adopted into his family.

I end with the verse and chorus from another hymn, may it be our own personal prayer as we contemplate Calvary, and the incredible, amazing love of God.

Give me a sight, O Saviour,

Of thy wondrous love to me;

Of the love that brought thee down to earth,

To die on Calvary.

Oh, make me understand it,

Help me to take it in;

What it meant for thee, the Holy One,

To bear away my sin.