Category: Devotions

FRIDAY 29^th

Psalm 20

NIV (v1) – ‘May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.’

ESV (v1) – ‘May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!’

I have taken this verse today for although we will have touched on this in some of the devotions already, I want us to consider again the fact that the LORD is our protector. The psalmist says, ‘May the name of the God of Jacob protect you’. Later in the same psalm the psalmist says, ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God’. This is another of David psalms, and he is speaking from out of personal experience, for example you will remember that in 1 Samuel 17 the children of Israel were in battle against the Philistines, and they were afraid to continue in battle because of one person, sounds a bit pathetic until you discover who he was, it was the giant Goliath, the notes in one of the Bibles I use state that he was probably around 6’ 9” tall, but once in his armoury he would have appeared around 9’ 9” tall, not quite so pathetic now! Not only was he tall but his armour was of a magnificent size, (see verses 4-7)

Who would lead them into battle, who was either stupid enough or brave enough? And the battle was going to be on a one man versus one man, wherever were the Israelites going to find anyone to even begin to match the enemy in size, let alone with a similar armoury.

And David turns up on the scene. Remember he was described as ruddy, and handsome in appearance, with beautiful eyes, (1 Samuel 16:12) he didn’t look like fighting material, he is either being stupid or incredibly brave for when he hears what is going on he says that he will fight the giant. And what is more when they tried the king’s armour on him it hangs off him, useless, he could not even walk in it. He takes it off and walks towards the giant with a confident stride, and makes an incredibly bold statement to the mocking giant, he starts with ‘You come against me with a sword and with a spear, and with a javelin . . .’ I can imagine Goliath thinking ‘it’s in the bag, I am going to wipe the smile off his little face in an instant, he is so puny, even if he turns and runs it is going to be a case of three steps for him against one step for me, and I will grab him by the scruff of his neck and squash him under my foot’, but then David continues, ‘I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.’ And we know the story, it was in the bag, not Goliath’s bag but David’s and he puts his hand in his little bag hanging to his side and pulls out a little stone, places it in a sling and swings it around faster than Goliath could bat an eyelid and the stone went rushing through the air and bang on target it hits the giant between the eyes and he tumbles face down to the floor. The one with beautiful eyes hits the enemy between the eyes!  And David ran up and stood over the giant, and he took the giant’s sword and cut off his head, killing the enemy and bringing victory to the children of Israel.

What was the deciding factor in it all, the armour, the spear, the javelin, the shield bearer, the strength of the giant, the height of the giant, the sword, the bag, the stone, the sling, the handsome looks, the beautiful eyes, no, it was the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. He was the protector of Israel, he was the one in whom David had placed his trust, David knew without a shadow of doubt that without the name of the LORD of Hosts he would become food for the birds of the air, but God was with him, God was his protector and so he could say in this Psalm today, ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.’ The beautiful eyes saw something that the giant did not see, the beautiful eyes looked beyond the giant and beyond his threats and saw the God of Israel. ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’ Psalm 121:1-2.

Who are we trusting in today, with whom or what do we place our hope and our confidence, there is one who has been given a name which is above every name, and his name is Jesus, he is the Lord and he reigns on high, some trust in chariots some trust in horses, some trust in politicians, some trust in wealth and the banking system, some trust in luck or just chance or fate, but we trust in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he is the same yesterday, today and forever, his promises stand firm and true, and he has promised to be with us even to the end of the age. The name of the LORD of hosts is with us, I close with the words of Jesus himself in the prayer he prayed before his going to Calvary, ‘Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.’ John 17:11

It is wonderful to know that Jesus prayed that we would be kept in his Father’s name, he is our strong tower, he is our protector.

THURSDAY 28^th

Psalm 19

NIV (v14) – ‘May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.’

ESV (v14) – ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’

I mentioned this Psalm back on January 20^th and in a way, it also links to yesterday’s devotion where we read that ‘the LORD’s word is flawless’.

In verses 7-11 the psalmist makes some statements about the Law of the LORD, and it is easier to just place these verses here, ‘The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.’

The words we have here describing the word of the LORD are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, desirable, sweet, and the keeping of it brings reward. What more could we want from a book, and this book is none other than the precious word of God which we are able to have, to read, to cherish, to absorb, to meditate upon, to learn from, to be encouraged, to be equipped with, to be disciplined, to grow, mature and to be the people that God has called us to be. I wonder how much we treasure this precious book? I know we can have its content in so many ways, we can have it on our smartphones or I-pads, we can have it played out through MP3 file or CD, we can have so many different translations of it, it is so accessible, but how much is it read or listened to? How much do we truly value it especially if we really believe it is God’s word speaking to us, directing us, and enabling us to navigate through this world as his children? I have said it before that I am so appreciative of the fact that we can have it in so many different forms of media, but there is still nothing like holding it in a printed form and to turn the pages back and for, discovering and rediscovering its truth, receiving its promises and absorbing its message of hope.

It is a book which has continually been attacked, from both the secular world and the ecclesiastical world, I am in the process of reading a book^* at the moment which is about ‘progressive Christianity’ and it is shocking to see how the truth of the word of God is being diluted to make what the Bible says to be more palatable for the evil days in which we are living, it is as if there is a stream within Christianity that is taking a pick and mix approach, or a take it or leave it approach, if it suits you to believe certain parts then fine, if it suits you more to not believe certain parts then that is also fine. But we need to remind ourselves that God’s word is a sure word, it is a certain word and its message is an unchanging message, the truth it portrayed back when its pages were penned still stands today, for truth can never evolve into something else, truth can never become an untruth, it is eternal. When society changes, when the culture in which we live changes, God’s word remains steadfast and true, in fact it stands not only for time but also for eternity. We hear so much of the need to be culturally relevant, God’s word is relevant to every culture, it does not need to be adapted to suit a culture, culture does not and should not define truth, it has already been settled in heaven.  

I have digressed a little! I will end today’s devotion with a quick reference to the verse I highlighted as our text for today, ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ I always link this verse to another in Psalm 119:18 ‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.’ May we treasure the word of God so much that we will never deviate from its truth and truthfulness, may we never diminish its meaning to suit our own personal opinion or agenda, may what we declare from the word of God and about the word of God always be acceptable in HIS sight, and may we continue to open it up to behold the wonder of all that it has to say to us.

^{* Another Gospel? Alisa Childers. Tyndale}

WEDNESDAY 27th

Psalm 18

NIV (v30) – ‘As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.’

ESV (v30) – ‘This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.’

The introduction to this Psalm in the ESV that I use says ‘TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, WHO ADDRESSED THE WORDS OF THIS SONG TO THE LORD ON THE DAY WHEN THE LORD RESCUED HIM FROM THE HANDS OF ALL HIS ENEMIES, AND FROM THE HAND OF SAUL. HE SAID;’ and this psalm is what he said. It contains so many verses which I would like to turn to and investigate further, but it would take too many devotions up, for example (turn to the verses) verses 1-2 he exalts the LORD, verses 3-6 he calls out the LORD, verses 7-15 he records the response or the way in which the LORD came to his rescue, and these verses in themselves should be enough to make a man or woman think ‘I am not going to mess with God!’ Then in verses 16-19 he describes his rescue, verses 20-47 his testimony concluding in verses 48-50 with a note of praise again, for he knew that the one who deserved all the honour and glory was the one who had rescued him.

It is back in 1 Samuel 16 we find that David becomes the one who is chosen from among the sons of Jesse to become the King, the one who would replace Saul, and at that time he was just a shepherd boy, tending his fathers sheep, but God had a plan for this shepherd boy to become the one who would shepherd the sheep of Israel, God’s chosen people. (Psalm 100:3) But from the moment of his anointing back there in the farmyard, it seemed that God must have made a mistake, he was faced with trouble, strife, opposition, and continually having to call out to the one who had called him for help. We have already seen in the Psalms so far how he knew despondency and depression, rejection, and hatred, even from within his family. How come when he was the LORD’s anointed? Well I guess we can draw from this that bad things still happen to good people, God’s people. Just because we have become the children of God through our being reconciled to him by his Son, it doesn’t mean that the road is going to be easy, problems will arise, difficulties will arise, troubles may beset us, sickness, loss, unemployment, etc. But amid it all God is still our refuge and strength and a very present help in the time of trouble. And In this Psalm David seems as if he had had enough, and out of his desperation he cried out and the LORD hears him and comes in a magnificent way to help him and to deliver him, and we come to the verse that I highlighted as our text, ‘This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.’ It reminds us that when we don’t understand, God does, when we don’t know the way forward, God knows, when we seem helpless and lost, God comes through as our helper and way-maker, when we feel all seems a tangled mess, God is able to straighten it all out, when we cannot understand, he knows exactly what is going on and what he is doing. Where it says here in this verse ‘the word of the LORD proves true’ it is firstly linked to his word which we now have has the written word, our Scripture, but it also refers to any word that God has spoken into an individual’s life or circumstance, and as God spoke his word through Samuel in that moment way back in the farmyard, because it was God speaking it was true and it would come to pass, what David needed to do was to trust even when the going got tough, knowing with an assurance in his heart that when he couldn’t see a way out, God already had the way out lined up, ready to act in exactly the right moment of time. For this verse not only reminds us that God’s word is true it also reminds us that his way is perfect. God can never be wrong! God can never be too early or too late, God can never make a mistake, God can never fail.

Whatever your circumstances are today, hold on, I am reminded of a song, ‘Never failed me yet, never failed me yet, Jesus love never failed me yet, this one thing I know as I onward go, Jesus love never failed me yet.’

TUESDAY 26^th

Psalm 17

NIV (v8) – ‘Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.’

ESV (v8) – ‘Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.’

In our previous Psalm, the psalmist had put on record that the LORD was making known to him the path of life, in today’s Psalm he says ‘My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.’ On another occasion he reminds us that ‘the  steps of a man are established by the LORD’. (Psalm 37:23) On Sunday I mentioned Job and we turn to him again where he also says ‘My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.’ (Job 23:11)  O how important it is for us to keep in step with the Scripture, with the Spirit and with the Saviour. ‘All the way my Saviour leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy, who thro’ life has been my guide . . . all the way my Saviour leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the Living Bread . . . all the way my Saviour leads me; Oh, the fulness of his love! Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father’s house above.’ (Redemption Hymnal 455, Making Melody 447)   

In this Psalm, the psalmist makes the statement that is true for everyone who is walking on the right pathway, the pathway of life, he says ‘keep me as the apple of your eye’ This phrase is found elsewhere in Scripture, for example in Deuteronomy ‘He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.’ (32:10) and again in Proverbs 7:2 ‘. . . keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye.’ And in Zechariah 2:8 ‘For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.’

What does this mean? Some other translations instead of the ‘apple of your eye’ have ‘pupil of your eye’ (CSB, NET) It speaks of the fact that David had value and worth and David didn’t want that to be lost, and God looks at each one of us and says ‘You are the apple of my eye’ and as such he will treasure us and protect us, so the translation ‘pupils of your eye’ expresses that just as one would do all they can to protect their eyes from danger, from the intrusion of foreign objects or any such thing that would cause damage to the eye, so God will protect us, without wanting to disrespectful, we have inbuilt protection for our literal eyes, eyelashes and eyelids, and God in protecting us as the apple or the pupil of his eye becomes our eyelashes, eyelids, he becomes our protector and protection. When I worked in the garage when leaving school, as the new boy, I was always getting something in my eyes, dirt, dust, bits of metal while grinding, fortunately the eye hospital was right opposite the garage so it was easy for me to go and get the medical help, but when a piece of metal hit the eye it was painful, I still have a scar on one eye from where I burnt it, the problem was that there was protection available in the way of goggles, but it was far too easy to not bother to put them on and hope for the best. May we never be like that in our Christian walk, but may we always take up the protection that is available to us, the LORD God himself who is willing to protect us as the apple or the pupil of his eye. Remember God cares for you he treasures you and he is willing to be your protector. In the same verse the psalmist continues ‘hide me in the shadow of your wings’, let us make sure that when trouble assails us, we run under his wings.

MONDAY 25^th

Psalm 16

NIV (v11) – ‘You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’

ESV (v11) – ‘You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’

We continue from yesterday, David after declaring his confident trust in a sure resurrection then continues to dwell on his present experience, ‘You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence . . .’ and sees it as running automatically into what will be his future eternal experience, ‘with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’ He is already enjoying a foretaste of glory divine!

But how has he got to this position? The answer is found in the first few words, ‘You have made known to me the path of life’. God had revealed to him the pathway of life and he himself had made a determined choice to get onto that pathway. There is only one conclusion we can draw from this and it is this, men and women will only get to know fulness of joy and the eternal pleasures available by getting onto the right pathway which is the path of life.

Over the last few weeks during the lockdown, Elaine and I have been discovering some of the walks around our area. Within a few minutes’ walk from our front door we can get onto footpaths that lead to country parks, or nature reserves. One day after we had had some snow, we decided to go for a walk, the snow was thawing and it was very wet underfoot and we went in one particular direction and then decided to follow the signs for a public footpath. It was messy, we went so far and then I decided (I like to explore) we would take a short cut and make our way across to another footpath we had already explored a few days earlier, but the short cut was not a short cut time wise, we ended up having to get over fences and other hurdles along the way making the walk much longer that it ever needed to be before we got to the pathway we wanted, then it was head straight for home, back into the warm, get the wet footwear off and dry out!  We (or rather I) should have consulted a map which was easily accessible on my phone and got on the right pathway and we would have had a much more enjoyable experience. Many are muddling their way through life, thinking they are on the right pathway, yet it is a pathway that is full of diversions, obstructions, hurdles and problems and it will never lead to the place that leads to eternal pleasures, they need to consult the map, the guide book, God’s word and get onto the right pathway, the pathway that will lead to eternal pleasures at God’s right hand.

Elaine and I were on the right pathway, but we (or rather I) decided to try another route and we got into a mess, many have gotten onto the right pathway but while walking in the right direction have decided to try another route and their lives have gotten into a mess, this is one of those devotions where I feel constrained to bring a fresh challenge to us all concerning our walk with God, he has made known to us the pathway of life, it is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who himself is the way, are we sticking to this pathway or are we trying out other paths, being distracted with what may seem to be an easier route which will end up being full of trouble and if we stay on it will lead us astray. Let us keep focused on Jesus, who is the only way, may we keep to his path, may we not look to the left or the right but remain focused on the finishing line.

At the end of Psalm 139 we read the following ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’ (vv23-24) the psalmist could so easily have said, ‘Check out my pathway, O God, see if I am straying or gone off course and lead me again onto the pathway that leads to the way eternal.’

SUNDAY 24^th

Psalm 16

NIV (v11) – ‘You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’

ESV (v11) – ‘You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’

The previous verse in this chapter, v10 (‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.’) is quoted in Acts 13:35 and is used as a reference to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Therefore he says also in another psalm, “ ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’’ Because of this the verses here are taken to be prophetic and this is rightly so, but it is also important to link them to David’s own experience as well, for initially David was expressing his own circumstances, although they have a prophetic inference. He was expressing that whatever may happen to him humanly speaking he has a sure confidence in his eternal security because of his relationship with the LORD God.

In the prophetic we see it being fulfilled in that although Jesus died and was buried, he was not left in the tomb as a dead corpse to face corruption, but was on the third day raised to life, never to die again, destroying the sting of death and bringing victory over the grave and this is also going to be the experience of all who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as we see from Pauls letter to Corinth in chapter 15 ‘. . . 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.’ (vv54b-57) Job who preceded David chronologically had the same confident assurance when he said in Job 19:25-26 ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God . . .’ They both along with many other Old Testament saints had a confident trust in God that made them assured of a future resurrection, they fully trusted and believed that although they would die and go down into the grave, God would not abandon them, in other words it was not going to be the end, God had a wonderful future planned and prepared, and it involved a resurrection of the body, and we go to Paul again in 1 Corinthians who says ‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body . . . 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.’ (vv42-44, 51-53) The KJV puts it this way ‘For this corruptible must put on incorruption’

Thank God for the sure resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for his resurrection is the firstfruits or the guarantee that more will follow, and for those of us who have trusted Jesus it is a resurrection to eternal life. ‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.’ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

May we rest in confidence with the same words that Job expressed ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God . . .’ It just so happens that I am preparing this devotion on the morning that Sheila left this world, one who had lived knowing Jesus and we can be confident that she has gone to her eternal reward in his eternal presence, and so it will be for all of us when that moment of our own departure arrives, quoting Paul again ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.’ We will continue tomorrow.

SATURDAY 23^rd

Psalm 15

NIV (v1) – ‘LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?’

ESV (v1) –  ‘O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?’

The psalmist is asking an important question here, ‘LORD, who may dwell or sojourn , . . . who may live or dwell . . . where you are?

The place where God dwells is a sacred place (sacred tent) and a holy place (holy mountain) and therefore anything that is not holy cannot be found there, otherwise it would cease to be a sacred tent, or a holy hill. When it comes to the holy dwelling place of God, the psalmist wants to know who may dwell there? He continues in the psalm to answer the question, ‘He who walks blamelessly and does what is right  and speaks truth in his heart . . .’

But we can ask another question, where on earth will we find anyone who fits the bill? Who does walk blamelessly, who is right and speaks truth in his heart? We know from yesterday’s Psalm that God had looked at sinful humanity way back in Genesis 6 and he only found Noah who was righteous, and yet we know that after the flood, even Noah failed in his righteousness and sinned. Well our answer comes by looking at Calvary, for there hanging on the cross was one who fitted the bill perfectly, we see Jesus, he was born sinless, lived sinlessly and he was able to go as mans representative to die a substitutionary death on our behalf, he had fulfilled the law, he had lived a life of total obedience, he had lived blamelessly, he had done what was right, he had only ever spoken truth from his heart, and thus he was able to be the perfect and spotless Passover Lamb and through his atoning sacrifice he has made it possible for men and women to be able to go and to live in the LORD’S tent, to dwell in the LORD’S hill. And how? In the words of Jesus himself, ‘ I am the way, and the truth and the life, no man can come to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6) We get to God’s dwelling place through his Son, through the Lord Jesus Christ, for through his obedience many have been made righteous, meaning that the day is coming when Christ will take into the eternal presence of God, into the dwelling place of God all who have been washed and cleansed in his precious blood, made clean, made holy and in that moment when it happens we will be presented as a bride without spot and without wrinkle and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27) So, who can dwell? Only those who have come by faith to Calvary, there is no other entrance into heaven, there is no other means, no other access but through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We stand not in our own righteousness but we stand complete in his righteousness, fully and squarely on what he has done for us, and this is wonderful news, that because I am dependent upon what Christ has done, and you as a believer are dependent upon what Christ has done, we shall be found in God’s dwelling place, and we will not cause it to cease to be a holy place, because we will have been made holy, justified and sanctified by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

FRIDAY 22^nd

Psalm 14

NIV (v1) – ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.’

ESV (v1) – ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.’

Who is the fool? The psalmist answers that it is the one who says, ‘there is no God’. He repeats the same in a later psalm, Psalm 53.

Sadly it seems today that the majority of men and women are rushing through life without giving a thought for God, they rush on without any concern for eternity, they either do not believe he exists, or if he does they do not care.

Over the Christmas period there was a particular ‘quiz’ show on, it was a ‘Christmas special’ the contestants who had to answer questions on specific subjects were celebrities, the specific subjects were also represented by a celebrity guest. What struck me was that one of the questions that was being avoided being answered the most was a question based on the nativity.  A ‘Christmas’ show, yet the actual ‘Christmas’ question was being avoided because of the real risk of not knowing the answer, because although folk want to celebrate Christmas they have no concern for what it really is all about!  That is how ignorant the world is concerning the things of God, either because they do not believe these things or have no time for them. God no longer matters. In the quiz it seemed the real meaning of Christmas was not anywhere near the top of the list of the contestant’s priority therefore they were unlikely to know the answer.

But God does matter! And verse 2 continues ‘The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.’

Ignoring God will not make him go away, rejecting God does not mean he doesn’t matter and choosing to say that he does not exist does not stop him from existing, and the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter one that men and women will be without excuse because God has made himself known in so many ways. For example, verses 18-20. ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.’ The Hebrew writer also reminds us that God has made himself known in many ways and through different eras, but more importantly he has made himself known through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:1-2) The message of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe but to us who are being saved it is the power of God, for in Christ, God has made himself known and in Christ, God is reconciling the world to himself. The cross and the resurrection are historical facts therefore in the words of Romans 1:20, ‘men (and women) are without excuse’.

Taking verse 2 again ‘God looked down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God’, Genesis 6 tells us that God looked and he saw the wickedness of man was great in all the earth and that every thought and intention of his heart was only evil continually and as he looked he saw just one, a man called Noah who found favour in the eyes of the LORD, for Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. What God saw way back then is so similar to the day in which we are living in, with the quiz show that I have referred to, while watching it my hearts was grieved in that it reminded me that wickedness has become the norm today, and righteousness no longer seems to matter, but God is looking, God sees, and he will hold man accountable for his actions and deeds, but as he looks he still sees a remnant, not just one man called Noah, but all those who have been washed in his precious blood, men and woman who he sees as righteous not because of anything we have done but on account of what he has done on our behalf.

‘The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’’ our prayer needs to be that before the day of grace closes, many will yet come to a knowledge of the truth, that Jesus is who he really said he was, the Son of God, born to be the Saviour, the one who is the only way to the true and living God, the God to whom one day we will have to stand in front of and to give an account of ourselves.

(As an aside I wonder how many watched the same quiz I have mentioned and how many knew the right answer to the nativity question?)

THURSDAY 21^st

Psalm 13

NIV (vv5-6) – ‘But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.’

ESV (vv5-6) – ‘But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.’

As I read this verse for today the words of various songs came to my mind, those of us that were brought up on the hymn books the Pentecostal Churches used will remember that the hymns were put into sections, for me it was the ‘Redemption Hymnal’, in Emmanuel we have the ‘Making Melody’, which are both very similar, both have a section called ‘Trust and Obedience’, in which we finds hymns such as ‘Trust and obey’, ‘Jesus, I will trust thee, trust thee with my soul’, ‘Simply trusting every day’, ‘I am trusting thee Lord Jesus’, they are hymns that we sang that affirmed our confident trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, both in what he has already done for us, but also in what he is continually doing for us as he leads us and guides us. Sadly, to many today these hymn books are considered old fashioned and out of date, which is a shame as so much can be learned from them to strengthen us in our Christian walk. The hymns I have mentioned being good examples, for we are living in dark days, we are living in times when we do not really know what lies around the corner as far as the nations are concerned, and we do not know what will be the final outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic, how many more lives will be lost, how long will it continue, will it strike in our households? It is no wonder that so many are fearful at this time.

In our Psalm for today David was living in some difficult days in his own experience, and yet he could say ‘But I have trusted in your steadfast (unfailing NIV) love’, he had a confident trust in the LORD God and we too as we have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can have a confident trust in him, and we can declare it by saying out this same verse of Scripture, ‘I have trusted in your steadfast love’ it is a declaration that we have not only put our trust in the Lord, but that we also trust him, for his unfailing love and his unfailing goodness are toward those who fear him. And we can sing it, that is why I still believe that there is much benefit in the hymns that are in these old hymn books, for they are not hymns based upon a soppy sentimentalism but upon a deep and confident assurance in who Jesus is and what he is to us who love him.

I remember when I first went to pastor the Church in North Wales, someone from another local Church said to me ‘but you still use the Redemption Hymnal’ it was a derogatory statement that was saying that by using the old hymnal we were out of touch and out of date.  My answer clearly would be, the hymnal is never out of touch and out of date, because the words of the hymns have been composed by men and women who were in touch with the true and living God, they were individuals who had encountered what it really was to be a child of God and they really knew what it was to live for him come what may, and their confident trust in God expressed in the hymns they composed can still enable me to be strengthened and assured in my walk with God in the 21^st Century. Maybe for many today the words ‘Trust and obey’ are too challenging? Maybe the words ‘I am trusting thee Lord Jesus’ are not quite ringing true for many who would rather be putting their trust in men or women or things, rather than in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be a people who can confidently say, despite our circumstances, despite whatever may be going on around us, ‘I am trusting thee Lord Jesus, trusting only thee’, may we join with the psalmist and say, ‘But I have trusted in your steadfast / unfailing love’ may we also say ‘I continue to trust in your steadfast / unfailing love’.

WEDNESDAY 20^th

Psalm 12

NIV (v6) – ‘And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.’

ESV (v6) – ‘The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.’

This is our 300^th devotion since we started them way back on March 22nd, 2020. And it has brought us to Psalm 12 which we find starts off by talking about the way the ungodly speak, v2, ‘Everyone utters lies to his neighbour; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.’ and verse 3 says ‘the tongue that makes great boasts . . .’ This is so typical of the age in which we are living, where there is much boasting taking place, or there is so much deceit in the hearts of men and women that comes out in the things which they say. David lived in such a day, but he comes to a very clear conclusion and it is this, that although all around are careless with their speech and with their tongues there is one whose words we can trust and rely upon, he says in our text, ‘The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.’

It is good to be reminded of this in our 300^th devotion that we can trust fully upon the words of the LORD God, purified seven times, speaks of utter perfection, absolutely flawless and of course it then means totally trustworthy, reliable, and dependable.

We are often told today to be careful about fake news, and warned about scams, we need to discern what we hear and be careful not to be scammed, but when it comes to the word of the God, we need no such warning, it is true, and scam free, in fact instead it exposes the scam and the shame that is within us as we allow it to do its work. (Hebrews 4:12-13 ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’)

A few psalms after our psalm for today, the psalmist says ‘the word of the LORD proves true . . .’ (18:30) and again we read in Proverbs 30:5 ‘Every word of God proves true . . .’ that same chapter in verse 6 also gives a very solemn warning ‘Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.’

We know that there are those who have sought to add to the word of God, or to take away from it, or even to twist it to make it say what they want it to say, we need to treasure it, we need to keep it, remembering that it is an eternal word, it stands not only for time but also eternity. ‘. . . for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’

We will look at this same subject again when we come to Psalm 19, for there the psalmist speaks again of the word of God.