There was so much holy beauty and encouragement in my Bible readings this morning. My heart was truly overwhelmed with His goodness.
Psalm 89 is a contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite in which he remembers God’s covenant with David, and expresses sorrow for lost blessings because of Israel’s disobedience. How wonderful to read about God’s promises to His chosen people.
To remember that…
Our God is mighty.
His faithfulness surrounds Him.
He rules the raging sea and scatters our enemies with His mighty arm.
The heavens are His.
The earth, also.
The world and all its fullness, He has founded them.
Psalm 89 also brought me comfort because it reminded me that in judgment God always remembers mercy.
Beloved…Despite our sin and our unfaithfulness, our God’s love toward us is unfailing. In all our affliction He was (is) afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved (saves) us. In His love and in His pity, He redeemed us. He bears us and carries us all of our days here on this earth. He is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. Listen to His beautiful words to those that are His from Psalm 89.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
Oh how blessed are we whose God is the Lord! Our God is kind. His mercies fail not! There is forgiveness with Him. Strong is His hand and high is His right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne. Mercy and truth go before His face.
Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.
In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
For You are the glory of their strength,
And in Your favor our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the LORD,
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Truly He is the glory of our strength. My reading of 2 Corinthians 3 this morning reminded me of this truth.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
It is God who ALWAYS leads us in triumph in Christ. I am so thankful for Paul’s words that highlight (my) insufficiency. I can’t be reminded of this enough! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Beloved…THIS is the trust we have through Christ toward God. Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God…and because we have such confidence, because we have received mercy and His ministry of hope…we do not lose heart. We cry out to Him in our distresses and by His grace, He makes us bold with strength in our soul. We look to Him and are radiant; our faces unashamed. Here is the best part from the end of 2 Corinthians 3.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord
When we look to Him, we are changed into His image from glory to glory by His Spirit. How unbelievably wonderful is that‽ It brought to mind God’s promises to believers in Romans 8:28 and 8:29.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Our God is supremely in charge of everything that touches our lives. The good, the bad and the ugly. Things will not just be okay…all that we go through, all that we face…everything…will work together for our good and His glory. It is hard for me to wrap my mind around that one, but the next one is even more mind blowing.
Throughout our lives…whatever might come our way…as we behold Him and surrender to His leading and Lordship, God will use it to fashion us (me!) into the likeness of His Son. That is the goal. That is the promise. He will complete the good work He started in you. Read Philippians 3:12-16 with me. The goal Paul speaks of here is Christlikeness.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Beloved…
Look to Him…
Behold Him..
Wait for Him…
Place your trust in Him…
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.—Psalm 89
