bible-in-a-year » Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

psalms 107 – 111

Good morning! Sorry for the early birds who may have been waiting for this mornings blog…

psalm 107 is pretty cool… The redeemed people are giving thanks to God, praising God for his grace and mercy. Who are the redeemed people? People God gathered from all directions, from all nations. These redeemed people are all types of people; people from the city who are lost and hungry, people in chains adn in darkness who scorn and rebel against God, people who are foolish and ensnare themselves in their own sin, and people who are merchants, adventurers, searching for all God’s wisdom and knowledge down to the depths… All these people ended up at the same end – crying out to God for mercy. They cried out for salvation and God heard them.

What was their response?

To give thanks to God for his unfailing love and for his wonderful deeds to men (vs 8, 15, 21, 31), to tell of his works with songs of joy (vs22), to praise and exalt him before an assemby of people and the elders (vs 32).

God’s gracious act in salvation lead the people to praise God and sing out in thankfulness… This was a great reminder to me of God’s sovereignty in all things, particularly in the salvation of his people.

The psalm ends with… “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord…”

Where do we ultimately see God’s love?

In the cross of Jesus.

1 Chron 18:1 – 22:1

Have you ever been shown the extent of your own pride and sin? The account of David’s pride in “his” army and the consequence seems strange for a man who a few chapters earlier was humbly praising God, acknowledging he wasn’t worthy of God’s blessing and favour.

When the details of David’s victory are given, it ends with “it is the Lord who gives victory…” but this seemed to be something that David forgot… He forgot that it was God who went before the army and won the battles for them. David forgot this and decided to take a census to see how big and powerful his army was (see the note below…). Even his military dude, Joab, advised him against this as it was elevating the army and forgetting the Lord of the army. Pretty strong words are used to describe how Joab felt – he found the king’s command “repulsive”.

Note: something complicated – In 1 Chronicles 21:1, it says “Satan incited David to take a census…” and in 2 Samuel 24:1 it says “…he (God) incited David against them (Israel)…” Both are true as God is Sovereign and He is in control of everything, including Satan inciting David to take the census. Satan seemed to be involved by tempting David to think of his own military pride, instead of God’s glory, and David acted out his rebellion against God by taking a census, forgetting that it was God who won the battles for Israel.

What was the consequence?

God’s wrath being poured out on Israel… 3 days of a plague being poured out on the nation – 70,000 people died.

What is amazing about this story is God’s reaction to the events of his wrath – vs 15

“…the Lord saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, ‘Enough!…”

Rebellion against God needs to be atoned for; a penalty needs to be paid, not because God is harsh God but because He is a just, holy, righteous God. He can’t ignore the sins of the people and there needed to be an atonement, a consequence for their rebellion. BUT He was grieved at the death of his people and had mercy and compassion on them. How much more is this true of God sending his one and only begotten son, Jesus, to pay our penalty for OUR rebellion against Him. God is grieved by our sin and knew there was no other way for our sin to be atoned for, other than atoning for it Himself, through coming to earth as man – JESUS.

Leviticus 20:1 – 22:33

ok, so there were 3 things that I was pondering on this morning…

- The holiness of God: almost at the end of each command or block of instructions there are these words – “I am the Lord…” Why follow these instructions? “I, the Lord, am holy” or “I am the Lord who makes them holy.” It is God who is the one true God, who creates, transforms and sets apart His people, (i.e. to be holy).

- Laws, laws, commands, laws… So much detail and depth of the laws. In Romans 3, we know that the law was there so that we would become conscious of sin. This hit me like a truck today! There are so many laws and instructions, in so much detail God has instructed His people so that they would see the depravity of their own sin and cry out to God for mercy!

- God’s design is for perfection: This is linked to the first one… In all the instructions, it was perfection that God sought. Perfect holiness in people’s actions in relating to one another, perfect holiness in their offerings to God, perfect holiness in their service of God… I mean, what person can be perfect??

So I have struggled to wade through all the commands and instructions trying to work out where Jesus fits but then I realised He is the fulfillment of it all. God requires perfection and holiness in people, but because we are sinful, depraved and evil in our core, we can’t fulfill the laws. BUT Jesus did. He was perfectly obedient as well as presenting to God a perfectly, holy sacrifice… himself on the cross…

Hope you are persevering through it all.