Just One Lamb

I love the intricacy of detail in the Bible. Of course, David cared for all the sheep in his flock, but in 1 Sam. 17:34, it says that David used to fight a lion or a bear when they tried to take a lamb from the flock. A lamb! He would risk his life for a single lamb. It so parallels Jesus when he talked about the 99 sheep and the 1 lost lamb. He went out an found it as well. How wonderful that Jesus cares so much about the singular, the 1 individual. I praise God that He sought me and rescued me placing me in His flock.

Father,
Thank You so much for sending Jesus to rescue me and put me in His flock.
In Jesus name,
Amen

David

This year I am studying the life of David in Bible study. I know that I am going to love it because I love the Psalms. I know why I love them because I love poetry, but I know people, who don't like poetry at all, who still love the Psalms. Why? What is the appeal? I often think it is because of the emotional appeal, the weaknesses, the highs and lows that David reveals to us. We see ourselves in him, and who doesn't like to read about themselves.

Why else might I really want to learn about David? I think I need to see what David endured so that I might understand what produced that kind of emotional upheaval. I know I have endured some chronic illness which has produced upheaval in my life. It caused me to draw much closer to God and changed me as a person. In that respect, I can identify with David.

More tomorrow...

Father,
I praise You for Your Word and for including the Psalms. I thank You for giving me a glimpse into what made David David. This year help me to understand and apply truths from his life into mine. Teach me.
In Jesus name,
Amen

God's Holy Temple

1 Cor. 3:17, 21-23

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple...So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. 

What a truth to realize that we are Christ's, part and parcel and that God's holy temple is within us. It is not a building but a living entity. Amazingly we are privy to Christ and to God. No longer do we struggle with identity or worship. We are His! Made in His image and now to live and breathe in His life! We do not have to have a pilgrimage or go to a specified location. We just have to meet God and Christ in the privacy of our own hearts. He has come to be at home within us, and are we at home with Him. Are we abiding in Him each moment? Are we transformed by His power and grace? Yet often we are like the Corinthinans who were not spiritual people, but were people of the flesh, and infants in Christ who could not be fed with the solid food of the Word but with milk. [1 Cor. 3:1-2] How sad! How really foolish when God has gifted us with so much and we would rather live like paupers. He has blessed us with the rich, spiritual food, but we would rather live on milk. It only reveals the strength of our flesh. I must cry out to God each day for His grace to be my strength to fight the battle against my own flesh, against myself. 

Father,

Help me to think of You throughout this day. Help me to remember that Christ is within me and that my body is Your holy temple. Fill my mind and my thoughts with You. Make my conversation be filled with Your words.

In Jesus name,

Amen

The Lord Looks on the Heart

Ps. 69:30-31

I will praise the name of God with a song: I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

God said in 1 Sam. 16:7, But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." With God this is a clearly established principle. Whether singing praises or magnifying Him, it must come from a heart truly in love with God, not from a heart merely going through the motions. 

Ps. 51:16-17 says, For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Once again, the idea of a sacrifice of an ox or a bull, an overt act. But with all overt acts, there is the possibility of reducing the act to mere motions. Mere motions do not cut it with God!! It must come from a broken spirit and a contrite heart. The heart must be right before God. 

So when I praise Him in worship, which should be every waking moment and with every breath that I have, I must have my heart engaged. It must be right before God. Why broken and contrite? Because my sin must be confessed before I can praise Him. I cannot allow my flesh to muddy the waters or to contaminate my heart. One of the first things that my heart wants to do is reduce my relationship with God to mere motions. So sad! I must be watchful always checking my heart. Is it right before God? Is it broken and contrite? 

Father,

I confess my faulty confession. How prideful is that! Somehow being careless about this has such devastating consequences. Please, Lord, blot out those sins that I have allowed, that I have neglected to confess. Open my eyes and my heart so that I may see clearly what I should confess. Help me to praise You from a broken and contrite heart.

In Jesus name,

Amen