I just finished reading, but my journaling may be delayed. We have our trip home today (from WA), and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the writing done. At the very least, whenever we arrive home.
update 11:55 pm:
(the time I'm starting, not the time I'm finishing/posting)
Today's reading: Hosea 10, 11, 12; Psalm 73; Hebrews 4
S) " 1 Surely God is (A)good to Israel,
To those who are (B)pure in heart!
2 But as for me, (C)my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps [a]had almost slipped.
3 For I was (D)envious of the [b]arrogant
As I saw the (E)prosperity of the wicked." - Psalm 73:1-3 (NASB)
O) I've been there. This is passage describes most of my teenage years, as I first started to really strive toward righteousness, and the sanctity to which God was calling me. My live as a teenager was full of chaos and tumult and God was a refuge for me. As I got older, and I neglected God's call to holiness, and it had a lot to do with this passage. Serving God is hard, and as I came into adulthood, I looked around my world and saw people all over who were living out their lives without any apparent need of God. When I graduated high school and got a solid job, I certainly didn't feel the same need for a refuge. I went a little further than Asaph (the writer of this Psalm) and my feet went right on past stumbling! As I got into my marriage and had my first child, I realized just how futile was "the prosperity of the wicked." Granted, not all prosperity outside of God deserves such a harsh title as "wicked" but certainly I started to realize that outside of Him, I was doomed to a tragic end, not completely unlike what is described through the rest of the Psalm.
A) It is imperative that I do not forget the futility of any amount of prosperity that is found outside of God. The rest of this Psalm serves as a warning, but I included the first verse because of the ultimate truth it holds. I need to keep my mind on the fact that God is good to Israel (His children), to those who are pure of heart!
(Isreal, and all Christians by extension, as we have been adopted in, as God's own children. See 1 John 3:1).
P) Father, thank You for adopting me, through the redemptive work of Jesus. Please help me keep my mind on You and the goodness you have in store for those that are upright in heart. Help me to walk in repentence, so that your mercy is new in me continually. Holy Spirit, strengthen me to keep the righteousness, that was gifted to me, pure as I walk out each day. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
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