Bible League: Living His Word But he was pierced for our transgressions,he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Our God is a God who plans things. God had a plan for our salvation even before He made the world: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). God being God, He could have planned whatever He wanted. He chose, however, the plan that has actually been working itself out in created reality. Some may object to this. Some may think they could have done better. They may object to the whole idea of God coming up with a plan of salvation. Why not just prevent the occurrence of sin in the first place and eliminate the need for a plan of salvation? Some may object to specifics of the plan. Why not accomplish salvation through Jesus Christ immediately after the first occurrence of sin and eliminate the suffering and pain of the great masses of people that were to come? However, before anyone voices their complaint about the plan, before anyone voices their complaint that God could have done better by us, consider what God allotted to His only begotten Son in the plan. Consider Isaiah 53:5. In order for the plan to be accomplished, God determined that it was necessary for the second person of the Trinity to become a mere human and be pierced, crushed, punished, and wounded by wicked people. Before anyone complains that the plan was a raw deal for humanity, in other words, consider the humiliation God allotted to His only begotten Son. If we consider Isaiah 53:5, we can see that the plan of God was not the capricious thought of a God who was indifferent to our plight. Rather, it was the plan of a God who loved us enough to be willing to send His Son to suffer and die for us. It was the plan of a God who was willing to send His divine equal to take our place and suffer the consequences of our sin. We will never fully understand the why and wherefore of God's plan of salvation, but there is one aspect of it that we can see plainly. We can see that our God truly loves us. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingAmos 1, 2, 3 Amos 1 -- The Words of Amos: God's Judgment on Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Amos 2 -- God's Judgments on Moab, Judah and Israel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Amos 3 -- The Necessity of God's Judgment; Testimony against Israel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 5 Revelation 5 -- The Scroll with Seven Seals; Worthy is the Lamb NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.Insight James mentions the most common problems in prayer: not asking, asking for the wrong things, asking for the wrong reasons. Challenge Do you talk to God at all? When you do, what do you talk about? Do you ask only to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God's approval for what you already plan to do? Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to his will for you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 84:7 They go from strength to strength.They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress. Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction." Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 66:2 Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious.Isaiah 43:21 "The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise. Jeremiah 33:8,9 'I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. • 'It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.' Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Psalm 86:12,13 I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. • For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. Exodus 15:11 "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving. Revelation 15:3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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