Monday 25 February 2013

Devotion: Peace be unto you !


Luke 24:36 

We always live with some kind of fear. The fear of life, threats from terrorists, fear of natural calamities, fear of death, etc. (Yet it’s an irony that the fear that we ought to have ‘God fear’, we don’t have at all.) Often we Christians also live under some kind of fear. But there is one thing that Christ has guaranteed us through his death on the cross of Calvary.

Let’s turn to Luke 24:36 – “Peace be unto you.” This incident happened while they were discussing the glorious appearance of saviour. Then Jesus himself stood among them and said “Peace be unto you”.

It is true that these words, “Peace be unto you!” was the ordinary Jewish salutation. But, on this occasion, spoken by the Lord, possessed more than the ordinary meaning. Looking from the apostle’s perspective, their mind had passed through the deepest distress. They had lost their Lord and their Friend; and with him, they had lost, as they thought, their cause and their hopes; they were, therefore, afflicted with overwhelming grief. And now they were filled with the liveliest agitation. They were in a mental state in which blighted hopes were struggling with darkest fears; their soul was stirred to its very depths; and what, above all things, they needed was One that could come and say, “Peace be unto you!” It was the very word that was wanted to be breathed into their ear, to be spoken to their heart. At this moment, Jesus is saying to them “Peace be unto you.” Definitely, it possessed more meaning and depth rather than mere Jewish salutation.

When we remember our savior, let’s also remember the peace that he has guaranteed through his death.

“Come unto me,” he said,” and I will give you rest.” Not as the world gives rest or peace does he give. And we know from our experience it's not
(1) Not mere comfort or gratification that is very short-lived;
(2) Nor satisfaction that is based on ignorance of ourselves, and must before long be exposed;
(3) Nor the quiet of indifference or unbelief that must soon be broken up.
Not of this order is the peace of Christ. It is:

1. Rest to the burdened conscience. lie shows us our sin and makes us
ashamed of it; he fills our heart with a true and righteous sorrow for it; he awakes within us a just and honorable concern for the consequences of it.
And then he offers himself as the One who bore the burden upon himself, through whom we may find forgiveness and acceptance. And “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2. Abiding gladness to the hungering heart. “In the world” is unsatisfiedness of soul, emptiness, and heartache; a sense of disappointment. But in him is true and lasting satisfaction. “How happily the days in his blest service fly!” To live heartily and wholly unto him who loved us and gave himself for us, to expend our powers in his praise and in his service, — this is the secret of lifelong peace. All the lower springs will fail, but this never. To “lose our life” unto him is to “find it” and to keep it forever.

3. Comfort to the troubled spirit. When darkness falls upon the path when losses come, when bereavement makes a gap in the home and in the heart when some heavy disappointment blights the prospect, — then the felt presence, the realized sympathy, and the unfailing succor of that Divine friend give a peace which is deeper than our disturbance, a thrice-blessed calm to the tempest-tossed soul.

4. Peace in death. For many centuries the dying have departed in peace because they have hoped for everything through the Divine Saviour; they have calmly “slept in Jesus;” and those who now look forward to death as a passage through which they will be passing can find no better wish or prayer than that “the music of his Name” may “refresh their soul in death.”


Conclusion
 To give us this abiding, unceasing peace, our savior has to go through many peace fewer hours and nights. Let us remember his sufferings and thank God for the peace that we enjoy because of his death.

Devotion: Magnanimity an attainment


Luke 23:34

 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” This is a very powerful statement. We cannot fully understand its power since we have not gone through a situation like this and we have never said this before.

In our newspaper, we read about the murders in the name of revenge.
The cross of Christ also shows his magnanimity along with His love, grace, and his physical sufferings. I would like to point out 2 things so that it helps us to understand his magnanimity.

  1. A rare instance of Human Magnanimity
  2. A beautiful example of practicing what you preach

A rare instance of Human Magnanimity

It's very important to note that when did he say this statement. He said this statement when he was on the cross. These first of the seven words from the cross seem, from their position in the record, to have been spoken very early in the awful scene, probably while the nails were being driven into the hands and feet.
Different from other holy dying men, he had no need to say, “Forgive me.”

Conscious, not only of perfect innocence but of the purest and even the loftiest aims, Jesus Christ found himself not only unrewarded and unappreciated, but misunderstood, ill-treated, condemned on a totally false charge, sentenced to the cruelest and shameful death a man could die.
What wonder if, under those conditions, all the kindliness of his nature had turned to the sourness of spirit!
2. At this very moment, he was the object of the most heartless cruelty man could inflict, and must have been suffering the pain of body and of mind that was literally agonizing.
3. At such a time, and under such treatment, he forgets himself to remember the the guilt of those who were so shamefully wronging him.
4. Instead of entertaining any feeling of resentment, he desired that they might be forgiven for their wrong-doing.
5. He did not haughtily and contemptuously decline to condemn them; he did not and reluctantly forgive them; he found for them a generous extenuation; he sincerely prayed for his heavenly Father to forgive them. Human magnanimity could hardly go further than that.
6. The greatness of his forgiveness can be better understood when we compare it to our forgiveness. It’s very difficult for us to forgive a person who has done wrong to us and love him as before.


A beautiful example of practicing what you preach

There are certain topics about which it's very easy to preach about but difficult to practice  One of such topic is forgiveness.

When in his great sermon, (Matthew 5-7.) he said, “Love your enemies. Pray for them which despite-fully use and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven,” he urged upon us to cherish and to illustrate the loftiest virtue on the highest grounds.
This he now beautifully, perfectly exemplified. He was literally and truly praying for those who were using him despite-fully, as the greatest generals and captains have proudly and honorably claimed that they “never bad men do that which they were not willing to do themselves,” so this our glorious
Leader, he who came to be the “Leader and perfector of the faith”
(Hebrews 12:2), never desired of us any virtue or grace which
he did not possess and did not himself adorn. He could and did say to his disciples, not only,” Go thither in the way of righteousness,” but also, “Follow me in every path of purity and love.” We may well love our enemies, and pray for those who despitefully use us, that we may be the children of our Father in heaven, and that we may be followers of our patient, magnanimous Master. And it is here, truly, that we have —

Conclusion

I just wanted to point out the greatness of his forgiveness. His forgiveness is not like ours. Just like he forgave the soldiers and the people around him he forgave our sins also. This should not encourage us to do more sins to test his forgiveness. The nails that the soldiers hammered were on his hands and feet, but today we are hammering the nails on his heart through our sins after getting that salvation. To pray sincerely for those who do us wrong is one of the very highest points, if not actually the very loftiest, of human magnanimity. To dismiss all vindictive purpose, all resentful thought; to look at our enemy’s procedure in a kindly light, and to take, as Christ did here, a generous view of it; to cherish a positive wish for his good; to put this wish into action, into prayer; — by these stages we reach the summit of nobility.

Devotion: Born again into living hope and inheritance!


We live in this world with some hopes.
-          Hope that we will have our job
-          Hope that the value of the land we have purchased, will appreciate over time
-          Hope that our friends will be there around us forever
-          Hope that we will be healthy for some more time

One person said that we live in this world with lying hopes and dying hopes.
Either someone has given as a false hope or some hope which dies before us or dies with us when we die.

At around AD 60, at the time of Nero, the saints, the disciples were persecuted and they were scattered throughout the Asia minor. All their hopes of remaining in their own place and comfort got scattered and it was then Apostle Peter wrote his first letter to those scattered believers.

Let's turn to 1 Peter 1; 3, 4.

The believers were entering a season of severe trial and Peter is trying to encourage them with the words of Hope and about the inheritance that they received in the new birth.

Living Hope

In His great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death

It is a living hope, it springs up ever fresh and clear in the Christian’s heart, giving calm peace and inner joy even in the midst of troubles. And it dieth not; worldly hopes perish and die; they mock us with a deluding expectation, but they end in disappointment, and leave us sad and hopeless.
“The hope of unjust men perisheth” (Proverbs 11:7), often while they live, always when they die. But “the righteous hath hope in his death” (Proverbs 14:32); for his hope liveth even in death.

How this is a living hope compared to worldly hope?

The basis of our hope is our new birth is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death.
Jesus Christ didn’t become soil with his death but he rose from death and he is still living.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the basis of our living hope. Its not a vague guess. It’s a living hope.  It’s not a wishful thinking but it’s a firm conviction that we will also resurrect with Him.
In this world, we can see the promises made by one person, it may not stand after his death. It will be gone. The promises given by the Govt will not stand after their 5 years of rule.
But in Jesus Christ who is still living we have hope.
His disciples lost all their hope, and who ran away when Jesus was captured must have felt the same thing like the worldly. But they didn’t know that it is not the end but the beginning of a great life.
They thought their hope had ended with the death of Jesus Christ but only till the moment they saw the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Inheritance

..into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you..

The heavenly inheritance is the ultimate end of our regeneration; the hope of that inheritance is the present joy of the Christian life.

To those scattered people who had to leave their inheritance Apostle Peter is talking about their heavenly inheritance.

The inheritance is sure; it is better than the inheritance promised by others; for it is
(1) incorruptible. All things earthly have in themselves the seeds of decay and death; but “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,” the redeemed of the Lord shall receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, where “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.”
(2) It is undefiled. Our inheritance in this world or even inheritance of Israel was defiled (Leviticus 18:27, 28), but into the heavenly inheritance entereth not “anything that defileth” (Revelation 21:27).
(3) It fadeth not away. “The grass withereth, the flower falleth away;” it is
not so in the “land that is very far off.” There are no tendencies to corruption there, no
possibilities of defilement, not even that fading which must pass over the
fairest things of earth.
(4)Reserved in heaven for you. The many mansions in
our Father’s house have been kept from the beginning, and still are kept for
his elect; Satan cannot rob them of it, as he robbed man of the earthly
paradise.

Conclusion

It may not be complete to remember the suffering and death of our Jesus Christ alone without remembering the resurrection of Christ. Through which we have a living hope and an inheritance which the world cannot give. Let us thank God for his ‘great mercy’, ‘new birth’,  ‘resurrection of Jesus Christ’, through which we got the ‘living hope’ and ‘glorious inheritance’. May these thoughts make us more grateful to our savior.






Devotion: From vessels of wrath to vessels of mercy



Who we were? - Eph 2: 3

Many of us have heard of hereditary diseases. From the parents, it transmits to the children. If the parents have, the children are also most likely to have that disease.
Bible also says about one such problem, the problem which we got from our grand grandparents - Adam and Eve. And this problem affected the entire mankind since we are children of that one parent.

“Like the rest of mankind, we were by nature children of wrath …”
Being the children of that parent, we cannot be children of any other thing. We must not miss the phrase ‘by nature’. In other words, Paul is speaking of what we are by conception, by heredity and by birth, from that moment on.

 It is not the result of any of the things which are mentioned above. It is not because of the passions of our flesh, not because of the desires of our body and mind, or not because of the influence of evil habits, and bad companions, and abuse, and unfortunate education, and key wrong decisions we made. By nature we behaved in this way; this was our inclination and the wrath of God was the inevitable response.
“Like the rest of mankind..” it’s a universal rule applicable for all. All are children of wrath by nature. Entire mankind.
Paul tells us here that we are children of wrath. That is what I deserve. That is where I stand, under the holy condemnation of a righteous and sin-hating God.
Ok. That’s what we were – children of wrath. Then what changed our nature?

What made the change?

Rom 5:9 – Through the justification by the blood.

Here it talks about a provision where God’s wrath can be removed from us.

How are we saved from the wrath of God?  - Through the justification by the blood.
How are we justified?  - At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Imagine the situation if we have not received salvation. We continue to be the children of wrath. And we are very clear from the OT incidents how God acts on his wrath – so many incidents.

We know in the end days, God wrath is going to be fully revealed.

John 3:36 – God’s wrath remains on them who rejects salvation.
After believing in Jesus Christ, after being justified by his blood, we are no more the children of wrath. Our nature got changed. What are we now?


Who are we now?


 Romans 9:22 – Here Apostle Paul talks about the two categories of people.
  1. Vessels of wrath
  2. Vessels of mercy.

By default, all are the children or vessels of wrath (by nature). But the moment we believed in Jesus Christ, accepted His salvation, God’s wrath has been removed from us and we received eternal life.

Now we belong to the second category – the vessels of mercy.

Not only our nature got changed but our destinies also.

And what is vessels of mercy prepared for? – For glory.
And what is vessels of wrath prepared for? – For destruction.

From the children of wrath to the vessels of mercy which is prepared for eternal glory, eternal life. It’s the justification by the blood. At the right time Christ died for the ungodly. When we remember the death of our savior let us also remember the change that happened to us. 

Devotion: True Worship – Psalm 50


v7 - I am God, your God.
This is the first thing that we need to understand. This sentence talks of two things
1 - I am God
2 - Your God.


1. He is God


Yes, he is God. With that, what we need to understand is that even before the creation of world there was God.  And even if we are not there he will be there. God's existence doesn’t depend upon us. He is independent of everything in this world.

2. He is our God

The second truth is that - He is our God. He is the one who created us. Not only had he created us he is giving everything for us to live. He has created other things in this world for us to enjoy and rule over them.
v12b - For the whole world is mine and everything that is in it.

As the song says - Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature. Yes, he created everything that we see around us. All we see around us are his property. Every animal in the forest, every cattle, every bird, etc
Failing to understand these two truths we may end up in wrong worship. That’s what happened to Israelites. Their sacrifices and offerings just turned to a set of ceremonies.  They thought they can please God with their sacrifices. Their heart did not go with their offerings. He didn’t complain of the object to be offered but for the spirit in which it was brought.

Let us examine our worship? Are we worshipping understanding who God is? We may not be doing any sacrifice or offering as they did. But the spirit with which we sing a song, or praise him should be spiritual and pleasing to him. We may not just praise God because that’s the practice every church follows but with a spiritual heart. Then God will be pleased in our worship. Not just worship alone when we give to Lord what is the spirit behind that? God is not dependent upon our money but as a sign of gratitude and with a grateful heart let’s offer our praises and offerings to our God.

3. What God wants from us (v14,15)

This is exactly what God wants from us - Give thanks offerings to God out of a pure heart. That’s the only thing acceptable to God.
v23 - Giving thanks offering = honoring God.
He loves when we put our trust in God when we ask God for help. He likes it when we call upon him. He is asking us to call upon him in the days of trouble.
Let that be a reason for giving praise to our God. He is our deliverer. He wants to get involved in our issues and problems and help us. Let’s thank God because he is our deliverer and He gave permission to call upon him.



Devotion: God's stability and our instabilility - Psalm 46


Psalm 46

This is a psalm of consolation. Israel, in great peril (Verses 1-3, 6, 8, 9), consoles herself with the thought of God’s might, his protecting care, and his ability to shatter all the combinations that her enemies may form against her. There is nothing to determine absolutely what particular peril is spoken of; but, on the whole, the allusions seem to point to the invasion by Sennacherib, rather than to any other event in Hebrew history.

We can see in this psalm, two contrasting thoughts.

  1. Instability of the earthly refuges
  2. Stable nature of God.

Instability of every earthly refuge

Public calamities
  • Depression of trade.
  • Wars – Don’t know whether one more war is coming or not.
    • Israel and Iran.
    • War expenditure.
  • Cannot trust in the things that we see around. Outwardly it may look solid but it may not.

Personal troubles
Sometimes the earthly things may stand but it can happen that without any warning personal troubles or accidents come into our life - causing pain and agony.
The private foundations of your health, fortune, happiness, hope, may fail with brief or no warning, and all your earthly welfare be laid in ruins.
Or it may be doubts arising about our faith and convictions that can wreck our faith life and personal life.

Stable Nature of God

  • V1 – GOD IS THE ALL-SUFFICIENT, NEVER-FAILING REFUGE OF HIS CHILDREN.

The psalm shows the confidence of the Israelites about the unchangeable nature of God.

The Hebrew for “very present” means literally “greatly found;” not far to seek, but nigh at hand; not difficult to find, but offering himself; found by experience to be all that he promises, all that we need. Human ministry can do much in the lesser troubles of life; it is God’s appointed way of help. But when “the mountains” are removed — in the great crises and overwhelming sorrows, dangers, burdens of life, nothing will serve short of this — “underneath are the everlasting arms.”

  • V4 – Jerusalem had no river, unlike Thebes, Damascus, yet it talks about a “river”. Here the river serves as a metaphor for the continual outpouring of the sustaining and refreshing blessing of God, which makes the city of God, like the Garden of Eden. That makes the city of God glad. That is the river, which is making our life also joyful in the midst of problems.

  • Even the public calamities are under the control of God. He makes the war to cease. V8

Our response

·         Be fearless in the midst of greatest difficulties
·         Be glad and joyful – That God will help in the right time
·         Be obedient to the omnipotent God




Devotion: Deliverance from a great danger - Psalm 30


Psalm 30
May God's name be glorified. 
This is one of the thanksgivings Psalms of David. It commemorates a deliverance from a great danger.

The division into two unequal portions
V1-5 - > Briefly explaining the deliverance and an exhortation to praise God all his saints.
V7-12 –> Deliverance in more detailed manner and burst forth of Joy.

Psalm 30 : Song at the dedication of the temple

The most probable occasion for writing this Psalm is 1 Chron 21:1 - 22:6.
David misplaced his trust in his superior army than God. He took a census of his army. His army strength was 8 million in Israel, 5 million in Judah.
God got angry. God asked which one of the 3 destruction David prefer.
a.       Three years of famine?
b.      3 months of fleeing from your enemy
c.       3 days of pestilence in your land?

David opted for the option 3 as anyone would select. David had valid reasons that he selected. He said “Let us fall into the hands of God for his mercy is great; but not into the hands of Man”

Then God sent an angel to carry out destruction. Angel started his Job. From Dan to Beersheba he struck 70,000 people. Then he turned towards Jerusalem. God relented from the calamity and commanded the angel to stop. Then David saw the angel asked for his forgiveness at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
He was asked to raise an altar there. Later David planned to build the temple there itself.

False confidence of David – In his prosperity

Now let’s come to verse 6.

Here it says about a problem which we all have.
“When I felt secure, I said, I will never be shaken.. “.
Some translation – “As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall not be moved.”
We may not say it but its there within our mind.

V7 – By your favour, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

When things were going smoothly, when he had a great army, when he was winning the battles, after he had expanded his kingdom he forgot it was all the favour of God.
David slowly misplaced his trust in His army. He has reasons for it. There were totally 13 million people in his army. His soldiers are not like the soldiers that we may see in our Indian Army. He had a group which people called David’s mighty men
-          Josheb basshebeth – Single handily killed 800 people at one time.
-          Abhishai – Wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them.
-          Eleazer, Shammah etc.
Yes David forgot it was God’s favour.
Let me tell you dear brethren  if things around you are going good, when things are standing firm, when things are secure don’t forget one thing – it’s the favor of God.
We normally take things for granted.
V8 – You hid your face, I was dismayed (struck with fear).

Anger Vs Mercy of God

V6 – Anger for a moment, but favor is for a lifetime.
V7 – Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes with the morning.

Our God is not a God who forgets his mercy, compassion, kindness and forgiveness when He is angry. His anger is only for a moment compared to his mercy.

When God asked David to choose a punishment, David selected the punishment from God. Reason we can see in 1 Chron 21:13 – “ Let me fall into the hand of Lord for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man”

Isaiah 54:7, 8 – In overflowing anger, for a short moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love… “

Dear brethren, when he disciplines us like a Father discipline his children. He will not forget his mercy, compassion and kindness. He is our loving father. In NT, we can see this disciplining as an expression of love not anger.

Yes weeping may tarry for the night, but definitely joy comes with the morning.

Devotion: Divine intervention in our lives - Psalm 25

Exhortation from Psalm 25:8-14.

May God's name be glorified.

This psalm belongs probably to the time of the Exile. Its prevailing thought is that
God is the Teacher of the afflicted and the Guide of the erring; and this is constantly repeated, either in the way of statement or of prayer. The psalm consists of a number of prayers, reflections, not drawn up in any systematic order, and not very clearly connected by any single line of thought.

Importance of Interposition – Story of a person guiding in a strange land. – We also expect someone like that in this world.

V8-14 - The main subject of these verses is the Divine teaching, help, and guidance.
Men are ignorant and erring, and the supreme importance of Divine interposition is here recognized and unfolded.


V8-14 – God’s divine intervention in our lives


Many times we don’t realize its God’s intervention. But this passage clearly talks about how God intervenes in our lives.

1.  v8 - He instructs sinners. Many times we think that God doesn’t intervene in a sinner’s life. Shows them the right way, and helps them to walk in it. He helps his people, though they are sinners and in spite of it (ver. 8).
The ground of this conduct is given — because he is good and righteous,
or upright. It becomes his nature to act thus.

2. v9 - He leads the lowly or meek; or those who are lowly because of oppression. He leads them in righteousness; i.e. he gives to them, who do not oppose might with might, justice against their oppressors. The right is sure to triumph in the end.

3. He teaches them that fear him. (Verse 12-14) Only those who fear God are anxious to know the right path, and even God can teach only those who are anxious to find the way of life.

Characteristic of Gods intervention


V10 – His ways are of mercy and truth.

Mercy - You show goodness, large-hearted bounty if you set up a public fountain where one is needed. But if you are journeying through the desert, and share your own scanty supply with a traveler ready to die of thirst, that is mercy, loving-kindness.

Truth is the other great feature of God’s character here set forth. These two are inseparable (Psalm 85:10). Neither apart from the other would furnish a gospel. God’s mercy is the matter and motive of our faith; his truth its warrant and assurance (1 John 5:9-11). Among men, one would rather trust a hard-hearted but incorruptibly truthful man, than one full of kind feeling but faithless. In God, the two are as inseparable as the form and the color which make to our view one image.

Devotion: Entrance of the King of Glory - Psalm 24

May God's name be glorified.
An exhortation from Psalm 24 which I delivered at church. Hope you find it useful.


Psalm was written by David.
The subject of the can be seen in the verses 7 -10. The main subject is the the entrance of king of glory.
Rest all other verses are related to this incident and the preparation for this incident.

Historical Background

Most of the scholars say that it is talking about the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 6 where the ark of God is to be brought from Obed-Edom to the tabernacle which David prepared for it in Mount Zion.
In that case “the ancient doors” refers to some of the fortress through which the ark is to be entered.

How is it relevant now?
Since this is a time where we are very much interested in the prophecies.  Some consider this psalm as a prophetical psalm. Where this is talking about the entry of Christ into the holy city of Jerusalem through the east gate. In the book of Ezekiel 44, it talks about a prophecy where the east gate of Jerusalem will remain shut for the entry of the Messiah. Jerusalem has eight gates, and this alone remains closed. The partial fulfillment of prophecy happened during Palm Sunday. Again in the 15th AD, the Turks when they captured the city while rebuilding the city the king sealed the eastern gate for some unknown reason. And even today the east gate of Jerusalem remains closed from 15th century. As written in Ezekiel, it will remain shut until the entry of Messiah. Some say that this psalm 24 also talks about the opening of that gate for the entry of the Messiah.

King of Glory

This phrase has caught my attention -“King of Glory”
It is a phrase only suited for our God. As last week bro said..about Alexander we say ‘Alexander the great’ but not more than that.

Who on this earth is suited for title? – King of Glory.
In this psalm we can see two reasons why he alone is the king of Glory?

  1. V1,2 – Earth and its fullness  is Gods he has founded it upon the seas.


Gen 1: 9 - "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.”

He said - let dry lands appear in the water and it came. If we look at the earth we can see it is so true. About 70.8 % of the earth is water.
He says it is founded upon the seas.
He is the king of Glory because he is the creator of this earth. All its fullness and its people belong to Him.

  1. Strong and mighty, mighty in battle


V8: That passage is in question-answer section. Who is the king of Glory?
The Lord – strong and mighty, mighty in battle.
Have you ever seen God fighting a battle, How do we know that God is mighty in battle?  If you look to the Bible, we can see that God fighting for Israel. If you carefully observe the battle of Israel, we can see that that victory won by Israel are miraculous victories, victories of rare chance.
The mightiest king of Israel is saying this, their king itself is acknowledging. It is God who is battling for them. If they have lost, it’s because God has let them fail because of their sins.
Even now it is so true, see all the nations are against Israel now.
Israel’s existence in the world is the greatest proof of that.

How we should prepare?


Back then when David was writing this psalm, it talks about the preparation needed to receive the ark of God.
Now also we are waiting for the entry of Messiah. How should we prepare?
In the passage 3,4 -  clean hands and pure hearts.
Clean hands represent all our actions.
The pure heart represents purity in all the motives behind the actions.
So let's prepare ourselves for the king of Glory. 

Christian Joy

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