Accept God's discipline and mercy

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Tuesday and Wednesday, February 16 and 17, 2010
Devotions: Ps 26, 28, 32, 36, 39, 95, 102, 130, 142; Prov 30:1-4, 24-33; Amos 5:6-24; Phil 3:1-11; Heb 12:1-14; Lk 18:9-14; Jn 18:28-38

Lord, vindicate me. I live in Your integrity, with Your steadfast love ever before me, trusting You in the faith You have given me. I shun dissemblers and worship my awesome God. Blessed be God Who hears and answers my supplications. YHWH is my Strength and Shield; my heart trusts in God alone, and I exult and praise my God. YHWH is the Strength of all His people, the Refuge of the anointed, our Shepherd. The wicked hear the voice of evil; sin is their master. They plot evil day and night. But God’s steadfast love reaches to the heavens; His faithfulness billows like the clouds. Blessed are all whose sins God has forgiven, to whom YHWH imputes no wickedness. I confess my sin to You, and take my refuge in Your goodness. Many are the pangs of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds God’s people. I shout God’s praise! Lord, Your righteousness surrounds us like the everlasting mountains, and Your judgments are profound, deeper than the oceans. You are the Fountain of all light, all truth, my Savior. I will guard my ways, so as not to sin with my tongue; I will speak only of the goodness of God; I will stand, even in my mortal weakness, by the strength, wisdom and compassion of my God. Lord, my hope is in You alone. Hear and answer, Lord; I am a passing sojourner in this world and in this flesh, but I will know Your joy for ever. Let all God’s people sing to Him; Let us come into God’s presence with thanks and sing His praises. YHWH is the great God, Lord of all; creation is His, for He made it and sustains it. Let us kneel before YHWH our Maker; we are His people. Those who oppose God cannot survive, and have no rest. Lord, I cry to You: my days pass like smoke, and I pine away for You and for Your joy. You are enthroned forever, so hear my sad prayers, and answer. By Your grace, my descendants will be established before You. I cry to You from the very depths; no one could stand if You counted our sins against us. But You are kind and merciful, and so I hope and trust in the redemption I have from my God. I cry with my voice to God my savior. You are my refuge; deliver me from my besetting sins, and place me among the righteous before Your face, I pray.

Who has gathered wisdom from God? I have learned this, at least: size doesn’t equate with wisdom: ants are tiny, but they labor all summer to prepare food for the winter; badgers are humble, but they live among the towering crags; locusts have no king, but no army marches in better order or is more devastating; you can hold a lizard in your hands, but it lives in kings’ palaces. Stately are lions, king of beasts, a strutting cock, a billy goat in the flock, and a king before his people. Cover your mouth to prevent prating folly; and don’t press: pressure curdles milk, produces nosebleeds, and generates strife.

Seek the Lord and live! He is a consuming fire to His enemies. Those who love to argue abhor any truth-speaker; but the oppressors face God’s wrath and judgment. The prudent will keep silence in times of conflict. Seek good, not evil, and live under God’s protection. Establish justice, or God will bring suffering and lament. Why seek God’s day—it will be awesome, filled with darkness and peril. God hates our empty religious traditions; what He wants is this: let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!

Let us rejoice in the Lord; let alone outward signs of religious orthodoxy; instead, be circumcised of heart; worship God in the Spirit, and glory in the Messiah Jesus; put no confidence in the flesh. Consider Paul’s exceptional orthodox pedigree—yet he considered all that less than nothing, lost for the Messiah’s sake, and caring as if all his accomplishments were dog’s dung. Righteousness is based on faith in the Messiah, and comes from God. In faith, we may know Jesus the Messiah and the power of His resurrection; in faith, we can endure sufferings like His and become like Him in our death, so that we may also attain the resurrection from the dead!

We Christians living today are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses; so let us set aside every hindrance, every besetting sin, and let us run with perseverance the course God has marked out for us, keeping our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith; for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorned its shame, defeated death, and sat down at God’s right hand on heaven’s throne. Ponder Jesus, Who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. We haven’t struggled to the point of shedding our blood; our struggles are the disciplines by which God matures His beloved children. It is for discipline that we endure; God is showing His love and confidence by letting us struggle to grow in righteousness. We respect the passing discipline of our earthly parents; let us even more revere the loving discipline of our heavenly Father, that we may attain to His holiness. Sure it hurts now, but our struggles will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness, and training for glory! So buck up! Be healed and move forward. Strive for peace with everyone, and for holiness, so that we may see the Lord!

Jesus told this parable: two men went up to pray in the temple—a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee stood near the altar and proclaimed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men, sinners like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire!’ The tax collector stood far from the altar, eyes downcast, and beat his breast in penance, praying ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Jesus concluded: ‘I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled by God, but whoever humbles himself, God will lift up.’

The Jews dragged Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Roman praetorium. The Jews did not enter the praetorium, because to do that would have defiled them and prevented them from eating the Passover. So the governor Pilate went out to them. He asked them what accusation they brought against the prisoner. Pilate told them to judge Jesus by their own law, but they replied that they didn’t have the power to execute, and Jesus was guilty of a capital crime. Pilate entered the praetorium and had Jesus brought before him there. He asked if Jesus was King of the Jews. Jesus responded, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or have others said this about Me?’ Pilate responded, ‘Am I a Jew? No, this is the charge brought by the chief priests of your own people.’ Jesus said, ‘My kingship is not of this world; if that were so, My followers would fight to prevent Me from falling prisoner to the Jews; by My kingdom is not of this world.’ Pilate said, ‘So you are a king, then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I Am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears My voice.’ And Pilate remonstrated,’What is ‘truth’?’ Then he went outside and told the Jews, ‘I fend no crime in this man.’