Daily Devotion

June 25, 2006

Psalms 40:13-15  Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.  (14)  Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.  (15)  Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

How could we ever please God? Our very carnal nature is sinful (Job 15:14).  Yet, like the man who said,  “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mar 9:24), we can ask--yes, we can boldly demand, that God to be ‘pleased’ to deliver us.  The blood of Jesus sprinkled on our heart allows us the boldness of faith in the language of our prayers. His promises form a contract that allows us to ‘demand’ (2 Per 1:4; Is 45:11).

For those who “kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5), death is a fruitless empty end.  We need to remember that God “is not willing that any should perish” (2 Pet 3:9).
Shame is the cousin of conviction, who leads the way to repentance.

How beautiful it is to have the assurance that as in the realm of physics, in the Kingdom of God, our actions are always met with their ‘reward’.  The careful study of history proves that the fate of nations has always been dependant on their attitudes towards God, His Laws, and His people.

Do you worry about your enemies?  Do you fret about those who wish you evil?  Do not wish for their destruction. Know that their shame and desolation will soon come as the self-inflicted reward of their evil actions.  But as for you, the Child of God, remember the words of our LORD and “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Mat 5:48)  

Matthew 5:44-45  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  (45)  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Patrick Lumbroso
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