Psalm 137, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE VOICE THAT EMPTIES THE GRAVE

Romans 6:5 says, “We will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like His.” Do you believe this promise? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Jesus’ question to Martha is his question to you. You see, death is the great equalizer. What do the billionaire and the peasant have in common? Both will die; we all will. But not all will face death in the same manner. Let the story of the resurrected Lazarus remind you: Jesus’ authority extends over even the cemetery.

Do you believe this? The question is personal. What’s more, it’s precise. Do you believe this? This claim Christ makes about his deity and about your destiny? Jesus is Lord over the cemetery. His voice can empty a grave, and you are designed for a Lazarus moment. Do you believe this? Remember, my friend, you are never alone.

Psalm 137

 1-3 Alongside Babylon’s rivers
    we sat on the banks; we cried and cried,
    remembering the good old days in Zion.
Alongside the quaking aspens
    we stacked our unplayed harps;
That’s where our captors demanded songs,
    sarcastic and mocking:
    “Sing us a happy Zion song!”

4-6 Oh, how could we ever sing God’s song
    in this wasteland?
If I ever forget you, Jerusalem,
    let my fingers wither and fall off like leaves.
Let my tongue swell and turn black
    if I fail to remember you,
If I fail, O dear Jerusalem,
    to honor you as my greatest.

7-9 God, remember those Edomites,
    and remember the ruin of Jerusalem,
That day they yelled out,
    “Wreck it, smash it to bits!”
And you, Babylonians—ravagers!
    A reward to whoever gets back at you
    for all you’ve done to us;
Yes, a reward to the one who grabs your babies
    and smashes their heads on the rocks!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 32:1–7

Of David. A maskil.[

Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
    your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
    as in the heat of summer.[b]

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
    the guilt of my sin.

6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
    while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
    will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Footnotes
Psalm 32:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 32:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 5 and 7.

Insight
The book of Psalms contains various types of songs, including worship, thanksgiving, creation history, and salvation history. One common type is the lament psalm, where the singer grieves over something. In many of David’s songs of lament, he mourns that his life is under attack, first by Saul and then later by Absalom. In Psalm 32, however, David isn’t lamenting the attacks of others but rather his own sinfulness and failures. Though the Scriptures don’t tell us specifically, many scholars connect Psalm 32 with Psalm 51 and David’s repentance following his sin with Bathsheba. Nevertheless, this lament quickly shifts to a song of praise and thanksgiving for God’s forgiveness, kindness, and restoration. While it’s appropriate to grieve over our spiritual failures, it’s also appropriate to celebrate God’s great mercy. David does both in Psalm 32.

The Triumph of Forgiveness
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Psalm 32:1

Mack, having struggled with drug abuse and sexual sin, was desperate. Relationships he valued were in disarray, and his conscience was beating him up. In his misery, he found himself unannounced at a church asking to speak with a pastor. There he found relief in sharing his complicated story and in hearing about God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Psalm 32 is believed to have been composed by David after his sexual sin. He compounded his wrongdoing by devising a sinister strategy that resulted in the death of the woman’s husband (see 2 Samuel 11–12). While these ugly incidents were behind him, the effects of his actions remained. Psalm 32:3–4 describes the deep struggles he experienced before he acknowledged the ugliness of his deeds; the gnawing effects of unconfessed sin were undeniable. What brought relief? Relief began with confession to God and accepting the forgiveness He offers (v. 5).

What a great place for us to start—at the place of God’s mercy—when we say or do things that cause hurt and harm to ourselves and others. The guilt of our sin need not be permanent. There’s One whose arms are open wide to receive us when we acknowledge our wrongs and seek His forgiveness. We can join the chorus of those who sing, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (v. 1). By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray
Where do you run when you find yourself burdened by something you’ve done or said? When someone comes to you who’s struggling with guilt, how do you advise them?

Father, forgive me for the times when temptation has won in my life. Help me always to run to You for forgiveness and to seek the forgiveness of others when needed.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Fellowship in the Gospel
…fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ… —1 Thessalonians 3:2

After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.

I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.   So Send I You, 1301 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Speeding Past the Right Road - #8827

Okay, I wish I had all the time in the world to get to places I need to go. Usually, that's just not possible. I'm moving pretty fast - sometimes too fast. Recently, I was on the verge of being late, and I was driving in a very unfamiliar place. You probably know the feeling of trying to follow directions to a new place, you're looking for your turn, and suddenly you're driving a long way without seeing your turn. This was one of those days for me. And the reason I was driving so far was because I had missed the place I was supposed to turn. And I missed it because I was going too fast. So, of course, it actually took me longer to get where I was supposed to be.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Speeding Past the Right Road."

Because I've missed too many roads in my life because I was going too fast to see them, I was arrested the other day - not by a police officer, but by a Bible verse. It's our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 19:2 says, "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty (Listen now.) and miss the way." How many times have you and I missed the way because we were being too hasty?

I remember in high school when they were teaching us to type, we weren't just graded on how many words per minute we could type. All that counted was the number of correct words per minute. You know speed isn't all that matters in life. Getting it right matters more! And speed often diminishes accuracy...especially in making wise choices. You may, in fact, be reaping right now the unpleasant harvest of some hasty decisions you made in the past. You were going so fast that you sped right past the right road. Let's learn from those mistakes, slow down and get it right!

Moving fast works against some key factors in making decisions that we won't regret later on; like time to pray, for example. In our haste to get things out of the way, we often forget to check with heaven. King Jehoshaphat gave this wise counsel to King Ahab on the eve of a battle he should have never been involved in. He said, "First, seek the counsel of the Lord" (1 Kings 22:5). We all ought to have that hanging in some prominent place in front of us all day long! "First, seek the counsel of the Lord." By the way, Ahab died in that battle that day. We're moving way too fast when we're in too much of a hurry to slow down and listen to the Lord.

Speeding also means we tend to neglect getting all the facts. Next to this "don't be hasty and miss the way" verse in my Bible, I've written these words, "Do your homework!" Now, often, slowing down to assess all the available information - including the future ramifications of your options - can save us a lot of grief. Another factor we speed by is taking time to seek godly advice. Proverbs 20:18 counsels us to "make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance." Talk to others who've been there; get the objectivity of someone who follows the Lord and who isn't as close to your situation as you are.

All these wise steps, though, take some time. And if you're moving too fast, you're going to miss the steps that make for wise choices and happy endings. By the way, there's another danger in going too fast. You have a tendency to run right over people. And you may have left some hit-and-run victims in your wake; you ran over them on your way to your wonderful goal.

Take it from a man who has too often missed the way that he should have gone. When you're moving too fast...well, you tend to make a lot of mistakes. And you often end up going very fast in the wrong direction!