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Psalms 4:8 (4:9 LXX)

I will both sleep and rest in peace,
For You alone, O Lord, cause me to dwell in hope.

Encouraging Words

Hope! What a wonderful and powerful thing hope is. Unfortunately, the world wants us to not have our God as the object of our hope. We are so often told that our only hope for joy, health, and posterity can be found in our government, so vote for the candidate that fulfills that hope the most. Or our only hope is in our wealth, the job that requires me to put others down or cheat my customer so that I can get paid more as my employer’s coffers grow. Or I should put my hope in my health, or the stuff that I own, or the knowledge that I have amassed. In the end, all of these things that are of this world that tries to entice me to put my hope into themselves will someday be gone. The only thing that will last through eternity, the only thing that is constant and True, the only thing worth putting my trust and my hope in, is my God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. Only in Him can I find rest, peace, and joy. Glory be to God for He is my fortress and foundation.

Genesis 3:11-13

Thus He said, “Who said you were naked? Have you eaten from the one tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” Then Adam said, “The woman You gave me, gave me of the tree, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Personal Challenge

Another response to sin (in addition to hiding from God) is that we immediately start pointing our fingers at everyone else and blame them for our transgression. God loves us so much that He does come to us in the midst of our sin to judge us and to chastise us, but to give us an opportunity to confess our sm, repent of it, and seek His comfort and acceptance. Deflecting to everyone and everything else just delays our opportunity to reconcile with God and our fellow human beings. God wants us in this state of reconciliation. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.

Matthew 4:1-6

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Encouraging Words

Sometimes people will ask why it is so important for us to recognize Jesus for being a human being as well as God Himself. This passage shows us so clearly why this is so important. When Jesus went out into the desert, He went there as a human being. He fasted for a long time. I think the longest that I have even done a total fast was somewhere between 30 and 40 hours. Believe me, your body starts feeling some strange things and your mind starts going to some weird places. Even when you do a fast where you can drink fluids and juices, your body and mind revolts. Jesus felt hunger pangs like you or I would. He felt alone in the desert like you or I would. His human nature was ripe for the enemy to confront Him and tempt Him. And it was His human nature that denied Satan in all of the temptations. He made it possible for me to do the same by becoming human and paving the way for people like me to also say “No!” to the enemy and his attempts to steer me away from God. Jesus exercised His free will as a human being showing me that I can strive to be like Him and do the same. Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ for showing me the way and giving me a Helper so that I could follow in your footsteps.

Psalms 4:1

You heard me when I called, O God of my righteousness.
You strengthened my heart when I was in distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

Encouraging Words

God always hears me when I call out to Him. The problem is that I do not call out to Him when I need Him the most, which is every moment of every day. He is not only the God of my righteousness, but He is the only source of righteousness in my life, And once again, that righteousness is not very evident in my life because I am not consistently calling out to Him to make me righteous. When I do reach that point of distress and despair in my life, He is there for me, but once again I must call out to Him. Had I been calling out to Him sooner, then maybe I would not have come to that place of distress and despair. I can know, not only because He promises me, but because He has shown me time and again, that He does have mercy on me, and that He does hear my prayer. So why do I not call out to Him more often? Because I become so centered on myself and view life as if the world revolves around me. It does not! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Genesis 3:8-9

Then they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden that afternoon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves within the tree in the middle of the garden from the presence of the Lord God. So the Lord God called Adam and said to him, “Adam, where are you?”

Personal Challenge

This verse so clearly shows what is the greatest consequence of sin, all sin. God created us in His image. In that image, we have built within us the ability to know the difference from right and wrong. So when we choose to reject God and do what we want to do, we sin. And one of the results of that sin is that we attempt to flee even farther away from God. We try to hide from Him. We do this because we know that we have offended Him and disobeyed what He desires from us. However, God does not pull Himself away from us. He loves us too much to do that. To the contrary He pursues us. He calls out to us so that we can confess our sin and be in communion with Him. This question that He asks Adam is a rhetorical question. He knows exactly where he is and what he has done. He is lovingly giving Adam a chance to reverse his course of hiding and draw closer to His Father, His creator. So too, does He call out to me! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Encouraging Words

There is so much that can be unpacked from this passage. Today, my focus is on the fact that Jesus chose to be baptised, an act done by people of His day to symbolise repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus had no sin in His life. He had nothing to repent of. The reason that He “had” to be baptized was so that He could fully participate in the purification of mankind and bring us into His world of purity. When Jesus came up out of the waters of the Jordan, He brought up with Him, not only a renewed humanity, but the entirety of creation renewed by His incarnation. This was so prominent that the Trinity was fully revealed in this event just as it had been at the beginning of creation. Glory be to God!

Psalms 3:4-7

But You, O Lord, are my protector,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill.
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord will help me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who set themselves against me all around.

Encouraging Words

I am not alone as I journey through life. My Lord, my Father, the Giver of Life is always with me in the midst of my journey. No matter what happens, whether it be a stressful situation at work, an unexpected financial hardship, an argument with a loved one, you name it, I know that I can rely on my Lord to walk through the situation with me. This does not mean that I can ignore the situation. In most, if not all cases, I am a key contributor to the situation and because of that, I have to work through the consequences of my choices. Sometimes these consequences are as painful as the situation. But I must own my responsibility and work through to a point of resolution. The beauty of being a child of God is that He will be there with me as I do the right thing. Glory be to God!

Genesis 3:7

Then the eyes of the two were opened, and they knew they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Personal Challenge

Doesn’t this verse show the true nature of sin? There is certainly something to be said, positively, for the value of protecting the innocence of our children, as well as for ourselves. Once a sinful thing is made known to a person, the enemy forever has a foothold in their life. Adam and Eve were innocent and had no clue that they were living naked in the garden. They had the light of God clothing them and protecting them. But when they followed the temptations of the enemy and had their eyes opened then everything charged. There is so much in this world that is trying to make it into our hearts and minds to win us over to worldly ways. It is imperative that we guard and protect our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears from being bombarded by those things that will lead us away from our Lord’s side and out of His light. It is even more important that we protect our children and our children’s children from this bombardment. We cannot afford to get numbed to the things of the world and end up sacrificing the things of God.

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the way of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the troublesome;
But his will is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by streams of waters,
That produces its fruit in its season;
And his leaf shall not wither,