Psalms 23:6 (22:6 LXX)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord to the end of my days.

Encouraging Words

This is the conclusion to the famous 23rd Psalm that so many of us are aware of. What this tells me is that if I strive to live my life walking along the path of my Lord, then His goodness and mercy will be poured out upon me all the days of my life. This path will be filled with mountains and valleys, rivers of torrent and streams of peace, rough times and easy times. But God will be with me all of the time. Often, this journey will require that I separate myself from those around me who are not interested in being a part of this kind of journey and who will do whatever they can to pull me off of the path of my Lord. What does He expect me to do in these situations? First, He wants me to love these people as He does and to pray for them. But it then sometimes becomes necessary to continue on His path and to let these people go their way. It is between them and God as to whether or not they want to hear and heed His voice. This is never easy but is the kindest and most loving thing to do. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner?

Deuteronomy 5:29

Would they had such a heart in them so as to fear Me and guard My commandments all the time, that it might be well with them and their sons forever.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to become self-righteous in our attempts to be godly people and then look around us and accuse everyone else of being self-righteous and ungodly people. Unfortunately, entire faith practices have developed doing this and accusing everyone that does not believe what they believe unsaved. This is not the first time this has happened. This behavior goes all the way back to the day of Moses when God gave us the ten commandments so that we would be constantly reminded to look to Him. He makes it so clear in this verse that the problem exists within our hearts. We continue to shift our focus off of God and onto us and our own desires. We are the ones with the hard hearts that God desires to soften. He is the one that has continually pursued us and poured out His love on us. He is the one that gave His Son up for us so that we could have Him live within us rather than having to be continually driven by the law. My response to all of this must be to humble myself before His greatness and submit my all to Him. Only then can He soften my heart. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner?

Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Encouraging Words

How is it possible to go through life with no fear? It is only possible to do this through faith. If we truly believe that God is the creator of the universe, that He holds eternity in the palm of His hand, that He sent His only son to live and die for us, and that He will keep His promise to never leave us or to forsake us, then we can the our lives without fear. As I have been on a journey for the last year reading through the early church fathers and the writings of our early church, it has become so clear to me that our church ancestors had no fear for their physical lives because they knew that their spiritual lives were safe and secure in Gods’ hands. We see this today with our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters in the middle East who are willing to give up their lives rather than denounce their God. This kind of faith does not come from a feel good kind of religious practice. It does not come from religious voodoo and hocus pocus. It only comes from the object, the person, in whom we put our trust. Glory be to God, and God alone!

Psalms 19:7-11 (18:8-12 LXX)

The law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls;
The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making children wise;
The ordinances of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring unto ages of ages;
The judgments of the Lord are true, being altogether just.
More to be desired are they than gold and a very precious stone,
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
For indeed Your servant keeps them;
In keeping them there is great reward.

Encouraging Words
Living in the society that we do today, the concept of value, especially as it relates to gold and precious stones is so much different than what the psalmist is talking about. Only after you have given your life over to God and put all of your trust and hope in Him can you begin to see all of the promises and praises of this passage become manifest. The important thing to remember in all of this is that the focus has shifted from how important we think we are or how much we elevate the things of the world to who God is and what does and has done. When we shift this focus in our lives we definitely begin to see these verses become manifested in our lives and our desires shift from the riches of this world and we begin to taste the glory of our God that is sweeter than honey a honeycomb. Glory be to God!

Deuteronomy 4:31

for the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you nor annihilate you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.

Encouraging Words

This verse comes after a section of the Bible that describes what will happen to those who choose to practice idolatry. We are told that because we have abandoned God that He will allow us to become consumed by the ways of the land that we are in and further separated from Him. He will allow this to happen to the point where we remember Him, remember how much He loves us and cares for us, and begin to desire to be with Him again. Through this tribulation and separation, we will choose to abandon these fake gods that we have idolized and return to Him. This passage is then ended with this verse reminding us that God is a merciful God who will never forsake us even though we have forsaken Him. He will always remain true to us and receive us, as the prodigal father, with arms wide open. We must all ask ourselves, “What idol am I worshipping in place of God?” Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have Mercy!

Matthew 9:36-38

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Encouraging Words

This passage has always encouraged me in my understanding and belief in just how much God loves us and cares for us. This is also a passage that helped to prevent me from ever embracing the doctrines of election and predestination. Jesus looked out over the whole crowd and saw a sea of sheep who were lost and looking for a shepherd. He did not say, “Look at those over there, they are my sheep and I love them, but those over there, they are goats and they don’t get any of what I have to offer!” No! He saw His lost sheep throughout the entire crowd. If anything, He was angry with the leaders of the synagog, the teachers, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees for not being shepherds to His lost sheep. It would not surprise me if He is just as angry today at all of the pastors, priests, evangelists, teachers, and other leaders in the church who are selective in who they think should be receiving His salvation. The scriptures show that Christ Himself said over and over again that He came into the world to save all of His creation, all of mankind, from the ravages of spiritual death that entered into His creation through Adam and Eve. If He is claiming all of creation to be redeemed by His grace and mercy, then who am I to say who is His and who is not. I must live my life knowing that I am not worthy to receive His grace, but at the same time hope that all of us that make up the sea of mankind will receive His grace. Glory be to God.

Psalms 18:46 (17:47 LXX)

The Lord lives, and blessed is my God.
Let the salvation of my God be exalted,

Encouraging Words

The psalmist proclaims here everything that I believe about my God. God is alive, He has not disappeared as so many naysayers would like us to believe. He is both our blessed God but also the God of blessings, pouring them out upon His beloved creation. And most importantly, my salvation, my eternal salvation from death and separation from Him, rests entirely in Him and He has graciously provided that salvation to all of Ho’s creation through His Son? Glory be to God!

Numbers 18:1-3
Now the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons with you shall bear the sins of your priesthood. You shall also bring your brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, to yourself, and they shall be joined and added to you, and minister liturgically with you and your sons with you before the tabernacle of testimony. They shall perform your guard duties and the duties of the tabernacle, but they shall not come near the holy vessels and the altar, lest they die—they and you also.

Personal Challenge

In the New Testament, we are told that we are a part of the priesthood of Christ. As we follow in the footsteps of our Lord we begin to step into the role of being one of His priests here on earth. Our church fathers would have been very familiar with this passage and the expectations of those who had been set apart by God to be the priests in the temple. They took this newly found role, as a follower of Christ, of being a priest to the world around them, very seriously, They knew that the holy vessels of the new covenant, given to them, were more important than their own lives. Is it any wonder that Christianity has remained intact for over 2,000 years? As a priest myself, it is imperative that I glorify my Father in all that I do, guarding and protecting the holy things, the gospel, that Jesus passed on to us, His followers. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!