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,

Genesis 1:5b

God called the light Day; the darkness He called Night; and there was evening and morning, one day.

Encouraging Words

Even at the very beginning of creation, God had us in His mind. He is all powerful and could have created everything at once. However, knowing that we, the crown of Has creation, would be finite and limited, He chose to break His creation down into finite increments so that we could follow in His footsteps. By giving us a day, evening, and morning, He gave us a cycle that we could live within. We can do our work throughout the day and then rest through the evening as we prepare for our next day. This is no accident. God designed creation to work in such a way that we could easily function within that same cycle of work, rest, work, rest until we reach that seventh day of full rest on the Sabbath. This shows me just how much God loves us. Enough to set the entire rhythm and capability of His creation so that it will support us, sustain us, and bless us. Glory be to God?