August 21, 2006 - Psalms 107-109 and I Corinthians 4
When was the last time that you gave a personal testimony to another person about how God saved you or how He had blessed you? It is one of the things that we know we are supposed to do regularly, but we end up being silent if we are not very intentional about speaking up. Psalm 107 exhorts all of the redeemed to tell others that God has redeemed us. (v.2) Four times the psalmist urges us to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works. I believe those are references to telling others and giving the thanks to God at the same time. Let's make giving testimonies of God's mercy and goodness to us a priority every day.
Psalms 108 and 109 are asking God for help with enemies. We should praise Him for the victories as David does in Psalm 108, and we should pray for His help as He does in Psalm 109. There is a very vengeful attitude in Psalm 109 that leads me to think that David was very frustrated at that point in his life. He was being honest with God about how he felt. However, God does not want us to take revenge. He tells us to leave that to Him. I believe that is David's intent, but he is getting the frustration of of his chest, too. The truth is that we can tell God how we feel, and He understands. God has been frustrated with me many times, and I am glad He did not do to me what David was asking Him to do to His enemies. God will always do the right thing and the loving thing.
Paul is feeling that way as he writes I Corinthians 4. There are people in the church who are putting him down, even though he brought them the Gospel, and they owed him their lives. (v.15) They are saying all kinds of bad things about Paul, and they are exalting themselves. Paul replies in a sarcastic but loving way. He points out the truth to them plainly. There should be no arrogance in the church. (v.6) We are not to be like the world, but we are to even appear as fools for Christ's sake. (v.10) We are not to be critical of each other in judgment, but we are to look to the end when God will judge us correctly. (v.5) He was frustrated, but he wanted God to work it out for him, so he would not have to come with harshness to correct them. (v.21) Are you frustrated? Please, know that you can take your frustration to the Lord, and you can trust Him to do the right thing. If we act out of frustration, we always do the wrong thing. Let God work it out in His way.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 110-112 and I Corinthians 5.
Psalms 108 and 109 are asking God for help with enemies. We should praise Him for the victories as David does in Psalm 108, and we should pray for His help as He does in Psalm 109. There is a very vengeful attitude in Psalm 109 that leads me to think that David was very frustrated at that point in his life. He was being honest with God about how he felt. However, God does not want us to take revenge. He tells us to leave that to Him. I believe that is David's intent, but he is getting the frustration of of his chest, too. The truth is that we can tell God how we feel, and He understands. God has been frustrated with me many times, and I am glad He did not do to me what David was asking Him to do to His enemies. God will always do the right thing and the loving thing.
Paul is feeling that way as he writes I Corinthians 4. There are people in the church who are putting him down, even though he brought them the Gospel, and they owed him their lives. (v.15) They are saying all kinds of bad things about Paul, and they are exalting themselves. Paul replies in a sarcastic but loving way. He points out the truth to them plainly. There should be no arrogance in the church. (v.6) We are not to be like the world, but we are to even appear as fools for Christ's sake. (v.10) We are not to be critical of each other in judgment, but we are to look to the end when God will judge us correctly. (v.5) He was frustrated, but he wanted God to work it out for him, so he would not have to come with harshness to correct them. (v.21) Are you frustrated? Please, know that you can take your frustration to the Lord, and you can trust Him to do the right thing. If we act out of frustration, we always do the wrong thing. Let God work it out in His way.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 110-112 and I Corinthians 5.