'Steadfast Love' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.” vs. 10 Psalm 46:6-10 More than once in this election season many have felt like echoing this psalm and wishing that the politicians would just be still. If only we could have even a moment’s relief from the ongoing diatribes and accusations, it would be wonderful. But even when we turn off our social media, the loud voices interrupt our…
Daily Devotions
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” vs. 14 Psalm 90:12-14 Some folks awaken in the morning with a song of thanksgiving on their lips. They’ve been refreshed in their sleep and are grateful to have yet another day in which to experience the steadfast love of God. It is really wonderful to be able to welcome another twenty-four hours, because it’s not inevitable. One day we’ll…
Daily Devotions
The Lord God helps me; therefore, I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame…” vs. 7 Isaiah 50:6-9a The prophet had likely been exposed to a shame-based culture, a society that seeks to regulate behavior by heaping shame and disgrace on any person who doesn’t live up to the cultural norms. Some of us know what that’s like too. For some perverted reason some…
Daily Devotions
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” vss. 22-23 Lamentations 3:22-33 The book of Lamentations was likely written following the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of its leading families to Babylon. Its verses are full of sadness as the writer laments what has happened to the chosen people of God. Having experienced what he believes to be the wrath of God he…
Daily Devotions
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” vs. 1 Psalm 107:1-3 Occasionally, especially in the middle of Lent or a particularly upsetting news cycle, it’s helpful for people of faith to pause and give thanks to the Lord for the relentless and unceasing love that undergirds our being. Sometimes we’re like old crows as we plod through life. Distracted by everything that moves or glitters we spend our days flitting from…
Daily Devotions
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.” vs. 6 Psalm 139:1-6 The relationship that this psalmist had with God went beyond personal. Instead of painting a picture of a God on a throne in heavenly courts or a storm god riding on the clouds,…
Daily Devotions
I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” vs. 8. Mark 1:5-8 Our scriptures indicate that there is a difference between water baptism and spirit baptism. The one is connected with John the Baptist and the other with Jesus. Jesus himself received both, being baptized in the Jordan River by John, and then anointed with the Holy Spirit when he came up out of the river. The early church adopted baptism with water…
Daily Devotions
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!” vs. 7 Psalm 25:1-9 All of us have a history! It begins in childhood and continues through our entire lives, and everything is recorded! Some would just as soon leave some early events out – they’re not proud of what they’ve done. The psalmist probably would have fallen in that category. He asks the Lord to…
Daily Devotions
Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” vss. 14-15 Matthew 20:8-16 In this delightfully composed parable Jesus describes how the owner of the vineyard pays the same daily wage to all the workers that he had hired, whether they had worked twelve hours or…
Daily Devotions
As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.” vs. 13 Psalm 103:11-13 Even though God is beyond description and it’s really impossible for our puny minds to understand or comprehend the Divine Presence, we still have a need to use words in our conversation about God. As a result, humans have always used metaphors to try to communicate that which we sense is true about God. We lift them from…
Daily Devotions
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” vs. 8 Psalm 138 We like to believe that we have a purpose in life, and some of us spend a lifetime trying to figure out exactly what that is. Many wander aimlessly as though in a maze, trying first one thing and then another, hoping to perhaps stumble on their reason for being. The psalmist too…
Daily Devotions
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.” vss. 24-25 Romans 7:21-25 Like one of the psalmists of old, Paul lifts up his voice in a painful lament. Sounding like a golfer who has just ripped his first…
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