Psalm 15

 

“Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
 
“He who walks uprightly, and works
righteousness, and speaks the truth in
his heart; he who does not backbite with
his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor,
nor does he take up a reproach against his
friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised.
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
he who swears to his own hurt and does
not change; he who does not put out
his money at usury, nor does he take
a bribe against the innocent.
 
“He who does these things shall never
be moved.”

     Psalm 15 (NKJV)

Only the righteous may dwell with God. Of course, none of us is righteous on our own (e.g., Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10). But the Lord is our Righteousness (Jer. 23:1) and by faith, His righteousness is imputed to us, as it was with Abraham (e.g., Romans 4:22).  That is the positional righteousness we gain at salvation.

 Once converted, we are then to grow in godly character and exhibit practical righteousness by how we live. As expressed in this psalm, this is demonstrated by walking uprightly, speaking truth, and not gossiping or slandering others. We are to love what God loves, hate what He hates. And we are to be sacrificial in our conduct and careful about keeping our word, even if (and especially when) it is hard to do so.

 The reward? We will never be moved.  Jesus Christ is our firm foundation and He shall sustain us. “He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm 55:12, NKJV) 

How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

 

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am Thy God, and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”

 Lyrics by J. Rippon (1787)

Thursday Devotional - Murderer or god?

People can sure be fickle. One minute they can be singing your praises and the next minute tearing you to shreds. Opinions and beliefs can change quickly, too, based on what people see, hear, feel, want to believe, etc. 

I’m not immune to this, either. In fact, I thought Joe (my husband) was arrogant and rude when I first met him. He did interrupt a conversation I was having with another guy, which may have skewed my opinion. 😊

Paul experienced this fickleness of people. Once he was safely on land after the shipwreck, the islanders made drastic judgement calls about him!

Acts 28:1-6    Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. ³ Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

When was the last time you and I made a quick and rash judgment call that we later realized was incorrect?

Many of us here at Thomson Reuters have been through the training on assuming positive intent. It is sometimes hard to do, especially when our emotions are already riled. However, doesn’t it benefit us and the other person to calm down, assume the best, listen, gather additional details, and then react and respond?

With whom do you and I need to especially practice this?

Alice

When Israel Did It Right

 Don't you love it when your mistakes are all anyone remembers? I'm pretty sure that's how it feels for many Jews as they study the Hebrew Scriptures. "Did we do anything right?" It has to be hard. Ironically, as much as Paul and other apostles correct their congregations through their letters, modern disciples seem slow to ask the same question. Perhaps we should, but regardless, we would all love to hear more about what we do/did right than rehearsing what we did wrong. So, here's an example of Israel, the northern tribes, both before and after the division of the kingdom.

They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasture lands of Sharon, as far as their borders. All of these were enrolled in the genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war. (1 Chronicles 5:16-18 NASB)

A couple of things, first they have the good land in Canaan. If you look at a map of Canaan, this land stretches from the eastern side of the Jordan River to the Plain of Sharon along the coast below Mount Carmel. This is the entire middle "belt" of Canaan, including some of the best pasture land, and excellent farm land on the coastal plain. When the people first entered the land of Canaan, they couldn't take this land, it took time.

Second, notice that the genealogies are registered in the days that the kingdom is split between the northern tribes and Judah. The tribes include those who wanted the eastern Jordan territory taken from the two Amorite kings defeated just prior to the people entering Canaan, and the "other" half-tribe of Manasseh, living in Canaan proper.  These aren't the typical heroes in the Hebrew Scriptures. Usually, the heroes are from Judah, Ephraim, or Benjamin.

But what did they do? They were allotted the land, but how did they finally get it?

They made war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. They were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand; for they cried out to God in the battle, and He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him. They took away their cattle: their 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 donkeys; and 100,000 men. For many fell slain, because the war was of God. And they settled in their place until the exile. (1 Chronicles 5:19-22 NASB)

They fought and won the battle because they cried out to God, and He answered because they trusted Him, not their own ability to wage war. The war was not of Manasseh, not Gad, not of Reuben, but of God. That's why it worked. 

In the Greek translation of this passage, that verb, "trust", is translated as "hope". This is one of those excellent examples of hope well-placed. It was a lesson that the northern tribes needed, a lesson that didn't sink in as deep as it should have.

How far does it sink into us? Are we striving to be "good", to win that battle against sin or darkness in our world? Is the battle ours? We may say it's the battle of our Savior, but how do we behave? Do we trust in His eventual victory, or do we fret that we may not have done enough? Perhaps some time ceasing from striving, and walking with our Savior in His garden in the cool of the day is what we need. Perspective is everything? Perhaps, but without the perspective of our King, we're left looking around from within a hole.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation