THE LORD SPOKE (August 7)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Psalm 20-24

Here’s what the Lord can do for you. Not just can, but will. He will do all this and more for you:

• “answer you when you are in distress” (Ps. 20:1a) - He’s so much more than just a fire escape, but He has promised to hear our cries for help.
• “protect you” (Ps. 20:1b) - Because He is all-powerful, this is an awesome promise. There is nothing that can touch us under His protection.
• “send you help” (Ps. 20:2a) - His resources are infinite and He knows just what is appropriate to meet your need.
• “grant you support” (Ps. 20:2b) - Beyond just helping with an immediate need, He will gird you up and prepare you for coming problems by providing you an infra-structure that will hold you up.
• “remember all your sacrifices” (Ps. 20:3a) - Even when others don’t see these things, He knows of your sacrifices and He does not forget.
• “accept your burnt offerings” (Ps. 20:3b) - He never turns you away. Even when you think that what you have to offer is pitifully small or of little value, He will receive it from your hand with joy.
• “give you the desire of your heart” (Ps. 20:4a) - He makes our very desires match His plan for us. He gives us the desires and then He gives us the substance of those desires.
• “make all your plans succeed” (Ps. 20:4b) - If your heart belongs to Him, your desires will be for Him and your plans will be for His glory. That’s a formula for genuine success.
• “grant all your requests” (Ps. 20:5c) - He knows what we need before we even ask and He delights to shower blessings upon us; we don’t have to wring them out of Him.

So, what is to be our response?

• “shout for joy” (Ps. 20:5a) - We want to give expression to our joy and appreciation for what He has done. It just comes bubbling out.
• “lift up our banners in the name of our God” (Ps. 20:5b) - We want to let it be known far and wide. We want others to recognize Him.
• “trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7b) - We believe in him and have good reason to continue to follow Him, never looking to the right or the left.
• “rise up and stand firm” (Ps. 20:8b) - When the next set of difficulties come up, we can stand like a mighty pylon and let them roll on past.“call” (Ps. 20:9b) - We’re back to where we started. We call on Him. We talk to Him. We commune with Him.

When you consider the first list, that’s not too hard to do is it?


New Testament: James 2

Jesus taught that mercy triumphs over judgment and his little brother James must have been listening. In his “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus said:

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.... For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Lk. 6:37-38)

So when James writes his epistle, he is drawing upon the teaching of Jesus. That mercy triumph over judgment was not found only in the Sermon on the Mount. On another occasion, Jesus told a parable about an unmerciful servant (see Mat. 18:21-35) in which the servant’s lack of mercy was the reason for his own harsh judgment. Jesus made it clear that this condemnation came directly from God:

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. (Mat. 18:35)

In James own words, he also emphasizes the judgment that will fall upon the one who does not practice mercy:

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (Jas. 2:12-13)

On one occasion, when a woman was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus to pass judgment in what would have required a public stoning (Jn. 8:2-11), He responded by writing something in the dirt. What did He write? We’re not told but when He made the application not a soul in that crowd could remain in judgment. Perhaps He wrote out the Ten Commandments? When He said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”, they had to leave and every stone remained in its place. When He told the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin”, don’t you recognize how mercy triumphed over judgment?

It’s true, mercy triumphs over judgment. What are you going to do about it today?