Daily Bible Devotionals

“But You, O GOD the Lord, deal with me for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy is good, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. I also have become a reproach to them; when they look at me, they shake their heads. Help me, O Lord my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, that they may know that this is Your hand - that You, Lord, have done it! Let them curse, but You bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed, but let Your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn him.” Psalm 109:21-31 (NKJV)

I suppose we could focus today on the unjust treatment that David received from close friends and whether he was justified to ask God to judge them, even to the point of striking their wives and children and blotting out their names.  But when I read David’s psalm today, it immediately reminded me of the suffering of the “Son of David,” Messiah Jesus.  In Psalm 22, David even prophesied the events surrounding Jesus’ beating and crucifixion, along with His mistreatment and mocking.  There was Jesus, perfect and sinless, yet suffering unto death.  Meanwhile, the patriarchs (no doubt honorable men, yet sinners) were delivered from death’s grip.

“Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” Psalm 22:4-8 (NKJV)

David’s desire was not only that he would be delivered but that his enemies would attribute his deliverance to none other than the Lord.  The effect would be that his enemies would acknowledge that David’s faith in the Lord was not in vain.  It was not his life that was on the line, as much as it was his faith.

If we learned anything from Job’s suffering, it is that Faith is not Fact until it is tested.  It is one thing to declare our faith in God but a whole other thing to live it out!  David’s song ends with a declaration of faith in the midst of suffering.  As David was being tested, he was being humbled.  He recognized that his strength and wits were not enough to deliver himself.  Realizing his poverty of saving resources, David cried out to the One Who shows Himself strong despite our weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)

“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.  Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.”  Psalm 108:1-6 (NKJV)

I have traveled to Israel about a dozen times, and I always consider it a blessing to walk where Jesus walked, to wander the length and breadth of the Promised Land, as Abraham did.  I love to help other people understand the significance of the Biblical events that took place at the various tour stops, and I really enjoy leading people in worship songs that help prepare their hearts to receive the message from God’s Word.  

You may find it hard to believe, but my favorite place in Israel is not Jerusalem.  My favorite place is the Sea of Galilee.  The first time I went to Israel was during a season of great personal struggle and life transition, as I had just left the music business.  I was touring with college students, and we were encouraged by the tour leader to wake up before sunrise and seek the Lord on the banks of the Galilee, where Jesus taught and called several of His disciples (Luke 5).  When I opened my Bible, my chapter for the day was Psalm 57.  I was seeking the Lord as to what I should do with my life: continue in music or pursue a whole other career.  Here is an excerpt from that chapter.

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.”  Psalm 57:7-11 (NKJV)

A year later, I sat at the exact same spot on the shore of the Galilee, praying. As the sun rose, I opened my Bible to that day’s chapter, Psalm 108.  And what was God’s message to me a year later?  The EXACT SAME MESSAGE as a year before!  Random?  Hardly!

But what was God trying to say?  That I should keep pursuing music?  Perhaps, but that is not the purpose of the psalm.  The purpose of the psalm was not to direct David’s career choices but rather to direct his life’s posture.  The fact that he sang is almost arbitrary to the message of his song: God, our only help, can be trusted!

“Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” Psalm 108:10-13 (NKJV)

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” Psalm 107:1-9 (NKJV)

Today’s psalm begins with an exhortation for the redeemed of Israel, those who had returned from Babylonian and Assyrian exile, to give thanks for the Lord.  Why the redeemed but not ALL of Israel?  Because the redeemed had experienced God’s Word fulfilled (Jeremiah 29:11), so they should have been exceedingly thankful.

“And Jesus answered and said to him (a Pharisee whom Jesus was visiting), ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’  So he said, ‘Teacher, say it.’ ‘There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’  Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.  Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’” Luke 7:40-47 (NKJV)

Why had the redeemed received God’s promise fulfilled while other Israelites had not?  Because they cried out to the Lord, the Good Shepherd, in their trouble. (v. 6)

“But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.”  John 10:26-30 (NKJV)

The redeemed were those who cried out to the Lord because they hungered and thirsted for Him. (v. 5; 9)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  Matthew 5:6 (KNJV)

“Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ Praise the Lord!” Psalm 106:47-48 (NKJV)

In a message akin to Psalm 105, today’s psalm is a call to joy by remembering God’s forgiveness for Israel’s past sins.  Modern New Testament Christians who do not read the Bible (or at least the Old Testament) often have a false assumption that God in the Old Testament was always angry.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When we read the Old Testament, we learn that God is mostly gracious, kind, forgiving, patient, and longsuffering with His people.  He sends prophets to people who kill them, Israelites killing Israelites who bear God’s Word! He causes signs and wonders in order to capture the attention of His people, who disregard, rationalize, or forget them.  And on and on…

Today’s psalmist, obviously writing shortly after God’s people returned from Babylonian and Assyrian captivity, is praying for complete deliverance of God’s people from among the nations.  How can he be so bold as to expect that God will hear and answer such a presumptuous prayer?  Because the psalmist knows the Bible!  He knows that, just as God is true to His Word concerning rebuke, He is also true to His Word concerning forgiveness that leads to restoration!  That is how our faith grows when we pursue the Bible every day.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

Regardless of what you are going through or the circumstance that led you to hardship (for not all personal hardship is a result of our personal sin), rest assured that you can trust in the Lord!  Circumstances that Satan uses as a means of temptation, God uses as a means of testing, to invite you to employ fortifying faith.  Where there are trials, there is always a means of faithful escape!

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

Note that if God’s people act like Gentiles (pagan idolaters), He treats them like Gentiles, literally expelling them to Gentile kingdoms.  But when they choose to return to Him in their hearts, He restores them to their land.  Furthermore, when Gentiles leave their pagan ways and choose to follow the Lord, He “grafts them in” to His covenant people. (See also: Ruth, Naaman, Tamar, Rahab, etc.) Have you chosen to turn from your old ways in order to follow Jesus, Who has chosen to offer forgiveness and salvation to you?  He will never cast you out!  (John 6:37)

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones!”  Psalm 105:1-6 (NKJV)

Do you remember the moment when the switch flipped?  That moment when you stepped across the “line of faith” when you first believed and said, “Jesus is Lord!”  I bet you did not decide to believe out of the blue.  You probably didn’t open the window on a spring day and say, “I’m going to become a Christian today!”  No. Someone shared the gospel with you.  It may have been a friend, a co-worker, a gospel track, a pastor, or some song or movie…but you believe because someone cared enough to present the gospel.  And that is our purpose in life, to know God and make Him known by retelling our great deliverance and how it is consistent with how God has ALWAYS delivered His people throughout history.  That is, we share our testimony through His Word.  How else will people believe on and follow Jesus?

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:14-17 (NKJV)

The way the community of believers (the Church) continues throughout the generations has little-to-nothing to do with our ability to remain contemporary or socially relevant.  It has EVERYTHING to do with our willingness to pursue the Bible, live according to it, and share its message with everyone we meet.  That is precisely the point of the psalmist and the apostle Paul, who wrote the New Testament book of Romans.  We do not simply need good communicators.  We need communicators who comprehensively know God’s Word and accurately convey it so that others can also know it.  How else will this faithless generation, the one in which we now live, obtain the faith to endure these present times?  We must place our hope in the Lord, Who brings out His children with gladness!  We must trust our unknown futures to the God, Who can only be known through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of Scripture, as we recall how He has been trustworthy from eternity-past up until now.  He, whose trustworthy Character never changes!

“For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant. He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness. He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labor of the nations, that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 105:42-45 (NKJV)

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Psalm 104. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

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“The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”  Psalm 103:6-14 (NKJV)

The thing that separates the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from all other (false) religions is the reality that He is merciful. Yes, the Koran says that Allah is merciful, but mercy is not a trait we have come to expect from Islam.  The way they treat women and minorities testifies otherwise. When natural disasters occur, the overwhelming compassionate aid comes from the Christian community, which does not discriminate between faiths with respect to humanitarian efforts.  That is because God is merciful.  Because we have received mercy and grace from Him, we extend it to others.

With respect to other Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism), Karma states that you ultimately get what your sin deserves.  Mercy says that you do not get what your sin deserves, to the extent that you should have gotten it!  You see, God created us, and He REMEMBERS that we are dust that He breathed life into.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”  Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)

Not only does God know we are incapable of living sinless lives, but He has chosen to redeem us, Himself.  Our salvation was His plan, even before creation.  (Micah 5:2; Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Messiah [Christ] died for us.”  Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.” Hosea 13:14 (NKJV)

So, if the Lord bestows mercy and redeems, how is it that He can also execute righteousness and justice?  Don’t those concepts contradict each other?  Absolutely not!  Enter: Jesus.  Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and shortcomings. He purchased redemption for us on the cross and rose from the grave!  And He is alive today, offering salvation (grace and mercy) to whoever will turn from their sin, believes He is Lord, and receive it. (John 3:16)

“This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days. I said, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations. Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end. The children of Your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before You.’” Psalm 102:18-28 (NKJV)

The older I get, the less I care about establishing a name for myself.  It is not that I do not want to leave a legacy, but the legacy I want to leave has more to do with preparing the next generation to live for the Lord than with enshrining my accomplishments.  After all, if we can do all things through Messiah, who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), the emphasis should be less on all the things we do and more on Messiah, who enables the doing!  The writer of Psalm 102 is afflicted and unsure about his personal future.  But at the halfway point of the psalm, we learn his concern has to do with his anxiety over the next generation.  Will he be allowed to live so he can assure the next generation carries on faithfully?  Will the kingdom be lost if he dies? It’s a legitimate concern rooted in Israel’s history.

“When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Judges 2:10 (NKJV)

“Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.”  1 Samuel 3:1 (NKJV)

We await the day when all men, everywhere, will seek God’s Word and live by it!

“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.’” Hebrews 8:7-11 (NKJV) (see also Jeremiah 31:34)

“I will sing of mercy and justice; to You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.  Psalm 101:1-8 (NKJV)

Today’s psalm is a promise of faithfulness to the Lord, with David declaring a series of “I wills and I will nots.”  We all desire to be faithful, so we can relate to David here.  We relate to both his desire to set goals for personal righteousness and his inability to maintain a sinless life!  It is one thing to say, “A perverse heart shall depart from me,” but a whole other thing to keep oneself from perversion.  Sin has consequences.  

“So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.’”  2 Samuel 12:13-14 (NKJV)

We see similar declarations (and failures) in the New Testament.

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.’ But he said to Him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.’ Then He said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.’” Luke 22:31-34 (NKJV)

So, were the Bible “heroes of the faith” actually hypocrites?  No.  They were humans.  All Christians are recruited from the human race, which means that while we desire to remain sinless, the best we can hope for is to sin less and less. Perhaps, that is why David begins his declaration with this idea, “I will sing of mercy and justice; to You, O Lord, I will sing praises.”  If God is fully just, He will not allow anything (or anyone) sinful to stand in His presence.  But because God is also merciful and Jesus prays on our behalf while Satan demands justice be served against us, we have something to sing about!  We can commit to following God with our whole selves because we know that, on the occasion we sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  His mercy may bear the sting of rebuke, but it is intended to remind us to never stray into the path of His justice.  After all, that is the job of Messiah on our behalf.  (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:8-9)