Friday, January 16, 2009

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 8:5,

"Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the
Lord your God disciplines you."

As we think about the agenda the Lord has for us, this is certainly
something to keep in mind. Repeated in a number of places in
Scripture, we are assured that as we experience various things in
life, the Lord is using them for our good. Just as the Lord
disciplined Israel as a son, so he disciplines us.

We are told in Proverbs 3:11-12, "My son, do not despise the Lord's
discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines
those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." The discipline a
father exercises with his son is something born out of his love for
his son. Appropriate discipline is for the good of the son. In this
passage the Lord is compared to a father who delights in his son as he
disciplines him. Jesus Christ tells us it is those he loves he
disciplines. "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." Revelation
3:19.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the difficulty the Lord's
discipline brings into our lives has the purpose of producing
righteousness and peace in our lives, "Endure hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his
father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes
discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we
respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of
our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as
they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may
share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and
peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11.

All of this is brought into our lives by the Lord because he has
something wonderful he is bringing about in us. Paul tells us of this
in his letter to the church in Rome, "We know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8:28-29. God works in our lives
to bring about change, a change he has decided beforehand, to bring
about the likeness of Jesus Christ to our lives.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

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