The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 67:1,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us— so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations."
The psalmist calls out to God to be gracious and to bless "us". The term "grace" is defined by Merriam-Webster, among other things, as "unmerited divine assistance..." I think that is a great definition and comports well with the Scriptures. That assistance God provides would be deemed a blessing because it is an expression of good toward us from God- a blessing that we don't deserve.
Here is where the inscrutable love of God is such a fascinating, captivating and enchanting thing to ponder! On the one hand he is our God to be feared, but on the other, he loves us so much that it is within his pleasing will to bless us with what we do not deserve!
The greatest manifestation of this gracious love of God is the expression of it when Jesus Christ died on that miserable cross for us. Jesus willingly went to that cross to pay the penalty for our sins, "For the joy set before him he endured the cross…" Hebrews 12:2. When we were estranged from God ("we were God's enemies", Romans 5:10), he reached out to us to make a way, that we might be restored to him as his very own people, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3.
We didn't deserve it, but God has provided this to us if we embrace him in faith. This is his grace and this is truly a blessing from him beyond comprehension!
The psalmist calls out to God to be gracious and to bless "us". The term "grace" is defined by Merriam-Webster, among other things, as "unmerited divine assistance..." I think that is a great definition and comports well with the Scriptures. That assistance God provides would be deemed a blessing because it is an expression of good toward us from God- a blessing that we don't deserve.
Here is where the inscrutable love of God is such a fascinating, captivating and enchanting thing to ponder! On the one hand he is our God to be feared, but on the other, he loves us so much that it is within his pleasing will to bless us with what we do not deserve!
The greatest manifestation of this gracious love of God is the expression of it when Jesus Christ died on that miserable cross for us. Jesus willingly went to that cross to pay the penalty for our sins, "For the joy set before him he endured the cross…" Hebrews 12:2. When we were estranged from God ("we were God's enemies", Romans 5:10), he reached out to us to make a way, that we might be restored to him as his very own people, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3.
We didn't deserve it, but God has provided this to us if we embrace him in faith. This is his grace and this is truly a blessing from him beyond comprehension!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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