Through the Bible - Amos 1-6, Revelation 6-7
Good morning,
The other day I read Psalm 30 as part of my devotions and came across the following verse which will be today's verse. The few words that I'd like to focus on is "His favor is for life". I'm sure that we may have gone through times in our life where we felt that God must be angry with us. It may have been a time of weeping, weeping over guilt or over circumstances in our lives. These may be the loss of loved ones, illnesses or any number of things that seem to hit us hard in the night.
I know I've experienced long nights, but as the verse states, "joy comes in the morning", joy can come in the morning when God speaks to us as we pray and through His Word.
Ps 30:4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
5 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning. NKJV
or from The Message:
Ps 30:4-5 All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God!
Thank him to his face!
He gets angry once in a while, but across
a lifetime there is only love.
The nights of crying your eyes out
give way to days of laughter.
Think about how The Message puts it, "He gets angry once in a while, but over a lifetime we can look back at His love.
In this Christmas season, at some point you'll probably read or hear Luke's account of the Christmas story and the following verse:
Luke 1:28 And having come in, the angel said to her,"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" NKJV
Mary was about to be told that she would be an unwed mother with all of the ramifications in her life that would come from that. It may not have seemed at the moment that she was so "highly favored".
Moody's "Today in the Word" devotional on 12/10 had this to say about it:
After the promissing introduction, "The message Gabriel brought, however, didn't sound at first like a blessing. For a virgin (v. 27) to become pregnant (v. 31) was a shameful impossibility, a possible death sentence. It would likely put an end to her betrothal (something more than a modern engagement but not yet an actual marriage). Was God going to show His favor by making her into an unwed teenage mother? Yes. Mary would become pregnant, and the child would be named “God saves.” In Him, the covenant of David and the prophecies of Isaiah would be fulfilled (vv. 32-33). "
I'm sure that as the years went by and Jesus grew up Mary realized regularly just how "highly favored" she was.
How about you? Have you had events and even seasons in your life that challenged you to the core of your being, your faith, but looking back you can see how through it all, God had blessed, had favored you?
Think about it today, this season, and as you go to worship this weekend.
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
Ps 30:1-31:1
The Blessedness of Answered Prayer
A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the house of David.
30 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,And have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried out to You,And You healed me. 3 O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. 5 For His anger is but for a moment,His favor is for life;Weeping may endure for a night,But joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my prosperity I said,"I shall never be moved." 7 Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried out to You, O Lord;And to the Lord I made supplication: 9 "What profit is there in my blood,When I go down to the pit?Will the dust praise You?Will it declare Your truth? 10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;Lord, be my helper!"
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
NKJV
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