Psalm 25:1-22

We all have needs in our lives that we seek to satisfy through any number of means.  One of our biggest problems is our confusion between needs and wants.  There are things that we want but we act as if they were needs.  There are also things that we desperately need but we live as if they were unimportant.  God is the ultimate source through which all of our true needs are met.  We need to recognize those needs and them humbly and desperately cry out to God to meet those needs.

WE NEED FORGIVENESS AND WISDOM: Man’s greatest need is for forgiveness.  We seldom recognize, think about or even admit that this is a need in our lives because it implies that we are guilty and we do not to admit that to ourselves, others or God.  We must not fall into this dangerous trap of taking our sin lightly.  The author of this Psalm cries out repeatedly for God to forgive his sin and not to remember his failings.  If we are going to be in a close relationship with the Lord we must be ready to humble ourselves before Him, recognize our sin and cry out for help from Him.  Another great need that we have is for wisdom.  It is foolishness to be wise in our own eyes and think that we have all the understanding that we need in order to go through life.  God has created the world in which we live; He has created us and He knows exactly the best way for us to live in this world.  We must be ready to admit that our hearts and minds are naturally foolish and will make the wrong choices apart from the wisdom of God.  Again we need to be ready to admit this fact and humbly cry out to the Lord for His wisdom.


GOD GIVES MERCY AND INSTRUCTION: Gratefully, God is merciful and all wise so He is perfectly able and willing to provide for our greatest needs.  Even though God has never sinned, He is still merciful to sinners and extends His love to us through the incredible gift of forgiveness.  He also has infinite wisdom but beyond that He stands ever ready to instruct us so that we might share in His wisdom.  He has taken great steps toward instructing us by inspiring His Word and by sending His Spirit.  We are truly a blessed people to have access to this instruction from God.  We must never take God’s forgiveness and His instruction for granted.  There are billions of people on this planet who have not experienced God’s forgiveness and have never seen a copy of the Scriptures.  We should thirst after God’s mercy and instruction, drink deeply of them and rejoice greatly in them.  When we pray to God or speak to others about God we should constantly be thankful for these precious gifts from God.  We worship Him by expressing our gratitude for and admiration of His mercy and instruction. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Isaiah 54:1-17

Hope is a wonderful blessing from God, without which we would be vulnerable to all kinds of destructive tendencies in our lives.  Today’s society is marked by depression, anger, fear, anxiety and self-righteousness, in large part, because of the sense of hopelessness that prevails in our culture.  Isaiah writes to a people who are about to be taken into captivity because of their sin.  God knows that they will feel rejected, threatened and hopeless so He reveals His future plans for the nation in order to give them hope in the midst of the coming trial.  Hope is the expectation of good based upon the promises of God.  Many times when our lives are marked by the sins mentioned above it is because we have forgotten or failed to focus upon the promises of God’s Word. THE PROMISE OF GOD: From the very first day that God revealed His plan for the nation of Israel, He promised numerous descendants.  God chose Abraham, not because he was more righteous than any of the other people of his
Read more

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Let a woman learn quietly   with all submissiveness.    I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.    For Adam was formed first,   then Eve;   and Adam was not deceived, but   the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.    Yet she will be saved through   childbearing—if they continue in   faith and love and holiness, with self-control. There is certainly controversy and confusion about this passage in many churches today.  The idea of a distinction between men and women and their roles in the family and church certainly goes against the flow of many cultures around the world.  Some would argue that the literal and plain teaching of this passage is no longer applicable to today’s culture.  However, it is always dangerous to discard biblical teaching or try to interpret Scripture based on the cultures in which we live.  Certainly, the Spirit who inspired this text was aware of the many changes that would occur in future cul
Read more

1 Timothy 1:1-2

Paul,   an apostle of Christ Jesus   by command of   God our Savior and of Christ Jesus   our hope, To Timothy,   my true child in the faith:   Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. The true sign of maturity is multiplication.  Believers, churches, and ministries that do not reproduce are not demonstrating true maturity.  One of the key characteristics we can identify in Paul’s ministry is that he was constantly reproducing godly believers who were faithfully following the Lord.  Evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training are the hallmarks of mature ministers and ministries.   THE APOSTLE: Paul was called by God to be an Apostle.  Though Paul converted after the resurrection and assentation of Jesus, he met Jesus in the road to Damascus and was instructed by Jesus in the desert.  Paul considered himself to be the least of the Apostles because he persecuted the church and did not walk with Jesus on earth like the other Apostles.  However, God had
Read more