Dec 11 2024

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 107 is a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. In this verse, we praise the Lord specifically for His mercies, which last forever. Think about the ways that the Lord has shown you mercy in your life. There's no mercy greater than our salvation. We are hopeless and helpless in our sin without Jesus, but He showed us mercy and was the perfect sacrifice that atoned for our sins once and for all.

This verse is a command: give thanks unto the Lord. Our lives should reflect our thankful hearts. We are supposed to give thanks—and there are many ways to do that. One is simply singing this Psalm back to the Lord, recognizing what He has done for us. Spending time with the Lord in prayer and study of His Word is another. Serving other people—allowing yourself to be "inconvenienced" for an opportunity to share His love—is another way. We should always be on the lookout for ways to express our gratitude for the Lord's mercy by serving others.

I love how this Psalm describes God's mercy: enduring forever. It means His mercy will never end. As long as we continue to repent of our sins, there will never be a day when the Lord says that we've sinned one too many times to have a relationship with Him. He will never reject a contrite heart because His mercies endure forever. This also means the areas of our lives where we've received mercy—where the Lord has always forgiven us—will always be covered in mercy. There will never be a day when they are not covered by the blood of Jesus.

We are free from sin because God has shown us mercy. We realize that we are not what we do or the sum of our past mistakes, but instead are creations of a loving and merciful God. As we grow in our understanding of this, we will, as the Psalm urges us, give thanks to the Lord.

Dear Lord, I praise you for your mercy. I know that I need your mercy more than I could ever understand, and I thank you so much for giving it in such abundance. Help me to recognize the depth of your mercy, as much as I can, and to respond to it with a grateful and overflowing heart. Help me to share your mercy with other people, reflecting the love that you have already shown me. In Jesus' name, amen.

Dec 10 2024

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. :

In this verse, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows that His betrayal will tempt them to also turn their backs on Him. However, after Jesus goes to pray alone, He comes back and sees the disciples sleeping. His response is that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. There is much that we can learn from this verse and apply to our lives today.

The first is that prayer makes a huge difference in our lives. Jesus would not have asked the disciples to pray about resisting temptation if prayer had no effect. Jesus knew the disciples had to be covered in prayer to reject temptation. Indeed, as He had known they would, all the disciples abandoned Him. Might they have stood with Him if they had prayed instead of falling asleep? We can only wonder.

When we are facing something difficult, we must remember to go to God in prayer for help. Throughout His life, Jesus retreated to pray multiple times. If Jesus, the Son of God, knew that He needed to spend time alone with God to fulfill the purpose that God had for Him, then imagine how much more we need to be in prayer!

Jesus did not rebuke the disciples unkindly when He returned to see them sleeping again. He knew (and knows) that the flesh is weak even if the spirit is willing. This means we sometimes find what we know is right—to pray when it's inconvenient, for example—to be grating against our flesh, which might be craving sleep. If we find ourselves caught in an inner battle, we should not be surprised. But neither should we yield to our flesh that screams for comfort instead of holiness.

Indeed, while Jesus was not angry at the disciples, they were not covered in prayer, and each abandoned Jesus at His time of greatest need. We know this was not inevitable. They could have overcome their flesh and stood by Jesus, but even then, He showed them grace. Today, we can be comforted that our past failures are covered in grace while also being encouraged that we do not have to fall into the temptation of being spiritually unprepared when temptation comes. Instead, we can make sure that we do not allow ourselves to neglect prayer.

Dear Lord, I thank you so much for the power of prayer. I thank you that it is the lifeblood of the Christian and that you want me to talk to you. Help me, Lord, to honor the reality that you are a loving and gracious God. Build in my heart a desire to cling to your Word and to spend more time with you. In Jesus' name, amen.