Friday, March 7, 2014

Wishin' & Hopin'

This year during Lent, She Reads Truth is calling for readers to write their own devotionals on Fridays.  They choose the Scripture for each week & then readers can link up their posts each Friday.



This week the Scripture we're looking at is Psalm 130.  When I am reading the Bible, I like to read the whole passage, & then go back & look at each verse (& sometimes in several different translations), so that's what I'm going to do here.


Verse 3 - Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?  The commentary in my Bible (HCSB Study Bible) say "All would be lost if God made no provision to let sins go."  I agree with part of that statement.  All would be lost, & God did make a provision, but He didn't just let sins go.  Once we confess, He forgets our sin & washes us clean, but they were paid for in blood.

Verse 4 - But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.  I love that the focus here, in this verse about forgiveness, is on God.  Forgiveness is for us, but it's about Him.  We are forgiven not only for our sake, but so that we may learn to fear Him more.  The more I look at the Bible, the more I come to understand that each little part adds up to a big story of Redemption, & that every part of it points to Jesus & exists to bring more glory to God.

Verse 5 - I wait for Yahweh; I wait & put my hope in His word.  I feel like we use the word hope as a "Christianized" version of wish, when in reality they're very different.  I can say that I wish California was closer to Georgia, but I have no basis for thinking that either state may move.  The hope we have in Christ has a foundation.  We can have assurance in Christ.  Any other religion is based on work; you can be the best [insert religion here] that there is & still not have assurance that you will receive any reward for that, & certainly will not receive salvation.  Jesus = assurance.

Verse 7 - Israel, put your hope in the Lord.  For there is faithful love with the Lord, & with Him there is redemption in abundance.  The English nerd in me commented to myself that the first part of that verse is an imperative sentence with an understood youYou, put your hope in the Lord.  Here David turns from telling us about the hope he has in the Lord & encourages others to place their hope there as well. 

This hope we have is personal, but it's not private.  It's specific to each of us, but it's made for each person.  It's to be shared.  The Gospel is a story meant to be told.  It has everything we could ask for.  The stage is set; we have the back story.  We have the drama & the love story, & sometimes even the comedy.  We have the climax of the Resurrection & are left with something that changes us forever.  It's greater than any other book we could read because there's nothing that can be added to make it one bit better.  There's no part we would leave out because the whole story is the story of our own Redemption.

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