Tue, 20 June, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
The Psalmist tells us that he has cried out to God in his moment of dire need, and God worked in his life. The result was that he came to love God.
What do we learn from this?
When we run into difficulties in our lives, we come to God and beg for His help. We plead with Him in prayer, because we are so distraught about our problems. But then, when God brings us through the trouble, either by a great work or by something less dramatic but equally effective, we forget all that God has done. We fail to remember and to thank Him for what He has done.
It should not be this way. We should remember what He has done, and thank Him for it. It should cause us to grow to love Him for what He has done. It should cause us to praise Him.
Where is Christ in this passage?
What has God done for us that should cause us to love Him? Above all, He has provided salvation for us in Jesus Christ. When we call out to Him for mercy from the guilt of our sins, He provides justification, declaring us to be righteous in His sight, all on account of what Jesus Christ has done.
What should be our response? To declare our love for Him.
