January 23rd
THE PSALMS
Theme: From Egypt to Canaan: praise Jehovah, seek his face constantly.
Background: Recounting the history of Israel.
Can you imagine the children of Israel finally leaving slavery in Egypt? Bodies, emaciated from being undernourished, scarred, and sore from their masters’ whips, and bent over from long hours spent carrying tons of bricks and mortar. But something happened to them on the night of the Passover. With the eating of the lamb and with its blood applied on their doorposts, they came under God’s protection and healing, for the verse states, “there was none feeble [lame, staggering] among the tribes” (vs 37). It was as if the life of the lamb had raised them up! They were no longer poor, but possessed silver and gold; no longer feeble or sickly! How much more will we who have come under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus, the true Lamb of God and the living water, experience spiritual, if not physical, blessings (Deut 8:4; cf. 1 Cor 10:4; Rom 8:11).
THE PSALMS
Psalm 104-105
Psalm 105
Psalm 105
They clamped his feet in fetters. His neck went into irons.
Until [the] time his word came about, the word of Yahweh tested him.
Psalm 105:18-19, Lexham English Bible
Until [the] time his word came about, the word of Yahweh tested him.
Psalm 105:18-19, Lexham English Bible
Theme: From Egypt to Canaan: praise Jehovah, seek his face constantly.
Background: Recounting the history of Israel.
105:19 “Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.”
Joseph’s life took many turns for the worse, seemingly just the opposite of what God had promised him through earlier dreams. How could he wait 13 years in a prison without going to pieces? He hung onto God’s promises – there was an “until” in his faith. The inner life can only be refined by removing all self-confidence and replacing it with God-confidence, by going through the furnace of affliction.105:37 “He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among
His tribes.”Can you imagine the children of Israel finally leaving slavery in Egypt? Bodies, emaciated from being undernourished, scarred, and sore from their masters’ whips, and bent over from long hours spent carrying tons of bricks and mortar. But something happened to them on the night of the Passover. With the eating of the lamb and with its blood applied on their doorposts, they came under God’s protection and healing, for the verse states, “there was none feeble [lame, staggering] among the tribes” (vs 37). It was as if the life of the lamb had raised them up! They were no longer poor, but possessed silver and gold; no longer feeble or sickly! How much more will we who have come under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus, the true Lamb of God and the living water, experience spiritual, if not physical, blessings (Deut 8:4; cf. 1 Cor 10:4; Rom 8:11).
______________________________
The future is as bright as the promises of God.
The future is as bright as the promises of God.
