Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Psalms 24
Set – Leviticus 24; Psalms 24
Go! – Leviticus 23-24; Psalms 24; Acts 21
Psalms 24
1 The earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal.
The world is His, with every living creature on it.
2 With seas as foundations and rivers as boundaries,
He shaped the continents, fashioned the earth.
3 Who can possibly ascend the mountain of the Eternal?
Who can stand before Him in sacred spaces?
4 Only those whose hands have been washed and hearts made pure,
men and women who are not given to lies or deception.
5 The Eternal will stand close to them with blessing and mercy at hand,
and the God who redeems will right what has been wrong.
6 These are the people who chase after Him;
like Jacob, they look for the face of God.
[pause]
7 City gates—open wide!
Ancient doors—stand back!
For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.
8 Who is the glorious King?
The Eternal who is powerful
and mightily equipped for battle.
9 City gates—open wide!
Ancient doors—stand back!
For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.
10 Who is the glorious King?
The Eternal, Commander of heaven’s army,
He is the glorious King.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
A lot of you probably think of David as a sweet little shepherd boy and don’t think about his family, his heritage, who he became, or even his exploits as a shepherd. But this sweet little shepherd boy killed lions and bears. He ripped his sheep from their paws because he didn’t want to pay for the lost sheep. This sweet little boy was a fighter. David was a warrior.
You probably got the wrong picture of David by equating the shepherd picture with Saul’s armor falling off of David. But it’s the wrong picture. Remember how Samuel recognized Saul? He stood head and shoulders above everyone else! Saul’s armor fell off of everyone. Saul didn’t go to the local store and buy clothes off the shelf. David was a big guy; Saul was a giant of a man.
Despite his prowess as a warrior, though, David had a way with words. He spent hours alone thinking about life, about what’s important, about Me. In so doing, He wrote many of the songs collected in the Hebrew songbook, the Psalms. I like the one you just heard. It reminds you that I own everything. Everything belongs to Me. Everything. Even you. Because I made you.
The psalm also reminds you that I am a holy God and want you to approach Me with clean hands and hearts. But you can do nothing to make yourself clean enough to come near to Me. That’s why I had to wrap Myself in flesh and sacrifice Myself to redeem you. But I did that because I want you to come close to Me. All you need to do is believe what I did, I did for you. Believe I spilled My blood for you, so that your sins can and are forgiven.
I like to picture the ancient gates as the walls of your heart. All you have to do is open the gates and I’ll come in. The gates can only be opened from the inside, though. There are no bars on the outside, no locks to manipulate, no latches to work. Only you can release the bars that hold fast the doors so that the gates can open and let Me in.
As long as I’m inside, you have no fear of whatever enemies you might face. The Eternal, Commander of the heaven’s army, powerful and mightily equipped for battle stands with you to fight any battle you face. Your enemies cannot penetrate the fortress when I’m with you and in charge. When I lead, I win. When I’m in charge, the battle is as good as done. I never lose. Satan thought he defeated Me on the cross…until the tomb burst open. He thought he won a victory with My death…until I exchanged it for life.
Open the gates, the Eternal is passing by. Give Me an invitation to come in!
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