Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Hope of all the ends of the earth

Scripture:
Psalm 65:3-5 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgresssions. O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth.

Observation:
Overwhelmed and Hope, are directly opposed to each other. Exact opposites. Overwhelmed is defined as: to submerge; surge over; engulf; to defeat completely and decisively; to affect deeply. I'm reminded of the weight of utter hopelessness apart from God.

Application:
Even though its been 34 years since the gulf between me and God was closed...I remember the hopelessness and its overwhelming weight and its exactly the weight our old enemy Satan wants us to live under BUT you gotta love when the Scripture breaks through! "when we were....you forgave our transgressions", WOW! The Psalmist cries out..."You are the hope of all the ends of the earth!

Prayer:
My heart is filled with thankfullness and great joy, Lord for the freedom from the power of sin, I know in you! But I am increasingly aware of all those who don't know you yet and the forgiveness of sins and the overwhelming weights they carry. Let your forgiveness come in like a flood! You are the Hope of the earth! and I love you!

Godly Sorrow

SCRIPTURE
2Cor. 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

OBSERVATION
When people hurt they often cry. Even though tears can be the product of great joy - sorrow in some form is more often the source. I can’t speak for you but when I see a person crying, I want to stop, listen and help them wipe away the tears. The problem, however, is the very tears that come from sorrow become the spring that waters repentance. If sorrow turns us from sin and helps us to follow Jesus more closely, then sorrow and tears becomes our friend.

APPLICATION
Before I seek to wipe away tears from the eyes of people, I will seek to discover the source. If God is using the tears to water the fruit of His Spirit in their lives and turn them around, I will not do anything to abort the work God is doing.

PRAYER
O Lord, help us to have a sorrow that leads to repentance.