May 30: Morning Devotion

Pastor Tritten · May 30: Morning Devotion

Good Morning, Lord!

I Am Baptized

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:25-27 ESV)

Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

A Morning Prayer

Lord Jesus, on Saturday morning You rested in the tomb, the painful work of our redemption completed on the cross, and You awaited Your glorious resurrection on Sunday morning. Please bless us with refreshment today, give us peace such as the world cannot give but is only available through faith in You. Let the events of the day give You glory, and do not let the tasks of today distract us from anticipating the joy of going to Your house tomorrow. Let Your Spirit rest upon us so that today we may walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Amen.

I Believe …

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the

virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He

descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge

the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the

forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Bible Reading – Psalm 6

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

6 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O Lord—how long?

⁴ Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my plea;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.[1]

This is a matter of life and death. When our sin puts us in terror of God’s wrath and anger we are oppressed by the certain knowledge that we will die. I am not speaking metaphorically here, although we could go that route and think about the way that sin brings death to our relationships, our emotions, and our ethics. Sin brings death, physical death, and the certainty of that fact is heavy on David as he writes this Psalm. “In death here is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (Sheol is a generic term for where we go when we die. It is neither heaven nor hell, just the place of the dead, so it often gets translated as, “the grave.”)

David teaches us to cry out to God in our guilt and fear. He recognizes that God is his problem – God’s anger and wrath because of sin will bring him death. He also knows that God is his salvation from sin and death. When we experience God’s judgement we cannot run away from him, we must run to him. But how can we do that? Because we know that God’s desire is to show us mercy. How can we know that? Because Jesus put himself under the wrath we deserved for our sin, he bore the sin and the anger so that we might know the love of God and receive life.

Just now, we were doing exactly what this Psalm is talking about. “In death there is no remembrance,” but while we still draw breath we can remember and be reminded. Remember what? Remember Christ, crucified, risen, ascended, coming again – for you. Be reminded of what? His mercy, salvation, forgiveness, and life. Even in our guilt, when the heavy feeling of death is upon us, we can praise God, recalling, reciting, meditating upon all he has done to save us from sin and to heal the ways it brings death to us.

Yesterday I said that Psalm 6 is one of the seven Penitential Psalms. People sometimes think that penitence is their action to cause God to forgive them. The idea seems to be that God is waiting rather impatiently with condescension and anger for us to get our act together and turn away from our sin, and then, after we’ve changed our ways and said we are sorry, then, He will forgive us. That is not at all the idea behind Psalm 6. In Psalm 6 the assumption is that God forgives, has mercy, blesses and does you good. So when you find yourself feeling that your relationship with God is on the rocks, the thing to do is cry out to God, depend on his forgiveness, and trust in his salvation. Remember what he has done for you; cling to Jesus’ cross. Hold on to God’s promises and be reminded that they are for you.

Question for Meditation

What does this reading teach you about Jesus, what He said and did, or what He wants His followers to believe? What does it teach you about God’s love and forgiveness?

What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?

What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?

How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your life through this reading?

Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer – The Seventh Petition

“But deliver us from evil.”

Dear Father, please rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to heaven, where will live eternally with You, and with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.

Prayer

Pray for your church, the pastor, and the staff.

Pray for the needs of your fellow church members – parents, children, youth, the elderly, the ill, and the dying.

Benediction

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb. 13:20-21 ESV)

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[1] English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.