Devos 365

Psalm 117 1 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! What can one say about less than 30 words? In these two verses we find the shortest of the 150 Psalms. It is a “wrap-up” of the previous four psalms and so the conclusions are succinct. We’re here to praise the Lord – All of us! The reasons for that praise? His steadfast love and faithfulness. What more do we need? These two verses celebrate the deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, and as such also remind us of our deliverance from the captivity to sin that was ended by the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Only the steadfast love of God would be willing to sacrifice so much for us. Because of the brevity of this psalm I wonder if these words shouldn’t be memorized. My mind swirls on “ His steadfast love” and suddenly there are dozens of applications for that love ...

Jonah 4:5-11 5  Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6  Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7  But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8  When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9  But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10  And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a ni...

Jonah 3:10-4:4 10  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2  And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3  Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “ Do you do well to be angry?” One of the things I have struggled with in life is my savant ability to use words as weapons when I’m angry. It is a shameful admission, but a reality, nonetheless. My anger has been epic and mostly in the past. God has graciously allowed that to be tempered as I age and while I’m grateful for that, I’m sure my ...

Jonah 3:6-10 6  The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7  And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8  but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9  Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. We consider Jonah’s rescue from a violent sea through the throat of a great fish to be truly miraculous – and it is. But consider now the repentant hearts and actions of an entire city (a...