God's People

Today's Reading: Psalm 75, Exodus 20:18‐21:11, Nehemiah 1, Romans 11

Psalm 75 - There is a simple and pure quality about Psalm 75. Asaph simply praises God for all of His wondrous works for the nation of Israel, and then rejoices that God is the righteous judge, Who will one day lift up the righteous and judge the wicked. Asaph was able to put complete confidence in God, because he remembered how God had worked in the past. When we struggle in our relationship with God, it would due us good to remember the faithfulness of God in past times.

Exodus 20:18-21:11 - Think about what it must have felt like to be Moses! Thunder and flashes of lightning, the sound of the trumpet, the mountain smoking, a throng of people below you, trembling, imploring you to speak to God, and you stand in the thick darkness where God was to speak to him! What a man this Moses was! And, what a God his God is. The Lord began to give Moses additional laws in this chapter. These laws were to govern the lives of God's covenant people.

Nehemiah 1 - Nehemiah opens with a report on the sad condition of the city of Jerusalem. The wall had been broken down. The city was destroyed by fire. The remnant who was there and had survived were down.

So, Nehemiah responded with weeping, and then prayer and fasting. Nehemiah was not afraid to show his emotions. He asked God to remember His covenant people. Nehemiah did the right thing. He went to God when Jerusalem was at it's lowest. God would answer in awesome ways!

Romans 11 - It has been said that Romans 1-11 make up the great doctrinal portion of the book of Romans, and Romans 12-16 make up the practical application of the doctrinal truths presented in the first eleven chapters. I agree with that.

So, Paul ends his great doctrinal section of the book by teaching about the relationship that Jewish and Gentile believers have with each other. God has grafted in Gentile believers with those Jewish believers who have trusted in His son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

It is important for the body of Christ to get along and to recognize how special each believer is. This chapter should be a blessing to anyone who is a follower of Christ, for it shows the lengths that Christ went to in order to allow each of us to be a part of His family.