Don's Daily Devotional
“You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah” Psalm 85:2 ESV
Psalm 85… A prayer asking for God’s forgiveness and mercy. A prayer set to music and sung by the Sons of Korah. And no, that’s not the name of their band. They are descendants of Levi. The Levites were put in charge of music… “Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. These were heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, according to their generations, leaders. These lived in Jerusalem.” 1 Chronicles 9:33-34 ESV From the beginning the Nation of Israel has been on a roller coaster ride with their relationship to God. Sin… Cry out for mercy… sin… cry out for mercy! Time and time again. I remember as a young believer, I would read the Old Testament and think “what kind of silliness is this?” “Why can’t they just stay faithful?” Then, I found out that I can’t do it either. The number of times I have had to, and still do, cry out for forgiveness is almost embarrassing. But, thank God He has covered all my sin just like He did for the nation of Israel. The Israelites would sin and then perform sacrifices as required by Jewish law. They would be forgiven. And then once again start the same process all over again. In verse four They ask for restoration once again. In verse five and six the Psalmist asks a few questions. And in verse 7 they cry out for God to show them how much He loves them. Verse 4… “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Verse 5 “Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?” Verse 6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Verse 7 “Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.”
We now have the answers to these questions. God has put away His indignation toward His people in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! He is no longer angry with His people because He poured out His wrath on His Son on the cross. A time of separation between God the Father and God the Son happened the day Jesus died on the cross. Why? Because Jesus took upon Himself the sin of all mankind past , present and future on that day. God cannot be around sin so, He, for that instant had to separate Himself. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 ESV At the moment Jesus died on the cross it set into motion the Temple Veil being torn in two. This allowed us access to the Creator of the universe. We now can enter into His place of grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Through this act of love we no longer have God’s anger poured out on us. We rejoice in Him because He has revived us through His Son. He has shown us His loving kindness and granted us salvation for all those that believe Jesus has performed the finished work of forgiveness on the cross of Calvary.
Love ya, Pastor Don