Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations is, as the name suggests, a lamentable book. Gods people were at their lowest ebb. Yet here, in the midst of the darkness, it's as though the sun came out. God's love never fails. He never has failed his people and he never will. Even in the midst of intense suffering, God's love for us endures. Even if our nation is in ruins like ancient Judah, God's mercies never come to an end. We deserve hell. Anything better than that is a bonus. Every time the sun rises we can be reminded of God's mercies new each day. The sunrise is pregnant with possibility. The preacher Chuck Swindoll said that people rarely kill themselves at sunrise because it's a hopeful time of day. 'Faithful God, we praise you for never failing us. Please reassure us of your unfailing love for us in Christ, in whose name w...

 Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” I think this verse could easily be misled. God could have been seen to have been the means to the end of getting to the promised land. God isn't the means to an end; he is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End. I love this promise of Moses to Joshua. It's such a godly encouragement that God himself echoed it later on, after Moses had entered God's eternal presence. If this verse was true for Joshua, it's certainly true for us new covenant believers who have the indwelling Holy Spirit. For us as new covenant believers, God isn't simply the means to the end of getting to the promised new creation. We don't then abandon God and focus on ourselves. God isn't simply to be paid lip service to. God won't leave or forsake us, even in eternity. This verse is true of those who, by his grace, don't ultimately lea...

 Genesis 1:3 ESV And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  When God speaks, things happen. God himself is Light, and in him, there is no darkness at all. When God switches the light on, no one can switch it off. The God who created light continues to brighten up our lives to this day. Jesus is the Light of the world. When we trust in him, we ourselves become the light of the world, reflecting his Light to others. Once we were in the domain of darkness. God has brought us into the Light however. We're like Augustine, who once had his back to the Light, focusing on what the Light reflected on; but finally he turned and came into the Light. If we're in the Light, there's no room for being all self congratulatory. It's because God has switched the light on in our hearts that we're lightened up, if we are at all. God forbid that we would assume we're in the light if we're actually in darkness. 'Light of the world, please brighten up our lives ...

 Matthew 11:28 ESV Come to me, all who laboúr and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Life isn't easy. It's often laborious and burdensome. Jesus offers rest to those who come to him. To be honest, I don't think life necessarily becomes easier if we trust in Jesus. He does empower us though. Spiritually speaking, we no longer need to toil and be burdened. We don't need to earn God's acceptance. We just need to trust in Jesus. We simply need to come to him by faith. This is a powerful promise. If we come to Jesus, he assures us that he will give us rest. We can leave our burdens at the foot of the cross. 'Dear Lord, may we come to you, and so find rest for our souls. We ask this for your honour and praise, amen'.

 Galatians 6:2 ESV Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  We all have burdens. They aren't only necessarily besetting sins. They could also include the concerns we carry for loved ones for example. We are to care for one another. It shouldn't be a 'dog eat dog' world in the family of God. As Jesus bore our burdens, so we are to share one another's burdens. The law of Christ in summary is to love. Love isn't just a mushy feeling. Love is action: to bear one another's burdens. Interesting, the Apostle Paul goes on to say that each one must bear their own load. We can only carry each other's burdens so far. There comes a point where we have to carry our own weights of responsibility. 'Dear Father God, please help us to carry each other's burdens as best we can, whilst learning to bear our own loads too. In Christ's name we ask this, amen'. 

 Hosea 10:12 ESV  Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Taken in isolation, the first half of this verse could sound like we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and earn our own righteousness and love. Even in the context of this verse, we see that isn't true. The Lord is the One who rains down righteousness upon our thirsty souls. In the new covenant, Jesus describes God as the Sower and his word as the seed. So we need to sow Gods righteous word in our hearts to reap a harvest of love. Righteousness and love aren't contradictory; if we're righteous we'll be loving. We reap what we sow. If we sow God's word, well reap a good harvest. If we sow to our fleshly, worldly desires, we'll reap weeds as it were. We need to break up old weedy habits and seek the Lord to make us fruitful and blessings to him and to others. Unfaithfu...

 Psalm 30:5  For his anger is just for a moment, and his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning. God gets angry. We mustn't gloss over this truth. He's rightfully angry at all that is unlovely.  Thankfully, God's anger is momentary, and his favour is everlasting. He's like a loving father who gives his unruly son the rod for a moment, but then embraces him and welcomes him back into loving communion with him. We need God's discipline. If we're not disciplined ourselves, God will discipline us. He might drive us to tears through the night, but with the morning he will bring joy to us. Even if this life is a vale of tears, the next one is eternal joy. Thankfully, we can know much joy, even in this life. Every sunrise is pregnant with the promises of God. His mercies are new every morning.  'Dear Lord God, we're grateful not just for the joy you bring, but also for your discipline. Please help us to look for...

 1 Peter 5:6 ESV   Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  God hates pride and loves humility. Even the Lord Jesus Christ himself is humble. He humbled himself from the throne of heaven to the cross for us, only to be exalted back to his rightful place. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet if we humble ourselves before him, we can be assured that he will ultimately exalt us. Even if it isn't until glory, God will raise us up. God is sovereign. If we're doing well for ourselves, we should give him the glory. If we're struggling, we should cry out to him to uphold us. If we don't humble ourselves, God may well do it for us. He can use life circumstances to humble us. Ultimately, if we reject him in the end, he will banish us to the ultimate humiliation of hell. 'Almighty Father God, please humble us, so that we can ultimately be exalted. Thank you for the example of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen...

 John 8:32 ESV and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Some people think the truth is unknowable. How they think they know that is beyond me! That idea seems like a convenient way of trying to avoid having truth to which we are accountable. Jesus is the Truth personified. He is knowable, through his word, by his Spirit. If we want to get to know him we can ask him to reveal himself to us. As Christ said elsewhere, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me'. If we want to know the truth of God, we need to look to the Lord Jesus. Truth isn't just some intellectual exercise. The Truth will set us free from the lies of the enemy of our souls who wants to keep us bound. By getting to know Christ, and him crucified, we find out how we can be liberated from our sins. 'O Lord our God, please set us free from our sins. Help us to get to know you and your Truth, for your honour and praise we ask this, amen'.