December 5 – Grafted Into the Promise

“For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” – Deuteronomy 4:31 (NASB)

The fifth book in our Bible is Deuteronomy. Some will say that the title means “second law” but this is due to mistranslation of Deuteronomy 17:18 which is “copy of the law.” God had predicted that Israel would seek a human king and that king would have a copy of the law transcribed by the Levitical priests. Today we have the promise from God that because He is a merciful God, He would keep the promise of the covenant he made with ‘their fathers.’  God promised to l fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with repentant Israel in the future. God will not forget the Word that He has given to Abraham and his seed. One day yet to come, this promise will be fulfilled in every sense. There will be a remnant of  God’s chosen people that would be saved and enter the Kingdom of God. We have assurance that this promise includes us (Romans 11:17, 23). We as faith believers have been grafted into His people of promise. All who by faith believe in Jesus possess this promise from God.

 

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October 12 – Who/What God Is

“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;” – Exodus 34:5-6 (NASB)

While we are not expected to have experiences with God in the manner that Moses did, we find in these verses from Exodus a promise for us from God. He came down to Moses who had ascended to the top of the mountain. On this particular occasion God came down in a glorious cloud. This was what is called a theophany—a visible manifestation of the invisible God. God had appeared to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-9), so he appeared again on the mountain. The Bible says almost nothing about God’s appearance. Moses wanted to see God, but rather than telling us what he saw, the Bible tells us what Moses heard: The Prophet heard the promises which defined God’s character. Our LORD God is, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, truth and faithfulness, Verse 7 goes on; God maintains love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Each of these characters also define names of our LORD. For God’s name stands for his entire being. It is his nature. It is who He is—the God of creation and redemption, who made and saves His people.

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Source: Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 1040–1041.

September 29 – Be Kind, Be Forgiving

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Kindness is valued by many, even those who do not believe in the one true God as we do.  The Dalai Lama is quoted saying “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”  Our God teaches us to be kind to one another and then He takes it a step further.  Be kind, compassionate to one another AND forgiving each other.  It is hard sometimes to even think about forgiving someone who has mistreated us.  We might be tempted to think that God is expecting too much from us.  How can we ever forgive a serious wrong done to us?  Remember, that God does not expect anything from us that is too difficult for us to do or more than He does for us. He promises to give us the strength to do all that he asks.  Forgiveness is something God has granted us through grace and mercy and through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross.  So, through us in Christ we can show God's kindness, compassion, and forgiveness for each other.  Let's do that starting now..

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June 1 – Compassionate and Gracious

“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” Exodus 34:6  (NIV)

The words in this verse were spoken to Moses at Mt. Sinai after the people had fallen into sin worshiping a golden calf idol.  God was anxious that the people He had chosen as His people know Him and Know what kind of God He is. We believe these words are a promise to us and are recorded because God wants us to know as well. He wants us to know that He is compassionate and gracious and He will forgive us when fail to live as we should. After we fall, we can always come to Him and He will forgive. He abounds in love and faithfulness. Let's remember this today and always and thank Him for loving us and for keeping his promises.

September 29

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Are we tempted to think sometimes that God is expecting too much from us? If that thought comes, we must remember that God does not expect from us more than He does for us, or more than He will give us the strength to do. It is hard sometimes to forgive someone who has treated us in a way we didn’t like. Maybe we think then that this would be expecting too much. Let us remember then that God has forgiven us when we did not treat Him as we should have. When we asked for forgiveness, He wiped it off the record. Let us remember, too, that God will help us to forgive if we ask Him. He doesn’t expect more from us than He would do Himself or more than He will help us to do. 

April 30

“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” Exodus 34:6 (NIV)

This is an occasion of a meeting between God and Moses at the mountain of Sinai when God tell Moses what kind of God He is. Although God did go on to state that He also punishes the guilty, it is impressive to me that He began by stressing how loving and how merciful and gracious He is. Are you not glad that our God is first of all compassionate, ready to forgive, always giving us a chance to ask for forgiveness? He does all this because of His love for us and because that is what His character is.

April 25

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” Psalm 145:8-9 (NIV)

Our Bible that tells us what kind of God we have. Actually that is why God has given us the Bible – to reveal to us who He is. We are not here on this earth by accident. It is God who has given us life. He has created all of us and He recognizes us as His creation. His word for us today reminds us that our God has a special feeling toward us because He has made us. Even though we may make mistakes and we may fail in our attempt to live right, yet our God is gracious and compassionate. He is slow to anger and the psalmist wrote that God is rich in love. We can depend on that today. 

February 7

“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15 (NIV)

We sometimes think that we are having more than our share of problems and difficulties and maybe we tend to complain about it. David, the psalmist, had problems as his life was threatened. What was his reaction? He says, “But”. In contrast to his problems, there was God. We can turn away from looking at our problems and look to God. What a contrast! What kind of God is He? David said He is a compassionate and gracious God. To be compassionate means to feel together with. Yes, our God feels the hurt that we feel and He gives His wonderful grace to help us overcome.