May 7

   
Psalm 25, 29, 33, 36, 39
"My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Oh, my soul!" The words of this hymn come thundering through as I read today's selection. My sin is great, but not nearly so great as His grace! There is hardly a day that goes by that doesn't find me praising the Lord for His forgiveness and reconciliation. And, then to top it off, He has placed me in His kingdom where I can enjoy all the freedom heaven can offer! My life in Christ so far surpasses any joy or happiness I did, or could have, ever experienced outside of Him. I didn't understand that before I was saved. Instead of looking to biblical examples, like David, I only saw the misguided examples of some Christians who had not yet embraced the freedom and joy of the Lord that comes through His experiential grace. I now know, and live joyfully, in that grace. Praise the Lord!

May 6

   
2 Samuel 5-6, 1 Chronicles 17
This is one of the most difficult stories from the Bible for me. Uzzah seems to simply be preventing the ark from taking a tumble. I fail to see how that is being irreverent toward God. Yet, that is the reason given for Uzzah's death. David didn't understand. In fact, he was angry with God. There must be more to the story. Which reminds me that we have a volume, while being inspired by God, was still written by imperfect humans. It's possible that whoever penned this particular story didn't see any need to provide an explanation. The writer had already accepted the sovereignty of God, and assumed that those reading the story would have done the same. I suppose that's where we have to leave the execution of Uzzah. God is God, and He will do as He wills. Our understanding is not a necessary ingredient. However, our acceptance is requisite. Praise be to God for His sovereignty!

May 5

   
Psalm 89, 96, 100, 101, 105, 132
The Psalmist praises God for His faithfulness. Prophetically, we are brought to the chosen Messiah, the one who will lead us into Zion, God's holy dwelling. We are given words of hope as we face the inevitability of our physical deaths. God's faithfulness is enduring, death cannot prevent Him from accomplishing His will for our lives. The grave has no power over His promises. The Son of David, our King, is still upon the throne. Even though we are faithless, He is keeping the covenant established through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We do not have a God who seeks out a loophole so that He might be released from the agreement. Rather, our God keeps His part of the contract in spite of us not keeping ours. Can you imagine your insurance company paying the agreed amount, even when you have failed to continue paying the premium you agreed on? Why, that's ludicrous to expect such a thing! Yet, that is exactly what God is doing for us. He keeps His end of the agreement even when we fail to keep ours. Is it any wonder that the Psalmist cannot help but to praise God?!

May 4

   
Psalm 1, 2, 15, 22, 23, 24, 47, 68
Psalms proclaiming the salvation of God. He is our redeemer, our deliverer, our saviour. Through Him, we overcome death. The prophetic words of Psalm 22, portraying our crucified Lord. "My God, why have you forsaken me?" For most of my Christian life I have heard people say that when Jesus is uttering these words on the cross, He is doing so in response to God turning away from Him because He had taken the sins of the world upon Himself, and God cannot look upon sin. I find a number of problems with this interpretation, but rather than point out the flaws, I would offer an alternative. Suppose, that as Jesus is nearing His final breath, He looks upon His fellow Jews with deep compassion, and makes one last ditch effort to convince them that He is the Messiah of prophecy. So, He begins the opening words of this Psalm that so clearly depicts what is happening at that moment in time. If they would only recall this Psalm, while taking a look at the man with pierced hands, with bones out of joint, bearing an unquenched thirst, perhaps they might turn and proclaim Him to be the promised Saviour! No, I don't believe this proclamation from Jesus is about God turning away. Rather, it is about God turning His people toward the Messiah, the chosen Lamb of God, the crucified one of Psalm 22.

May 3

1 Chronicles 13-16
Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. (1 Chronicles 15:22) Did you catch that? Kenaniah was placed in charge of the singing because he was good at it. Why do you suppose it was important that he be skillful in singing? After all, doesn't our singing go through some sort of spiritual filter, so that, by the time it reaches God it's all beautiful? I have heard that said numerous times throughout my Christian life to justify the use of unskillful people in the public service to our Lord. So, is it an issue of importance whether or not the people who lead our congregations be skillful? There are far too many places throughout scripture where God appoints certain people for positions of specialization to discount it. In fact, earlier in today's reading a man loses his life because he was performing a duty for which he had not been intended. While it is true that God looks upon the heart and is pleased when His children praise Him, regardless of ability or skill, it is equally true that He desires to have His best in the fore. We are seeking to present the heavenly bride to the world, adorned in beauty and majesty! When we put skillful people in positions of leadership our corporate worship becomes a thing of beauty, an offering of praise to God that is not only an honor to Him, but a witness to the world. All should sing and make melody to God. All are to be proclaiming the Good News. However, all are not to be leading congregations in praise or preaching. Those who take these positions are to be skilled in those areas. These are only two of areas where people are specifically called to serve, and they are not any more important than the myriad of other positions that others are called to.

May 2

Psalm 106, 107
God is to be praised for His wonderful deeds among mankind. He remains faithful, even when we are faithless. It is an amazing testimony to His unfailing love that He continues to bless those who call out to Him from the distress they have brought on themselves through rebellion toward their Creator. Time after time He rescues us and sets us up in His glory, in spite of our weaknesses and sinful ways! May He be praised from one generation to another, from every corner of the universe, through time without end. Praise be to our Lord!

May 1

Psalm 133
"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!" Other than the promotion of the gospel to the lost, this has been my driving force throughout my Christian walk. Primarily because the lack of unity is so damaging to the cause of Christ. I came to the Lord in my late twenties. Fortunately, the young couple presenting the gospel to my wife and I didn't make the mistake of attempting to convert us to the church. Rather, our conversion was to Jesus Christ. This was fortunate because my view of the church was very poor. The disunity among the various churches is extremely ugly. Christian love is, at best, disingenuous when expressed to the lost, while being lost to other Christians, simply because there is some point of disagreement! Unity does not mean uniformity. If it did there would never be a successful marriage. In fact, there would not be a lasting relationship of any kind. In order to live together in unity we must often agree to disagree, loving each other in spite of our differences; maybe even because of our differences. There is much more strength in diversity than there could ever be in uniformity. So, on this my birthday, I make another appeal to Christians of every stripe and color, let's show the world that we are His disciples by our love for each other!