Psalm 110:1 is one of the most quoted psalms in the NT because of it's unmistakable reference to the Messiah. The entire psalm points to the Messiah - His final and total destruction of the wicked, His reign on earth, His priestly work on behalf of His people, and ultimately His complete and total victory over evil.
Psalm 111 praises God by extolling His goodness in everything He does and ends by declaring that the only way to become truly wise is to fear and revere God.
Psalm 112 describes more benefits to those who fear God - honor, prosperity, security, and freedom from fear.
This passage stood out to me in our 2 Corinthians passage...
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
God is compassionate and comforts us during the hard times that inevitably come in life. Clearly, we will never know all the reasons for the hard times we experience, but this passage does give us a clue to at least one aspect of it. God comforts us during our trials so that we can come alongside others and comfort them in theirs, and so that they can do the same. It is a ripple effect of compassion.
Ray Pritchard says this...
Our afflictions soften our hearts so that when we have received the comfort of God it is easy for us to pass it along to someone else. O, how we need it in the church of Jesus Christ. It is so easy to be callous. It is so convenient to be unkind. It is so easy for us to look down our noses at weaker brothers and sisters who go through hard times. We say so carelessly, “Why don’t they just get tough? Why don’t they show some backbone? Why don’t they quit complaining and get on with life? Why don’t they just be strong like the rest of us?” It is so easy to be that way. The Apostle Paul is telling us that one of the reasons God lets you and me go through hard times is to break us of that attitude and to soften us up so that we will be able to minister in the name of Jesus Christ to other hurting people.
Here, then, is a mighty principle that answers many questions. Many of us have hardened places in our lives that will not become tender until we go through the fires of affliction. God lets it happen so that we might reach out to others and comfort them.
Who has God placed in your life to encourage?
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Psalms 113-115; 2 Corinthians 2
2 comments:
Just as Christ first loved us so that we could show love, He also shows us compassion and comfort so that we too can be there for someone in need.
Along a similar idea of how our difficult circumstances just might be the tool God uses to help others, this verse stood out for me:
"He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord."
Often "bad news" is when our plans don't turn out as we thought they would. God uses these circumstances to guide us and lean on Him...the One who has it all worked out.
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