Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Tuesday, August 4th: Psalms 66-67, Acts 23:16-35 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Psalms 66-67; Acts 23:16-35

This passage jumped out at me today....

Psalm 67:1-2 
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.

In Verse 1 we see the psalmist asking for God's grace and blessing.  But verse 2 is the kicker because it reveals the psalmists motive.

Why did he want God's grace and blessing?  So that God would be glorified!

How often don't we ask God for things for purely selfish reasons?  When was the last time we asked for something to happen specifically so that God would get the glory?


Our Acts passage....

Pretty sure the Jews broke their vow not to eat until Paul was dead :)  After all, their plot called for him to be killed the next day.  And that did not happen!

I love this portion of scripture because it clearly shows God's providence, as well as Paul's action.  "Somehow" Paul's nephew found out about the plot, "somehow" God uses this plot to bring Paul to Rome as He previously told Paul He would do.

But when Paul heard about the plot he didn't just sit back and wait to see what God would do.  He took action - he told his nephew to share this plot with the commander.

"Unfortunately", God protected Paul from this plan by having him consigned to prison in Caesarea for 2 years.  Why?  This also shows us the hiddenness of God's plans for us.  We don't know why God moves the way He does, but we do know He is sovereign, and so we can (and must!) trust Him, no matter our circumstances.


Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Psalms 68-69; Acts 24

3 comments:

Nathan said...

Psalm 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

I'm glad we have God as our judge. He won't be corrupted by politics or won't play favourites like human judges do. We too should be glad and sing for joy because of this.

Conrad said...

A very good verse in our OT reading to bring our attention to Tammy. We are driven typically by selfish motives, so this verse is a great reminder to keep our motives in check - to bring God the glory.

Pamela said...

I love the "somehows" that show up in my life. It reminds me of God's sovereignty even when I don't understand why things happen the way they do.