| Date | Version | Reading Plan |
|---|---|---|
| @June 25, 2024 | ESV (2016) | M’Cheyne Plan 2024 |
Deut. 30
Deuteronomy 30:6 (ESV) 6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Our ability to love the LORD comes from the LORD. We need Him to want Him. Without the Spirit’s enlivening work in our hearts, our wickedness and evil will continue indefinitely because no one seeks after God on their own. It is an act of grace that He removes from us our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that we may love Him and pursue Him with our all our heart and soul. By this we live—a true life in union with Christ—whereas we once were dead in our trespasses and sins.
Psalm 119:73-96
Psalm 119:89–90 (ESV) 89 Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
The psalmist, Lamedh, reflects on the permanence of God’s Word and His faithfulness. As the winds of culture change, His Word stands forever. In a sermon by Tim Keller to which I recently listened, he spoke of our tendency to project our current understanding as being transcendent. It stems from a sense of pride that the way we see things now is as they will always be. However, if we look back 80 years, we can see how little we knew and how silly was our understanding. In humility, we must also realize that this will be the case 80 years from now, then having a greater level of knowledge and looking on this generation with criticality. Distinct from this is God’s Word, enduring forever and firmly fixed in the heavens. As we traverse this world in our daily life, we must remain steadfastly adherent to the objective, unchanging truths beheld in Word of God.
Isaiah 57
Isaiah 57:15 (ESV) 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
God dwells with the contrite and lowly in spirit. He will revive the hearts of humble estate, leaving the haughty and boastful to carry on in death of their own accord. Being with Him in His high and holy place is reserved for those brought low in conviction of sin, responding in despair, reaching out to Him in need and grateful for the salvation He offers.
Matthew 5
Matthew 5:10–12 (ESV) 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Nobody enjoys reviling or persecution, and yet Jesus says that those who receive it are blessed. Not only are we to endure, but we are told to rejoice and be glad, focusing not on our current circumstances but to the great reward that awaits us in heaven. Justice will surely come to the enemies of Christ and His church, allowing us to move forward in restful assurance. This, of course, we do imperfectly as creatures mired in sin, thus making our frequent return to such passages all the more necessary.