Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 28:1-2
Ps 28:1-2
To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
Eph 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Recently I have been studying the sovereignty of God. To believe in one true God and to believe that he created all things that exist, just by speaking the word, in itself declares belief in his supremacy and his sovereignty. He is all powerful, all knowing, all wise and eternal in nature. I think we all agree on these things.
It was this subject that lead John Calvin to arrive at the conclusion that God has a predetermined plan for each individual that will be born that cannot be changed or altered by that person. So, if God has predetermined that a person will be a child of God, then God will save them but if God has declared that he/she will be a murderer, child molester or anything else, that cannot be changed either. God’s plan for our lives goes down to what we will do or not do today.
This takes away free will. I believe that God is sovereign but that just because he can know what I will do in life does not mean that he has declared it to be so. The problem we have is that we try to make the mind and logic of God fit our mind and our logic. Can God know how we will react to temptation and then we still have the ability to change that outcome? Calvin said no but I believe it is possible because God gives us the choice to obey or disobey. He gives us the freedom to have faith or not have faith, to accept Christ or not accept him. If this were not so, all of the warnings of disobedience in God’s word are pointless. More later.
O Lord God, sovereign and supreme, I come to you in abject poverty of spirit, knowing that I do not deserve anything good from you. I have failed to be like Jesus in so many ways, and I have failed to live up to your glory! Yet, in your goodness, because of your great love, you have shown tender mercy, and you have extended your grace to me in Jesus Christ. Increase my faith so that each day I draw closer to you and grow into your likeness. Continue to forgive me when I fail. Help me show Jesus to those around me. I humbly pray in his name.
Robert
