Today's Reading - 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm 30, 97-99
Background
We read today the Chronicles account of David's numbering of the fighting men. If you remember yesterday's reading, you may see one of Scripture's anomalies. Here, it says that Satan incited David to number the counting men, but in 2 Samuel it says that God incited him. A contradiction? Of course not. Much like in Job, when Satan acted only under the permission of God, Satan is the active force of evil but can only do what God permits.
No, I don't understand it and neither do you. For that matter, neither does the smartest theologian on earth. But we can believe it because the Bible proclaims it. God is in control and Satan's evil operates under that Sovereign hand. If not for God, Satan would destroy anything, everything, at all times. But he can only do what God permits when God permits it. And when God permits it, even Satan's evil accomplishes God's eternal purposes.
Think of the greatest act of evil that Satan ever concocted - moving in Judas' heart to betray Jesus and inciting the crowds to cry out for Jesus' blood. Good move, devil! Your acts of evil sealed your own fate. Satan is a murderer, a destroyer. But God permitted him to destroy so that God could redeem. Our God is great enough that he is able to accomplish eternal good with Satan's evil.
Maybe I should have made THIS my devotional!
Devotional - Sing a New Song
Don't you love singing the great old songs?
Today is Easter Sunday in 2018 and at Southern Hills we will sing a combination of new and old. But for Easter our selections will favor the old song, the standard hymns of the resurrection. I love to sing songs I've sung a hundred times before.
But in Psalm 98:1 the Psalmist says something, repeated often, that can be shocking to old fogeys like me.
Sing a new song to the Lord,for he has performed wonders;his right hand and holy armhave won him victory.Wait a minute! Shouldn't that say, "Stick to the old hymns and leave those new-fangled 7-11 choruses alone?" You'd think so, wouldn't you, from what you hear a lot of folks saying. But we are commanded to sing a new song to God.
Was the Psalmist attempting to enter into the so-called Worship Wars and opine on whether we should sing from the hymnal or strum guitars? It goes far beyond that. It isn't about style here, or even substance. It is about the nature of the Psalms and the work of God in our lives.
The Psalms (and singing in general) are experiential. They are about putting our lives in a divine perspective. And, since God is always doing new things, showing his grace and goodness afresh every day, we need to sing new songs. New songs for new wonders performed by a great God.
When the Psalmist says, "Sing a new song" he is reminding us that God is not just the God of the past, but he is also the God of the present and the future. He is at work today and will be at work tomorrow, doing new things to bless us, help us, and carry us through.
So, sing a new song!
Father, I thank you that you do new works in my life every day, that I do not have to live on the blessings of the past.
Think and Pray
Are you focused on the past or on what God is going to do today and tomorrow? It is good to remember the goodness of God in the past, but that is prologue to the new song God wants to sing in your life. "Si
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