ResponsiveReiding

Through the Word in 2020 / March 15 – The Lord is our strength

March 15th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 26-1-16; Romans 9:19-33; Psalm 62, Deuteronomy 1-3.

There is no question that David’s circumstances were far different than ours in this Psalm. But there is also no question that the God he was crying out to here is not in any wise different, but in every way the same. And so it is the same things David relies upon here, are equally the province of every true Believer. Both in the face of adverse circumstances, like the current distresses brought on by the Corona virus crises, and especially, in terms of facing the attacks of our greatest enemy – indwelling sin.

Psalm 62:1–12 (ESV): For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.

How necessary is the reminder to speak to our own souls to remain quiet and un-agitated as we look to our God for our salvation on all fronts.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

He does not say he (nor we) will not be shaken at all, but that he will not be GREATLY shaken. He sees his trials as relative considering his status before his God.

Only when as Believers we completely put our trust only in Him to comfort us and to fight for us against our sins, and abide with us in our trials will we know the victory He plans for us. Until we come to truly realize that He ALONE is our rock, that He ALONE is our safety and fortress – no technique, program, exercise or system – but Him ALONE, will we find true deliverance.

3 How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah

So once again, after enumerating some of his opposition, David brings himself back to remember –
5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

And so he takes the very thing with which he comforts himself and appeals to us now to do the same –
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

He reminds us that neither wealth nor poverty make any difference in these matters. All that matters is trusting our God.
9 Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.

And we might add to his admonition here, put no trust in Governments, in Science, in experts, in theories, in the media, or pundits from any side of any aisle –
10 Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Here is the sum! Power belongs to God. Power over sin. Power over disease. Power over economies. Power over every circumstance and condition. We are to look to the One who alone has true power. Human power in the face of such things is a mere, egotistical illusion.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.

Our good, holy, just, loving and all wise God will carry us, and bring all of life to its proper conclusion in due time.

Trust Him child of God. If He gave His only Son for your soul’s salvation – what won’t He do for you?
Through the Word in 2020 / March 14 – A Remarkably Timely Word

March 14th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 9:1-18; Psalm 61, Numbers 33-36.

My personality and constitution resists change. And that shows itself in me even more as I age. But our God doesn’t suffer from such a condition and He invites us always to find our only REAL permanence in Him – in His character, being, purposes and plans.

So it is the Christian life, just as all life, has many many stages to it. In Numbers 33, we are shown that during their 40 years in Wilderness, Israel had to break camp no less than 41 times. Is it any surprise then that the Church too will undergo changes along our route to the Heavenly Zion?

Some those changes are and will be exciting. And some will be filled with danger. Some are times of rest, and others times of attack. Some are times of peace and some times of raging war. There are pleasant places, dry places and seemingly empty places. Places where God meets with us, and places where He seems silent. Places of revelation like Sinai. Places of chastening. Places where they tarried long and places where they moved on quickly.

Childhood. Adolescence. Adulthood. Middle age. Old age. Singleness. Marriage. Bereavement. Joy. Career. Retirement. Perhaps divorce. Loss. Riches or poverty. And yes, massive interruptions to business or life as usual – like the advent of the Corona virus.

We will be living interrupted lives for a season – individually, and as a Church.

And so Numbers 33 offers us much to consider in our present season of uncertainty.

1. Our gracious God leads and attends us every step, and in every place. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. And His Church remains His Church every step. Though it may need to respond in new ways to new challenges.

2. It is a good reminder that we ought never to imagine the Christian life will be one of simple ease and rootedness. For this is not our home. This is the wilderness, wrought by the Fall. Change is not just inevitable, it is sovereignly appointed – AND, attended.

3. No stage is the entire journey. We can easily begin to think where we are at this moment is the way it will always be. Not so. Some things may return to normal, or we may need to adjust to a “new normal” – temporarily or permanently in some ways. The never-changing normal is to be found in our never-changing God, and His every faithful care and Word.

4. Our Canaan is still the other side of Jordan. And we will have no permanent place until then. But we will “break camp” and re-camp together as His Church as need be, until then.

5. At every stage in Israel’s Wilderness journey, there was God’s presence; God’s provision; and the reality that every step was part of God’s plan in bringing them home. That has not changed. It is just as much a reality for us – even as it was foreshadowed in passages like this one.

As an assembly, we’ll need to respond in new ways to our present challenges. But we remain in the hand of our good God. And He will provide the wisdom, the ways and the wherewithal to do so.

Hang in their Beloved – our God is at work!
Through the Word in 2020 / March 13 – Another Intercessor

March 13th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 8:18-39; Psalm 60, Numbers 31-32.

If there is any passage of Scripture I can say was my Dad’s favorite over all others – it is today’s section of Romans. It stands out as the pinnacle of comfort and security of Believers. It is truly unparalleled.

But one aspect of this portion which seldom gets its due, either in preaching and teaching or even in the ordinary Believer’s mind is 26-30 and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in intercession for the Believer is a most neglected doctrine. Neglected to the genuine loss of much comfort in our pains, trials, sorrows and griefs. And, it serves as a grand template as to how we might best pray for one another. When you don’t know how to pray from someone else, the 3 ways He intercedes for us give us a marvelous pattern to follow.

So first, know this Christian, if no one in all the world knows your needs and prays for you, the Holy Spirit does. And as indwelling you, He knows your needs with the searchlight of infinite, intimate knowledge, and infinite compassion.

He knows us better than we know ourselves.

Second, What is this great WILL of God for us which the Spirit must assist us in praying for? This thing which is labeled here – as an intercession “according to the will of God?” It is the answer as to why is it that all things work together for the good to those who love Him? Because we are called according to His PURPOSE which is: TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON.

In this, He wants better for us than we want for ourselves. Our pleas are often so temporally located, so immediately. His, deeply, spiritually and eternally.

Third, note how this is an indication of the depth of the Spirit’s groanings on our behalf, not ours. These are not our utterances but His. He so agonizes on our behalf. He knows our real needs, we do not. He knows how desperate we are, we do not.

He loves us better than we can love ourselves.

When we don’t know our need well enough to groan, He does. And can any imagine that the SPirit who was sent from the Father and the Son to us and for us will not be heard when He groans on our behalf? Indeed He will. And we will bear all of the benefits.
Through the Word in 2020 / March 12 – Do you love His appearing?

March 12th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 25:1-13; Romans 8:1-17; Psalm 59, Numbers 28-30.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins (as it is called) is a familiar one, and though some of its key points are subtle, they are powerful. It is unique to Matthew’s Gospel.

The picture of all ten being virgins is meant to let us know that there are those in the visible Church, those among us who profess Christ and to all outward appearances are Christ’s, but who nevertheless are not prepared for His coming and being gathered to Him. In the final analysis, they will prove to be professors only. This is vitally important: Merely being “moral” (symbolized here by all 10 being virgins) is not the same as having the saving righteousness of Christ by faith.

Many are those who have it in their mind that they want and expect the blessings of Heaven. But in truth, some of those do not have the key essential to a good and proper expectation – the indwelling, illuminating Spirit of Christ. They want the joys and the privileges of Christ, but have done nothing to be prepared for His coming and what it means. They have not been born again.

This parable illustrates the same concept as 2 Timothy 3:5 – that there are those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power of true godliness. Only the Spirit can illumine the heart and mind and make us ready for Jesus’ coming. Nothing less or else is sufficient. One may indeed have a lamp that looks like everyone else’s – but if it is empty – we will be lost.

So note 3 things:

1. Those without “oil” have no provision for the long haul – to endure while Christ delays. Indeed, they profess to be those who will celebrate His coming, but they are not prepared for it at all. They are bereft of the central need – union to Him in the Spirit.

2. And when He comes, such provision cannot be gotten from others, you must have it within yourself. The Spirit is not a borrowed commodity. No one else can give you some of the Holy Spirit from themselves. He must be had personally as given by Jesus.

3. Only those who have set their hearts and minds upon receiving Him and being in right condition for that hour will be His. He returns for those who “love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8), none else.

Now is a good time to ask yourself if you are one who truly loves His appearing, anticipates it with genuine joy, or one who simply owns it as a piece of religious dogma? Is Jesus’ return an authentic and motivating hope? If not, why not? And what are you going to do about it?
Through the Word in 2020 / March 11 – The Romans 7 Conundrum

March 11th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 24:36-51; Romans 7:13-25; Psalm 58, Numbers 26-27.

If there is a chapter that has spawned more debate than Romans 7, I am at a loss to name it. Is this Paul talking about his pre-conversion state? Is he talking about the Christian’s battle with sin? Is he talking about being bound by habitual sin even after his conversion? What’s going on here? And I wouldn’t presume to counter the great men of God who have taken their stand on any side throughout the centuries. But I will proffer a consideration.

One of Paul’s key themes underlying chapters 5 through 8 is: Exactly what has changed for the Believer, and what has not? We are new creatures indeed, but we are not yet glorified. We are justified, but still sin. We have eternal life, and yet will still die physically. We have a new love of holiness, and yet sinful desires still stir within us. So he can write: “I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Romans 7:22–23 (ESV). It would seem that only a genuine Christian could declare they “delight in the law of God”, but how does that square with being “captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members”?

Without trying to reach above my grasp or overcomplicating the matter I think his point is ultimately this: Even as a Believer, even in my best efforts to serve God, sin still taints all of my motives. I do nothing purely yet. And if that is true, if I cannot find even one really pure motive and intent of the heart that isn’t still somehow tainted by sin – then why am I not condemned the way I was before? And the glorious answer is: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 7:25a & 8:1-2.

The old law said: “Sin, and you will die.” But the new law, the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from that old law. The new law says: “Believe, and you will live!” The Believer’s being “captive” in vs. 23 is simply that we cannot escape sin tainting all – even our best service for Christ. But the Believer’s freedom is that we are not subject to condemnation even though that is the case because – and ONLY because – we are in Christ Jesus.

Hallelujah! This is our joy and our freedom and our glory even though we still cry out with Paul “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” What does that look like? “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” I set my mind to serve Christ, even though I know that I still have fleshly tendencies tainting my service. And because of Christ – the Father receives it as purified in the blood of the Lamb.

What a Redeemer He is!
Through the Word in 2020 / March 10 – Sin doesn’t die

March 10th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 24:15-35; Romans 7:1-12; Psalm 57, Numbers 23-25.

Our Romans passage today carries vital information for the Believer on 2 counts. I cannot stress how important this passage is to the way Christians need to think.

Note that it is not the Law which dies, but that we die to it. It is essential that we grasp Paul’s language here and not convolute it into saying what it does not say. And, it is the very same with sin. The text DOES NOT say sin dies or that we can kill it. It says WE die to sin. Indwelling sin does not die, but we die to having to obey its influence. So many live in constant discouragement that they cannot make sin die within them altogether. But that is not for this age. Such freedom is reserved for the age to come. For this age, it is enough that while sin remains within us, and while it will continue to voice its desires throughout our lives, we can learn to turn a deaf ar to its pleas – we can die to it. We HAVE died to it in Christ.

If you Christian, have imagined some state of being now, in this life, where sin will not still stir within and continue its attempt to gain the ascendency in your life, you are mistaken. Trying to arrive at such a place will drive you to despair. That is an impossible battle and to waste your time and energy trying to get to that place will distract and exhaust you from fighting the real battle: Dying to sin. Learning to turn a deaf ear to its false promises. Refusing to answer when it knocks at the door of your heart. Know that because of your union with Christ you are no longer under compulsion to respond. And flee to Him in thanksgiving in such hours. Your own voice in thanksgiving and praise can drown out the siren song of sin.

And make no mistake, this takes a perpetual reminding ourselves of the reality of our death in union with Jesus. We do not retain this knowledge as a static reality easily. We must come back to the Word over and over and over to read it afresh and keep our hearts alive in the truth of it.
Through the Word in 2020 / March 9 –

March 9th, 2020
We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 24:1-14; Romans 6:15-23; Psalm 56, Numbers 21-22.

Let’s look at 4 brief matters in the account captured in Numbers 21:4-9.
1. Note the Israelite’s dual charge against God. a. Simply because the way is hard or takes longer than we desire – God has brought us here to die. In other words, He has plotted evil against us. And b. The provision He HAS made in His Word (the manna) is “worthless” – it is “light”, it doesn’t do the job. It isn’t sufficient to sustain us.
How often we charge God the same, if not verbally, in our hearts – when life takes us down a difficult path. As vs. 5 says, they become impatient. Impatient with God, when it was their own sin which sentenced them to the 40 year wanderings.

And it is our sin – collectively in Adam and often our own personal sin which makes the journey hard. God forgive us for impatience with Him as He abides with us to bring us to the final Canaan of His presence.

2. So note the second part of those false charges particularly. “We loathe this worthless food.”

Are there parts of God’s Word, where you would say with the Jews, “I loathe this worthless food?” Or indeed, do you find virtually none of the Bible truly relevant to what you want to do and who you are? Then you have adopted a worldview and life direction that has nothing to do with God’s plans and purposes, and thus you are right – for those ends, the Word of God is truly worthless. It is only beneficial to those seeking Christ. To those seeking to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. To those waging war against indwelling sin, and seeking to be freed from the bondage of this World’s values and seductions so that they might be conformed to the image of Christ.

This word will sustain you in true faith, but not mystical inventions that mimic faith. It will sustain you as you fight materialism, selfishness, lust, greed, pride, arrogance, addiction, and self-serving self-centeredness. It will give you sight to see the lies of the World, the Flesh and the enemy. But it will not sustain you if you are looking to simply better your life; add the “spiritual dimension”; coddle you in your sin; justify you in self-rule or self-promotion. For those purposes, no matter how much you consume it – you will starve to death. But if you are hungry for holiness, intimacy with Christ, the maturity that prevents you from being tossed by the waves and blown about with every wind of doctrine – for coming to the goal of Christ’s likeness that God is after in your life – it contains the highest nutritional value available. And you can have as much of it as you want or need. the Word of God is worthless for human ends, and absolutely essential for spiritual ends. Why you partake of it – what you look for in it – will determine is efficacy.

3. Note that God does not take such charges lightly. The sending of the fiery serpents is a stunning reminder that He listens to the complaints of our hearts against Him – and that we need to reconsider where our hearts have gone in accusing Him.

4. GRACE! In all this – here comes one more type and shadow of Christ. A brazen serpent on a pole A standard raised up which gives its sure cure by the most amazing means: Just look. Just look to what God has prepared for us in Christ. Look to Him! He is raised up before you even in the very midst of your rebellion and His just judgment. Forgiveness and healing are but a glance away. Isaiah 45:22 (KJV 1900) — Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.
Through the Word in 2020 / March 8 – Christ ALONE!

March 8th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 23:25-39; Romans 6:1-14; Psalm 55, Numbers 18-20.

Our section in Numbers today contains 2 most curious passages. But allow me to only focus upon the 1st – Numbers 18:21–22 (ESV) — “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.”

Why were the Levites alone allowed to do performs the services of the Tabernacle, and the people forbidden to come near those things?

Because of what they represent. You see the Priesthood was meant to be a foreshadowing of the High Priestly word and office of Christ. Thus the Israelites were in the same constant need as we are: That no one can add to, assist in or participate in His high priestly work on our behalf.

To try to add to it by our own works or righteousness is strictly forbidden. Even try to approach any aspect of His atoning work on our behalf ourselves is deadly.

No man assists in his own salvation in any capacity. Ever.

This is the exclusive domain of our Redeemer, Christ Jesus the Lord.

He alone can save us. And from the very beginning – this reality needed to be codified even into the Law. For it is the perennial temptation of man to think himself somehow able to contribute to his own salvation.

As the hymn-writer Elvina Hall so beautifully penned in 1865

1 I hear the Savior say,

“Thy strength indeed is small,

Child of weakness, watch and pray,

Find in Me thine all in all.”

2 Lord, now indeed I find

Thy pow’r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots

And melt the heart of stone.

3 For nothing good have I

Where-by Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

4 And when, before the throne,
I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
My lips shall still repeat. Refrain:
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Through the Word in 2020 / March 7 – Grace! Grace! Marvelous grace!

March 7th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 23:13-24; Romans 5:12-21; Psalm 54, Numbers 15-17.

The Word of God is multi-layered. Eph. 3:10 reminds us that God has ordained that His “manifold wisdom” be revealed through the Church. That His truth is not flat and mere precept, but is much richer and deeper than that. So it is, sometimes, a lesson appears in a passage which is picked up by how the flow of the narrative works on top of what the text itself is communicating. Such is the case with the transition from the end of yesterday’s reading in Numbers 14 – as it transitions into Ch. 15. Read it without the chapter break to see what I mean.

Numbers 14:39–15:2 (ESV) — When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.” But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed? Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.” But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed out of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you…

Did you see it? Did you catch the extreme display of grace in this passage? In 14, the Israelites had listened to the spies who said Canaan would be too difficult to conquer and they decided not to go. As a result God rebuked them for their unbelief/disobedience and told them everyone over the age of 20 would die in this Wilderness during the next 40 years of wandering. So the people decided that was really bad news and that they would try to go up and take the land after all. But it was too late. The Canaanites beat them badly in battle.

So now read the last sentence of the last verse of 14, and then go right into the first of 15: “Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you…”

Grace! Grace! Marvelous grace! They disobeyed Him. They suffered horrible consequences. But the very next words out of God’s mouth are words reiterating His promise that the nation would still inherit the land, and He goes on to tell them how to serve Him rightly when they get there.

Mind-boggling. His promises do not fail, even when we do. Horribly. Yes, He chastens, but He also comforts. And makes them to know that even in His “hot displeasure” He will not fail to make good on every promise.

Just as He does with you and me over, and over, and over again.

What an amazing God of grace He is.
Through the Word in 2020 / March 6 – Therefore, since we have been justified…

March 6th, 2020

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 23:1-12; Romans 5:1-11; Psalm 53, Numbers 12-14.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have”

What an astounding roster of benefits Paul enumerates in these short verses. What belongs to those who have believed the Gospel, and by means of faith have been declared to be in right standing with God – justified – declared righteous at the judgment bar of God the judge of all the universe.

4 things he camps on here:

1 – We have “PEACE WITH GOD.” Before believing, we were at war with Him. Traitors to His right to rule and reign over us. Renegades from our designed purpose to bear His image to the rest of Creation and make Him known in all of His glory, perfections, power and holiness. As Isa. 53:6 states it: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way”. And it was this great sin of rebellion – of each one of us going our “own way” which we needed both to be forgiven of and delivered from. And for which “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And this peace is not a mere truce or cease-fire – it is complete and full reconciliation. Restoration to sonship and full acceptance in the Beloved.

2 – And as if that were not enough – we have “gained access by into this grace in which we stand.” Access. We might approach Him at all times confident we come to one who looks upon us with the dearest and tenderest favor. God never receives His justified ones begrudgingly – but always with open, inviting and joyful arms because of Jesus Christ. We never walk on eggshells around Him because we are the darlings of His favor. We live in the perpetual sunshine of His smile and goodwill.

3 – But there is more! We also rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What? We rejoice that God has promised to grant us one day to stand in the radiance of His unveiled glory! To “see Him as He is.” To look forward to what the ancients called the “beatific vision.” To see and apprehend Him so fully as to utterly transformed by it so as to find absolute fullness and infinite joy in Him forever and ever and ever. To be on the mountain with Him in His everlasting burnings but without the slightest fear.

4 – All of which then also grants us even now to: “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Enabling us to seize upon every pain in life and redeem it for a blessing in due time.

And all of this Christian, because as vs. 6 says: In due time, He died for the ungodly. YOu and me in our sin.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!