Admiring and Applauding God. R. Bruce Stevens

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      Compassionate

      As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

      —Ps 103:13

      The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

      —Ps 116:5

      • Every parent understands what it is to suffer with someone. When our children fall and hurt themselves, our hearts are touched and pained. When they taste disappointment or failure, we feel their pain. Their suffering is our suffering.

      • Our God understands our suffering, for he chose to suffer with us—and to identify with our pain. What a wonder that our God would choose to suffer with us—and for us, as our Lord Jesus did on the cross.

      • Reflect on the Lord’s tender-heartedness for his children. Praise him for his compassion for a lost, sinful world.

      Confidence

      For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

      —Prov 3:26

      For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.

      —Ps 71:5

      • Many people struggle with a lack of confidence. And maybe with good cause. We know our limitations and our true selves better than anyone, and what we know may not cause us to overflow with confidence. It is only by God’s grace that we have made it this far in life without making a greater mess of things.

      • It is tempting to place our confidence in all kinds of things—money, abilities, job, another person, or ourselves. But each of these can fail us or be taken away. Then what?

      • Praise God, who cannot fail nor be taken from us. This truth, coupled with God’s commitment to us, gives us daily confidence regardless of our circumstances.

      • The Apostle Paul lived with confidence in God. He said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13) and “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31b).

      Confronter

      Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

      —Luke 11:42f

      • Our Lord Jesus saved his harshest words for the religious leaders of his day for their failure to live out the core teachings of God in the Scriptures. He fearlessly confronted them and exposed their sin.

      • Most of us do not like confrontation, but sometimes it is necessary. Confronting can actually be an expression of love, even if the one receiving it does not take it that way. James said, “Remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (Jas 5:20).

      • Praise God that he loves us enough to confront us when we stray so we can remain in a place where God can bless us.

      Consoler

      When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

      —Ps 94:19

      • It was said of the mothers in Bethlehem, whose young children were murdered by the paranoid King Herod, “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matt 2:18).

      • What can we say to a mother at such a time? How do we console a broken heart? Words fail us.

      • It is not only the grieving who need consolation. The worriers and the uptight also need it. At times anxious thoughts flood our minds and paralyze us.

      • How grateful we are to have a consoling God. Because Jesus lived on this earth, he understands exactly what we face and is thus able to comfort and encourage us in times of distress.

      • Reflect on the consoling words of God in the Bible and the One who extends them to us.

      Cord-cutter

      But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

      —Ps 129:4

      • Samson, the Old Testament judge, was bound with cords by his enemies after his deceitful wife, Delilah, discovered and divulged the secret to his great strength.

      • Not all cords are physical. We are warned in the Bible about the unseen cords that seek to wrap themselves around us: “the sin that so easily entangles” (Heb 12:1b).

      • Praise God, our cord-cutter. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God has freed us from the binding power of sin, and now he helps us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles.

      Counselor

      You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

      —Ps 73:24

      • A list of counselors can be found in the Yellow Pages and online. Some are good, others less so. Even the best of them are not always entirely successful in helping those who seek counsel.

      • One of the prophetic titles given to Jesus was “Wonderful Counselor” (Isa 9:6).

      • Praise God for sending us two Wonderful Counselors: our Lord Jesus and, after his ascension, another Counselor—our constant companion and indwelling guide, the Holy Spirit. Remember, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

      • Praise God, our Counselor, whose wisdom and knowledge are available to us through the Bible and his gracious Spirit.

      Covenant-maker

      For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

      —Heb 9:15

      • God is a covenant-making God. He made covenants with Adam, Abraham, Noah, David, the people of Israel—and with us. He always keeps his stipulations, even while we struggle to hold up our end. Even so, he continues to faithfully bind himself to us in these wonderful covenant relationships so that we might be blessed.

      • Praise God for his commitment to us as displayed in his new covenant, sealed by nothing less than the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

      • Praise God that our inconsistencies and sins do not cause him to give up on us.

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