Meditation

01/31/2023

“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,.’” (Exodus 4:22)

When Pharaoh refused to liberate Israel, God’s firstborn son, God’s judgment destroyed Pharaoh’s firstborn son. God is a God of grace and judgment. He offers grace to His chosen and judgment to those who reject Him. Election is based on God’s parental love.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Dear Abba, You sent Moses again and again, and yet Pharaoh refused to let Your people go, leaving slavery to live in a land You would put them to serve and worship You. Pharaoh’s heart was as good as stone at that moment and its cost was the life of his firstborn son and his army. God we love and worship You as a result of this very action and make efforts every single day, to pray to you, to be obedient to Your Word, and to live as Your Son modeled for us on this earth, before he was so brutally sacrificed on the cross for our sins. Let us never forget the cost of our salvation. In the meantime continue to pray our troops serving in faraway lands and those in the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, that the recent offer from Ukraine for finding a peaceful solution brings Russia to come and work for a peaceful conclusion to the fighting. We also pray for those around this country and around the world who are suffering under persecution and natural disasters and man made disasters, hoping You will protect all. We also pray for those who are suffering from the loss of loved ones, for all who are suffering in body, mind, and/or spirit, with friends, family, and for those we don’t know. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Well done is better than Well said.”

KNOWING GOD:

“The Lord did not set his affection on your and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord love you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hat him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. If you pat attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—-your grain, new wine and oil—-the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-15)

God’s choice of His people is based on the unconditional love He has for us and not because of our merit. Election involves God’s separation of His people from all other people so we will be different from all other people. Human qualifications do not come under consideration in election. God’s love and expectations are the focal points of the doctrine. God’s total faithfulness to His covenant promises is the foundation on which election rests.

SECOND THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it us and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. ‘Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’ The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:1-7)

After giving the house of Israel every advantage, God sang of His disappointment at Israel’s bad fruit. Woe and destruction await those who disappoint God with evil and bad fruit. Rejected love turns to wrath when righteousness becomes riotousness and loyalty turned to lament. God show His love for us by providing everything we need to produce fruit as His people. When we do not return His love, He shows His love in judgment and discipline, seeking to save a remnant. The wrath of God results from His love being rejected. We accept His love by living in righteousness and justice.