Growth Project Day 1-That’s not funny
There’s so much in today’s reading. Psalm 1 is one my favorite portions of Scripture. But Psalm 2:4-5 really jumped out to me today as I read. There’s so much focus and attention paid to God’s love and his compassion for humanity, AND THERE SHOULD BE. After all, the Bible says that God IS love. But, I think sometimes we forget the other side. It’s possible for me to live my life and posture myself in a way that I’m so full of myself and doing things my way, that God would oppose me and eve find my foolishness comical. What’s crazy is that there’s been times in my life when I was unaware at just how caught up in my own plotting and planning I was. The truth is that while we do everything we can to domesticate and sanitize him, God is awesome and untameable, and his wrath IS terrifying. Fortunately for me, although he resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. I am thankful that he is willing to do whatever it takes to bring me to himself, even if it means “terrifying me with his wrath” in order to get my attention.
What a graciously sobering thought to begin our journey with!
This beginning is a sobering thought for me. It reminds me that we are presented with these two choices, though as in any form of poetry it may seem unclear until I understand the words I am reading. On one hand there is the promise of my future with God by following his desires for my life. Then there is the choice to be of the world. Not just a little bit either. I mean the first verse hits me that the person not following God’s desire and will is extremely entrenched in that choice. I personally know how entrenched that is and I have been redeemed by grace. Though God has given it to me I do not deserve to have this second chance. Because of this I can really relate to fearing the Lord. If I start to get too big for my britches I can easily be sucked back into that life. I do not want to be chained to the ways from which I was released. Moreover, I know that everything I have is on loan from God and He can take it away as surely as He has blessed me. Fearing God is the wisest choice I can make and I can rejoice in the outcome born of that fear.
I too love Psalm 1 and the promises that it holds. In reading Psalm 2, versus 7-8 stuck out. God’s promise to the Messiah(Jesus) required action on His part. The promise of the inheritance was followed after the act of asking. Jesus did just this in His prayer in John chapter 17. He asked for the nations, but His prayer also requires action – action from us as believers. John 17:21 calls for unity within the church. Unity brings power in all situations. I believe that when we strive for unity of the church in all we do, that we will grow as the church in Godliness.