Monday, July 11, 2011

Mon., 7/11/11 Devotion (Ps. 146:5, 9b)

Today's encouragement comes from Psalm 146:5 & 9b, where we find this remarkable contrast:

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God . . . But the way of the wicked [God] turns upside down."

According to these verses, God-lovers are happy; and God-haters are miserable. Why, then, does it often seem to be the other way around? This is because sometimes God allows the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to suffer. But the end result is to "fatten" the godless for slaughter; and to humble the godly, so that they can be made joyful.

If the "God of Jacob" is *our* God, then we, like Jacob, will go through tough times--but we will also be supremely and supernatural-
ly happy in Jesus, by grace.

[Puritan quote of the day: "No man can feel sin but by grace. A wicked man is insensible. Lay a hundredweight upon a dead man, he does not complain; but being sensible of corruption, argues a gracious prin-
ciple." --Thomas Watson, in, "A Body of Divinity"]