Read: Psalm 34:8, Psalm 84, Mark 10:18; SOAP: Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
Psalm 84:11 NLT
Reflection Question: How can it be comforting to know that God is your protector?
Although the gifts God gives us aren’t wrapped up with bows and beautiful paper, they are worth so much more than anything we will ever find under the Christmas tree.
Question of the Day: Which is greater: the gift of grace or penalty of sin?
So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people[a] because[b] all sinned— 13 for before the law was given,[c] sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin[d] when there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type[e] of the coming one) transgressed.[f]15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.[g] For if the many died through the transgression of the one man,[h] how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned.[i] For judgment, resulting from the one transgression,[j] led to condemnation, but[k] the gracious gift from the many failures[l] led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man,[m] death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently,[n] just as condemnation[o] for all people[p] came[q] through one transgression,[r] so too through the one righteous act[s] came righteousness leading to life[t] for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man[u] many[v] were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man[w] many[x] will be constituted righteous. 20 Now the law came in[y] so that the transgression[z] may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Father, You are good 💜 You heard my simple but heartfelt prayer for uninterrupted sleep and You gave it. Even when I stirred in the early morning hours You lulled me back to sleep – and I praise You! In Your great and mysterious sovereignty – the Scripture reading this morning was from Psalm 116, which says: “Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.” Yes, in the night You gave me the restful sleep I desperately sought – but the greater gift of Your goodness, as the Psalmist goes on to describe is this –
You have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling that I may walk before You in the land of the living -Psalm 116: 8-9
And as the Psalmist – “I trusted in You when I said, many times over, I am greatly afflicted,” and so also I say with him – “What shall I return to the LORD for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on Your name – O LORD.”
Your praise and goodness will continually be in my heart and on my tongue. My lips will glorify Your great name forever and forever – Amen!
Me From the Inside Out 