Psalm 94:12-13:
12 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O LORD, and teach out of Your law, 13 That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity, until the [inevitable] pit of corruption is dug for the wicked.
The psalmist is asking God how long He will put up with evil doers taking advantage of His people. The answer is that God is always preparing those of His people who will listen and obey His instructions how to deal with these people and situations. He give us the ability to be calm in any and every circumstance! Meditate on this, and on Philippians 4:13, and you will be in position to have confidence that you and God together will overcome any and every attack of the enemy! Philippians 4:13:
13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].
Luke 15 is all about how very much God cares for people! After all, He IS the One Who "so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that he [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal, (everlasting) life."(John 3:16) I liked this from the Bible Exposition Commentary:
Three words summarize the message of this chapter lost, found, and rejoice. Jesus spoke these parables to answer the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes who were scandalized at His behavior. It was bad enough that Jesus welcomed these outcasts and taught them, but He went so far as to eat with them! The Jewish religious leaders did not Yet understand that the Son of man had "come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Even more, they were still blind to the fact that they themselves were among the lost.
This chapter makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners. But these parables also reveal that there are two aspects to this salvation. There is God's part: the shepherd seeks the lost sheep, and the woman searches for the lost coin. But there is also man's part in salvation, for the wayward son willingly repented and returned home. To emphasize but one aspect is to give a false view of salvation, for both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man must be considered (see John 6:37; 2 Thess 2:13-14).
This is true in every promise from the Word of God! There is God's part and our part! He WILL do His part, IF we do ours! Find out how God wants things done, then DO IT! It doesn't get any simpler than that! AMEN! Here is "From The Inside Out" by Hillsong:
2 Chronicles 35 shows how the good king Josiah kept the Passover in Jerusalem. Verse 18:
18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, even by any of the kings of Israel, as was kept by Josiah and the priests, the Levites, and all of Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
It is really no wonder that the nation of Israel has endured some of the things they have over the years. They were always forgetting to remember the commandments of God! They were told in Exodus 12:14 to keep the Passover FOREVER! Our lesson in this is that there are blessings found in undeserved suffering, which is enduring attacks of the enemy BECAUSE we obey God's Word! There are NO blessings in deserved suffering, which is suffering because of our disobedience to God's Word! Find out what God wants done, and how He wants it done, in His Word and then DO IT! You will be blessed beyond measure and HE will be glorified!
Shalom in Him!
