Tuesday 9 Oct 2012

Tuesday Reading: Psalm 16:9-11

Key Verse: Psalm 16:10
10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Devotion:
No matter how you look at it you will see two sides to king David and if you are honest with yourself you may see both of those sides within yourself too. The first is the side we don’t like to admit to – that of being a sinner who continues to sin against our God in heaven. The second side is that of being a Christian with eternal hope.

God has given us promises that we can depend on because of His Holiness. He has promised us and therefore we can rely on those promises with absolute surety; and I like the way that king David was able to see both sides of his life and admit to them too. It is all very well admitting that you are a sinner, but if you do not firmly believe in the mercy of our God and the faithfulness with which He shows us His grace and mercy then we shall not have that hope that is talked about here.

David states quite clearly that God will not leave his soul in hell – and he knows that that is where he belongs because of the sins that he himself has done against our God. That is not a good thought to dwell upon because we will very quickly get depressed unless we know God’s mercy first hand. David knew it because God had shown him mercy time and time again – when Jesus told us that we should continue forgiving it was by example because He has shown us that He is willing to continue forgiving us time and time again as long as we are willing to come to Him in repentance.

How was David justifying this “knowledge” that he was so sure about? David knew that God was gracious through experience. He knew that God was Holy and could not abide sin – that then assures us that there will not be sin in heaven because God is already there. If Jesus has told us that we can join Him in heaven it must mean that He will totally and eternally forgive us of those sins and put them out of us totally – otherwise how could we ever join Him when we know He cannot abide sin?

God has promised us that we will be forgiven because Christ has taken our sins away once and for all – He has proven that because Christ is in heaven right now!

Points to Ponder:
Do your clothes always come out of the wash totally clean and stain free?

What is it going to take for God to remove your sin from your life?