Tag Archives: Favour

THINGS THAT DAVID SAID – 12

Devotion, ,

ROCK SOLID!

Among the many things David said are statements about God that are rock solid testimony to His character. Let’s examine a few of them.

Psalms 5:12 NIV
[12] “Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

Favour! Who doesn’t need favour especially when the whole world sometimes seems against us? Simple things can go horribly wrong without God’s favour.

There’s no favour like the favour of God. God’s favour or, as the Hebrew word suggests, both delight and pleasure, is all around us like a fortified castle of protection.
Imagine that! It’s as though, like a watchful father, He says, “Don’t touch my kids!” and makes good His warning with necessary action.

What does this declaration mean to us?

God blesses the righteous! This is an amazing observation! First, God blesses. Google provides a comprehensive list of God’s blessings… spiritual, physical, material, and circumstantial… too many to enumerate here. Most important is that all these blessings are promised and given in the context of His covenant. His covenant, in turn, is a package deal in response to our faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-8, 11-12 NIV
[3] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace [8] that he lavished on us…
[11] In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

“In Him…in Him!” All this happened because of Jesus. We owe every we get from God to Him.

Second, even the righteousness which qualifies us to receive all His covenant blessings is His gift to us. Our righteousness is completely inadequate to earn His favour. In fact, according to Isaiah’s observation, our righteousness is no better than “filthy rags”. Our “righteousness”, our very best efforts, stink!

Isaiah 64:6 NIV
[6] “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

So, the only righteousness that is acceptable to God is the righteousness of His Son which He earned by His obedience to the Father at tremendous cost. This is the righteousness that the Father reckons as ours and blesses with the abundance of His favour and delight.

Imagine that! God lavishes on us blessing after blessing… goodness, favour, loving kindness, covenant love, promises… whatever you want to call them, because of Jesus! God’s favour around us, like a protecting shield, has nothing to do with our merits, only with Jesus’ merits which He freely gives to us. He not only gave us His righteousness. He MADE US the righteousness of God, as righteous as God is.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21] “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus became what we are, sin, so that we can be what He is, righteousness in person.

Now, God can freely lavish on us everything that He is and wants to do for His children. There is nothing to stop Him from being the Father He is to us.

Third, God blocks every evil intention of devils and people with His favour. We are encased in His fanour like a “bubble”, above, beneath, and all around us. Wherever we go, favour accompanies us. We go shopping… favour! We run into problems…favour! We encounter people, conflict, opposition, whatever…favour! We need help…favour! God’s favour is indispensable, reliable, and capable as we meet every situation.

So, how do we appropriate God’s favour when we need it?

Psalms 18:19-20 NIV
[19] “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

David gives us the answer.

Psalms 116:12-13 NIV
[12] “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? [13] I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”

In the cup of salvation is all the favour we ever need, the blessings of His covenant. He is only a call away.

MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS

Bible Study, ,

Luke 1:26-30 NLT
[26] “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, [27] to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. [28] Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” [29]
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. [30] “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!”

The Bible tells us very little about Mary’s credentials. We know only that she was a young village girl, probably a teenager, no details given about her parents or her life,
that she was engaged to Joseph, whose genealogy is provided, that she was a chaste young girl, and that God had a special purpose for her.

God had singled her out from among all the young virgins in Israel to be the earthly mother of
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. This child she would bear was to take the role of the Son of God for a special purpose.

To be truly man, God’s Son would need to begin His life on earth inside the womb of an earthly mother. He would be supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit but He would develop and grow as a normal foetus and come into the world through the normal process of birth.

Did Mary understand the enormity of the task ahead of her? Her young body must take the strain of pregnancy and childbirth. She must also carry the stigma of “unmarried mother” despite her innocence. In a small village community, she would be ridiculed and ostracised except for her loyal husband’s protection.

Did all these considerations race through her mind at Gabriel’s announcement? Only one question, “How will this happen?” Gabriel’s explanation was mind-boggling. Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit! Would she know how and when this would happen? What does it feel like to be pregnant, and that without human involvement?

Satisfied with the angel’s unembellshed intervention, no if’s or but’s, Mary bowed in submission to her Lord.

What was it in Mary’s life and character that earned God’s favour? Since Scripture does not expand on this, we can only speculate from the evidence we have in the Word.

Luke 1:38 NLT
[38] “Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.”

Trust, submission, worship! Great qualities that find favour with God! Peter expands on the attitude of a woman that gives Him pleasure.

1 Peter 3:3-5 NLT
[3]”Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. [4] You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. [5] This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands.”

Mary must surely have displayed these qualities in her young life to have found favour with God.

As we trace Mary’s story through the gospel record, she emerges as a normal Jewish mother with an unusual son who baffled her at times, who caused her great delight in His growing up years for love, submission, and His obedience to His parents. He not only honed her trust in Israel’s God, but also frustrated her with His insights and understanding of the things of God way beyond her own. Young as Jesus was, He was often her mentor and model.

Mary had to face a challenge far greater than any other mother on earth. She knew who Jesus was, the Son of God, born of her own body. She could never doubt that truth but, Jesus was also her earthly son. How was she to relate to Him, and how was she to transition in her relationship to Him from her son to her Lord?

His earthly ministry confused her. Although they grew up with Him, His brothers rejected His claims. She and her offspring thought He was crazy. They tried to intervene to save Him from His own madness, but He cut all ties with them and their responsibility to Him by identifying His true family as all those who believed in Him.

Matthew 12:46-50 NLT
[46] “As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. [47] Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” [48] Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” [49] Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. [50] Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

Mary trusted Jesus. At the wedding in Cana, when they ran out of wine, she encouraged the servants to do what He said, regardless of how strange His instruction might be. They did just that and water became wine at His word!

Mary was warned that her unique role would bring her great heartache! Simeon prophesied this part of her maternal role soon after His birth. She would process more emotional pain than many other mothers.

Our pain as mothers is often connected to the waywardness of our children. Mary suffered the terrible anguish of losing her Son because of His obedience to His heavenly Father.

John 19:25-27 NLT
[25] “Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. [26] When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” [27] And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.”

Comforted by Jesus’ care for her with His final breaths, she carried forever in her heart the thoughtfulness of a perfect son.

The crowning moment came when Mary finally transitioned from mother of her son, Jesus, to worshipper of Jesus, Son of God and Lord.

Mary’s memories were indelible. They would be with her until the end of her days. Mary’s place in history can never erased. She will forever be remembered as the mother of the earthly Man but, she will never be anything else…not the mother of God, not our intercessor, not immaculately conceived, not divinely protected from sin…just Mary, the village maid who was favoured to bear a son who would be the Saviour of sinners.