April 4

Leviticus 7; Psalm 7-8; Proverbs 22; 1 Thessalonians 1

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 63: WHICH IS THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT?
Answer: The fourth commandment is, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Scripture: Exodus 20:8-11.

Psalm 7

     v11-12.  God is righteous and man is sinful and thus each day there is an indignation and an enmity between God and the sinner who has not trusted in Jesus.  This is so serious that God has readied his sword and bow against the sinner who refuses to turn from sin and embrace Jesus.
     v17.  Thank the Lord that I am not left to conjure up a righteousness of my own that will satisfy God (Phil 3:9, Rom 10:3-4, Rom 3:20-22).  I can bear a righteousness that is not mine, but is the very righteousness of Christ…the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21)!  Praise the Lord for his righteousness in Jesus!

Psalm 8 

The Lord is majestic and he reigns but he has granted us authority over the creation!  He has given us dominion over all he has made on the earth.  We handed this over at the fall and Satan now enjoys much of this power but the rightful authority is man (John 12:31; Eph 2:1-2. 6:12). 

Proverbs 22

     v3.  Victory is the Lord’s but the prudent will still not walk off a cliff or walk into senseless battle without considering the danger.  We are to be wise even as we trust the Lord to be overseeing all circumstances.
     v6.  The closer we come to living up to this the closer it will come to being a hard promise of God, I would imagine.  But we will not do it perfectly and nor will it hold up perfectly as a promise instead of a wise saying that applies most of the time.  Perhaps challenging it with our best effort at training our kids to fear the Lord and seek him hotly and to know his Word and to love his people and to love the lost and to pour themselves out for the hungry and afflicted and to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness would be a good idea.  Do we model and show our children to have lives that are hidden in Christ and to live a life demonstrating Christ as our treasure?  Do we model and teach out kiddos to live God-centered, Christ-exalting, Gospel-driven lives? Do we model and train them to meditate on the instruction of the Lord day and night?  Perhaps this proverb would not be so controversial if we trained our children in the way they should go?  Training is not passive.  Training is not occasional.  Training is not easy.  Training is not unplanned.
     v11.  Who is not attracted to someone who always has right motives and kind speech?
     v15.  We are all born with foolishness and it is a disservice to our kiddos if we do not train it out of them.  See verse 6 above.
     v16.  The lottery?
     v29.  Skill is a good thing and should be valued.  Am I gifted is anything?  I should use my gifts and seek to train myself to be of the most usefulness to the Lord.  Skill brings influence.

1 Thessalonians 1

     v4-8.  Paul celebrates that it was quite clear that God had chosen this people and he brought them to believe in spite of affliction and trouble.  Their faith was being spoken of broadly.  The gospel was not mere word to them but the radical power of God working by His Spirit.
     v9-10.  They have turned completely from their idolatry and serve the living God.  They are now waiting eagerly for the Son (Rom 8:23; Gal 5:5; Heb 9:28).

Soli Deo Gloria!