Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting!

Prayer ~ I praise You, Lord! I confess that I have not always lived up to Your expectations—but I know that if I confess my sin, You will forgive me. Thank you for Your loving mercy and grace in my life. I praise You—for You are worthy of praise.

Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the LORD had commanded them. Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder. They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD's sight. That is why the LORD's anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own special possession. He handed them over to pagan nations, and they were ruled by those who hated them. Their enemies crushed them and brought them under their cruel power. Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin. Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love. He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness. Save us, O LORD our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you. Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the LORD! Psalm 106:34-48

Meditate.

 

Are you mean and rebellious...
...like this wicked, little alligator?
He is just taunting you into thinking he is cute.

God rescued His people over and over. Do we see Him doing the same for us—not necessarily in the same way with pagan nations—but rescuing us from ourselves, from our bad decisions? Are we rebellious like those Israelites? In what way do you see yourself rebelling or willfully sinning? If we confess our sin….

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 John 1:8-10

It is a crazy world out there. The one thing that we can trust is God. He is faithful and just—pouring out His love and mercy on us. He wants to have a good relationship with us. Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting!

 

Verse of Salvation ~ Save us, O LORD our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you. Psalm 106:47

              

Memory Verse of the Week ~ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Romans 3:23

 

Test yourself or recite this verse to someone. Did you memorize it? Does it mean anything different to you than it did at the beginning of the week?

© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

 

Books by Mickey M. Hunacek

Parenting Day By Day - Daily Devotional for Building Character

Coins of the Bible: New Testament Stories

Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com