Believe

Prayer – Lord, people can be so disrespectful and downright brutal. Have mercy on us…come quickly.

Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: "Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!" But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don't make Jerusalem my greatest joy. O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. "Destroy it!" they yelled. "Level it to the ground!" O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! Psalm 137:1-9

 

Meditate.

 

The Ten Commandments
Love God...Love Others

Do you believe?

Brutality. This Psalmist gives a sad commentary on life for the Jews in captivity, but remember God allowed them to be taken taken captive because they disobeyed. There are people today in some type of captivity. We see inhumane, unjust, and even brutal treatment of people around the world. In most of the United States, we have it pretty good—although on the street corners, in the news and internet we observe the struggles of those with mental health issues, homelessness, and violent interactions between the haves and the have nots. Greed is such a strong force driving people to want what they don’t have…and to take it for themselves. Coveting. Stealing. Those are part of the Ten Commandments. Do people have such low regard and lack of respect for God that they cannot even live by the big Ten? That’s the way it looks. Children aren’t taught to respect others or their property, and they grow up to be disrespectful hoodlums. Life is complicated. Will God have mercy on those who believe and remove them from this evil world soon? Only God in His timing knows. We just have to trust Him and His plan. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, just as Jesus taught in one of His parables.

"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:12-14

Consider God’s promise to love and to save anyone who believes.

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

God loved the world…and still does. It is up to each person to choose if they want a relationship with God—to believe in Jesus as God’s Son who sacrificially gave His life for our sin. Accept. Repent. Believe.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time--to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:9

 

Memory Verse of the Week ~ If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant. Job 36:11

Do you listen and obey? Did you attempt to memorize this verse?

 

© 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

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