PRESENT CHOICES determines FUTURE REWARDS!
June 11
Bible Reading: Psalms Chapters 32-37
PRESENT CHOICES determines FUTURE REWARDS!
"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord
and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"
(Psalms 32:10-11)
Psalm 32
expresses the joy and relief David felt when God forgave him for his sin with
Bathsheba. This psalm describes the blessedness of forgiveness and includes the
happiness of the forgiven man (vv. 1, 2), the physical and psychological
effects of unconfessed sin (vv. 3, 4), and the simple remedy of confession to
obtain God’s forgiveness (v. 5). On this basis David can experience prayer (vv.
6, 7), divine instruction (vv. 8, 9), and personal witness (vv. 10, 11).
As far as the
personal witness that David had obtained, the righteous man has a big edge over
the wicked. In fact, there is no comparison between the righteous and wicked.
Many sorrows are the heritage of the wicked. But the humble believer is
surrounded by the mercy of the Lord. So it is only fitting that the righteous
should be glad in the Lord and should shout for joy!
This is not
to say that the righteous will never have trouble, but by God’s gracious
provision, they will come through the trouble in triumph. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers
him out of them all." (Psalms 34:19) In fact, our Lord Jesus has
promised us that we will have tribulations in our lives but we need to be
cheerful through our ordeals. "In
the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world" (John 16:33).
Let us
clearly understand that our present choices determine our future rewards! Every
day we must choose either to suffer the pain
of discipline now or to suffer the pain of regret later. In our lives, short-term pain is often
the only path for long-term gain. Either we should be prepared for the
challenges that we face every day by the grace of God or, we will be haunted by
the “what-ifs”, “if-only” or “I-should-haves”
that accompany our failures in the future. This is the pain of regret which
looks back at our choices and then feels the pain of our failures. Let us be wise and understanding as we make
choices every day!
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom...the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." (James 3:13, 17)
