Welcome to day 3 of our 2 year study! I'm glad to be in God's Word, thinking, meditating, analyzing, and praying. How about you? May he continue to bless our study.
Read Psalm 3
Read Genesis 3
Meditation
Paradise is lost! Eve is deceived. Adam rebels against the command he heard from God Himself. And they eat. They fall. They are doomed. They are filled with shame. They are in the shadow of death.
We too now inherit Adam's sin. This is why we confess in church that we are "by nature sinful and unclean." We are all subject to the curse. By great toil and sweat do we have our needs provided for. Through great pain and tribulation children are born and reared. And there are thorns and thistles of all kinds in this troubled life.
And so even the redeemed people of God suffer the curse still. David was surrounded by foes in Psalm 3. He was afraid of his life because his own son Absalom deceived the people, stole their hearts, and claimed the throne for himself. Certainly we are surrounded by foes on every side as well.
St. Paul, the "super-apostle" was still plagued by his sinful nature (Romans 7). So we know we are not alone. And unless we are living in denial, no other person knows our inner struggles against sin (both the victories and defeats) better than we do. Oh, who will save me from this body of death?
Jesus. Yes, he is the promised Savior who will bruise the serpent's head for me. Giving himself on the cross, he is the sacrifice for our atonement. Yes, God promised in Genesis 3 that this Savior would come. And then God showed with actions what this Savior would have to do - God made Adam and Eve coverings of skin to hide their nakedness. This must have been the first physical death, the death of some animal (maybe a lamb?). It took the slaughter of an animal to hide the shame of Adam and Eve. Well, Jesus the Lamb of God was slaughtered that Adam and Eve and all of us would have our sins covered by his blood. Yes, we are covered in the righteousness of Christ, despite our rebellion and idolatry (putting ourselves first). We are covered by the forgiveness of Jesus that hides all our sins. We are promised, then, eternal life.
So, we can proclaim with David that God is our shield. He will protect us, he will help us, he will bring us at last home to heaven. For Jesus has not only bruised the serpent's head, but he has vanquished sin, death, and the Devil for us.
Thanks be to God!
Ask Yourself
Do I take the sin in my life seriously, recognizing that it is damnable?
Do I appreciate what my Savior did to earn my forgiveness?
In thankfulness for that forgiveness, what sins are prevalent in my life that I will now seek to leave behind?
Do I trust God to forgive, and to be my shield?
Pray
Pray from your heart today:
Confess to God your sins - including and especially your deepest, darkest secrets. He can and will forgive them.
Thank God for the forgiveness given in Jesus.
Amen!
Join me in study tomorrow.
Glory to God alone!
Pastor Jon
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