At peace with God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

AT PEACE WITH GOD

 Ps 76

In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. 2 His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war. Selah 

4 You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game. 5 Valiant men lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep; not one of the warriors can lift his hands. 6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still. 7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? 8 From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet —  9 when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah

10 Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.   11 Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. 12 He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.

NIV

Now God is known in more then Judah. His name is great in more then Israel, at least as physical land. We know that we are actually true Israel for Paul explains that quite well in his discussion about having our heart circumcised.

Rom 2:28-29

28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

Although this is just a portion of his complete dissertation about being circumcised and being a Jew and how there is a great advantage of the Jewish people to not just be physically circumcised, but to be that way in their heart. Yet the point remains that what makes a person Israel is having a circumcised heart. This allows even women to become Israel which would then fit into the will of Almighty God. He does not separate men from women for he created them both. In the days of old men were the only ones who had identity as Israelites and a woman’s identity was in her father or husband. But not so with God, that is not the way he designed man and woman. Yet here we are today as equals, in some sense. There is still a great divide in the world, created by the master of evil in order to create chaos. But within the body of Christ we both have had our heart circumcised and he dwells in the tent of our hearts. He is within us all, both men and women to unite us as one body under the headship of our Lord Jesus. We will get to the rest of this song later, but for now we should focus on God as his children rather than on ourselves and any differences we might have in the physical sense. Sure we are still attracted to the opposite sex, and that too is the design of God for his purpose, again not for ours, although we receive great joy joining ourselves with a spouse and becoming one flesh. However, we still have to see this is all about God, not about people. This song is about the greatness of our God. How great he is, how powerful he is, how much he can control everything. He judges all men, at the appointed time. This is the importance of exposing our heart to God, having it circumcised. He examines our heart, we hide nothing from him, our thoughts, our desires, our temptations, our failures, our successes. He knows the inner most part of our being. Because we are in Christ, however, he has already judged us holy and righteous in his sight. Even in our weakness’s he sees us as strong. In our imperfection he sees us as perfect. Those who know him not should be afraid as to how he judges them, but most likely they do no care. But we will praise him for he is our mighty light. He broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords and all the weapons of war. We are in Zion, We are Israel, we are in Christ, we are at peace with God.