JMD Devotional 200 Psalm 85 The Passion of God

Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger [and disfavor] and spread it out to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)--but let them not turn again to [self-confident] folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, [and is ready to be appropriated] that [the manifest presence of God, His] glory may tabernacle and abide in our land.

Mercy and loving-kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.

Henry Ford crafted his first motorized vehicle in his basement; it was a labor of love that took many months. When he completed it and was ready to crank it up, he realized that it would not fit through the doorway! One solution would be to disassemble it and reassemble it outside; but if you thought he’d do that, you don’t know men very well. He got out a sledge hammer and took out the wall! Nothing was going to stop him from revving up that engine and going for a ride. It is like expecting a kid to neatly unwrap presents on Christmas morning! We were dead in our trespasses and sins before a holy God. God could have started over; but instead He bore our sins on the cross so righteousness and peace, wrath and love, justice and mercy could ‘kiss’ each other. Then He ‘took out the wall’ that separated mankind from Himself; He IMMEDIATELY tore the veil of separation in the temple, He tore the curtain from top to bottom to let us in!

Dear God,
Sometimes I cannot seem to fully grasp how completely You have forgiven me. I let the memory of my sins haunt my consciousness, putting distance between us in my mind. Break out the sledge hammer, Lord, and break through my mental blocks; help me to clearly feel your grace, love, forgiveness and passion for my soul. May I be completely swept away with You.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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