A Special Thanksgiving Devotional
11/27 Reading Portions: 1 Chronicles 23; 1 Peter 4; Micah 2; Luke 11
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
11/27 Reading Portions: 1 Chronicles 23; 1 Peter 4; Micah 2; Luke 11
Micah 2:7
“Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly?”
UPRIGHT
While YHVH God speaks through the prophet Micah to the oppressors of His people in this chapter, there are treasures within this chapter that speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as treasures that speak to you and me as disciples of our Lord Jesus. In this portion of the verse, YHVH God is speaking rhetorically to those among Judah who “have risen up as an enemy” against Him (Mic 2:8). He essentially asks them, “If you are indeed My people, is not My Word good for you?” Just by saying this through the prophet, we recognize that this is one of the reasons why Jesus had to come to earth as the God-Man, to live the righteous and holy life that we cannot live apart from His grace and mercy. Jesus is the only Man who has ever truly walked uprightly on this planet His entire life and will be the only one who ever has. God’s Words, every single one of them, Jesus delighted in them (Psa 1:1-2; 40:7-8). He fulfilled this verse on your behalf and mine because we are not upright in and of ourselves. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Yet this verse is also for you and me as believers in Christ. Because He has saved us by His merciful grace. Christ’s righteousness is imputed unto us, placed on our account. God the Father looks at you and me as if He is looking at His one and only Son, Jesus Messiah. In other words, you and I are upright, eternally and spiritually speaking. But because we have been rescued from the pit of hell through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, because we have been redeemed from darkness and brought into His marvelous light, because we have been cleansed from sin and now raised to live in newness of life to Christ and for Him, we respond to His sacrifice in love and godly fear with a desire to please Him. How shall we please Him? By God’s words written in His holy Scriptures. They are good for us, not by giving us a system of dos and don’ts to scratch and crawl and claw our way into the kingdom of heaven. We’re already in by virtue of Him who has saved us. No, Jesus kept the words because we couldn’t. But in loving response to His love for us (1 Jn 4:19), we do what we find in God’s words, the way of righteous living that is pleasing to God the Father. Then, we pray, with thanksgiving for mercy to exalt Christ with our lives. We could not exalt Him before He saved us. Now, because He has saved us, we can exalt Him with our saved lives, praying that we may, with gratitude, please our Lord Jesus with a life that exalts Him, as it is written,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.1 Thessalonians 5:18
This is what it meant when Jesus said this:
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:28
Are you keeping God’s Word? Happy Thanksgiving!