Today's Reading:O.T. - Psalm 66 - 68
N.T. - Revelation 14
Focus Verses:
Revelation 14:4b-5
4bThey follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Psalm 66:8-12
8Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; 9he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. 10For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
Insight:
John’s apocalyptic vision holds out hope for those who follow Christ with faith and patient endurance through the thick and thin of life. Hardships and suffering are inevitable. But in the end, those who “follow the Lamb” will be brought into a place of abundance where loud songs of praise to God will sound “like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder.”
Response and Action:
I need to recognize that the struggles and pains of life are to be expected in a world of sin and brokenness. I need to remember that the struggles of today will not last forever. The day is coming when God will act to restore and renew his creation. I must follow Christ – the Lamb who has purchased and ransomed me -– wherever he goes.
O God, give me the strength to persevere. Give me a voice to sing your praise. Bring me safely through the valleys of these shadowlands to a place of abundance in your presence. Help me to lead a blameless life and to speak the truth in love. Help me to fix my eyes on Jesus and follow him every day in every circumstance. Amen.
Proverbs: 10:24
"What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted."
Resources:
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
by Eugene H. Peterson
