What God Is Doing

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

by Dr. Paul Chappell

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Luke 2:25-30

For hundreds of years the Jewish people looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Their longing intensified as one foreign power after another took control of their land. Whether it was the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, or the Romans, Israel was continually ruled by foreign nations. The greatest dream of most of the people was a conquering hero who would overthrow the occupiers and restore Israel's status as an independent and free nation. But that is not the purpose for which Jesus came. He did not come to make life easier or more free, even for the nation of Israel to whom His coming had been promised.

Jesus came to be the Savior we needed—the One without Whom we have no hope. Like many others, the old man Simeon had been looking for the Messiah, but he recognized that the spiritual aspect of Jesus' life and ministry was far more important than any physical or earthly result that might follow. When he held the baby Jesus in his arms in the Temple, Simeon recognized that he was seeing God's plan for his salvation and that of others. There are times when we may miss the main purpose God has for our lives because we are more focused on this world than the next. We must remember that God has a plan with the emphasis on eternity, not on this life.

Today's Growth Principle
God is always at work in this world and in our lives, but His primary focus is on eternity, not temporal things.

Old Testament Reading

Psalm 89-90

PSALM 89

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. ² For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. ³ I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, ⁴ Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

⁵ And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. ⁶ For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? ⁷ God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. ⁸ O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? ⁹ Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. ¹⁰ Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. ¹¹ The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. ¹² The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. ¹³ Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. ¹⁴ Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

¹⁵ Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. ¹⁶ In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. ¹⁷ For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. ¹⁸ For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

¹⁹ Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. ²⁰ I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: ²¹ With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. ²² The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. ²³ And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. ²⁴ But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ²⁵ I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. ²⁶ He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. ²⁷ Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. ²⁸ My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. ²⁹ His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰ If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ³¹ If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; ³² Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³ Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ³⁴ My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵ Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. ³⁶ His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷ It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

³⁸ But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. ³⁹ Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. ⁴⁰ Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. ⁴¹ All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. ⁴² Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. ⁴³ Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. ⁴⁴ Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. ⁴⁵ The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah. ⁴⁶ How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? ⁴⁸ What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. ⁴⁹ Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? ⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; ⁵¹ Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. ⁵² Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

PSALM 90

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

¹ Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. ² Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. ³ Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. ⁴ For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. ⁵ Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. ⁶ In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

⁷ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. ⁸ Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. ⁹ For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. ¹⁰ The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. ¹¹ Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. ¹³ Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. ¹⁴ O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. ¹⁵ Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. ¹⁶ Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. ¹⁷ And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

New Testament Reading

Romans 14

CHAPTER 14

¹ Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. ² For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. ³ Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. ⁴ Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. ⁵ One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. ⁶ He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. ⁷ For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. ⁸ For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. ⁹ For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. ¹⁰ But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. ¹² So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³ Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. ¹⁴ I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ¹⁵ But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Let not then your good be evil spoken of: ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. ¹⁸ For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. ¹⁹ Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. ²⁰ For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. ²¹ It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. ²² Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. ²³ And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 14

¹ Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. ² He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. ³ In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. ⁴ Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. ⁵ A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. ⁶ A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. ⁷ Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. ⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit. ⁹ Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. ¹⁰ The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. ¹¹ The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. ¹² There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ¹³ Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness. ¹⁴ The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. ¹⁵ The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. ¹⁶ A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. ¹⁷ He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated. ¹⁸ The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁹ The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. ²⁰ The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. ²¹ He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. ²² Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. ²³ In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. ²⁴ The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly. ²⁵ A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. ²⁶ In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. ²⁷ The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. ²⁸ In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. ²⁹ He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. ³⁰ A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. ³¹ He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor. ³² The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death. ³³ Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. ³⁴ Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. ³⁵ The king's favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.