His favor lasts a Lifetime

Psalm 30:1-5

“I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.  Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.  You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.  Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.  For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Do you hold God’s name in very high regard?  As I write, my first thoughts are, I do, for I would not know love if I had not by faith entered into God’s family through the grace He showed to me.  Jesus makes it very evident in John 10:10, that we have an enemy and Jesus referred to him as a thief, and his desire is to steal, kill, and destroy.   And when Jesus came into my life my enemy had no claim on me, for Jesus won total victory for all who trust in Him over death and the grave.  When David tells us he called to the Lord and was healed, Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.”

The English Standard Version uses the word “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”  Our God has many attributes, love, mercy, justice, goodness, but they all come from His Holiness.  I’ve found often the urgent and the desire of the flesh steal my time to be still and ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.  But in the late hours of the night and the early morning, I am aware of the splendor of His Holiness.

Verse five is a verse many of us have put to memory, “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”  God hates sin, my sins and yours, and no matter what spin the world puts on sin, wrong is still wrong, and right is still right.  When we by faith enter into Christ that does not make us sinless, yet we are reclaimed and redeemed.  Each day we choose to sin or not sin, but it is a choice, my prayer for all of us is that we choose to walk in the light and not in darkness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice