Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get important reminders from Scripture. Today:

Prov. 25:26 – Like a muddied spring … is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.–I have done that so much in my life.

Prov. 25:28 – A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.–Yikes. I’m working on losing weight because of high blood-pressure and a pre-diabetic A1C. It’s the holiday season, and I am not a bastion of self-control.

Prov. 25:5-10 – I found references to Jesus teachings.

Ps. 82 – I just enjoyed reading about the divine council; grateful I was taught about it. I took note of what God wanted from the sons of God to whom he had given the nations to judge.

Ps. 84 – I filled my own soul with longing for the courts of God, and I remembered the joy of long hours of prayer and worship with God’s presence filling the room. I need more of that in my life.

Ps. 84:5-8 – There is power in those who are longing for a city that was built without hands. Their tears (“Valley of Baca” means valley of tears) make springs wherever they go, they get stronger and stronger, and EVERY ONE OF THEM appears before God in Zion.

How great is our God! A day in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere!

Finally, Psalm 85. God forgave the iniquity of his people; he covered all their sin. Our God is the God of Israel and the apostles, who is filled with mercy and lovingkindness as his central trait. It is his mercy that is the central mark of his holiness, not judgement and condemnation. Yes, “Righteousness will go before him,” his mercy is to enable our righteousness, and the righteous live in his ongoing mercy.

Be upright in heart, then, saints. Praise his name continually, long for his house, the fellowship of the saints, for he lives where we gather even if it is twos and threes. Assemble, pray, encourage, hear the Word of the Lord.