#DailyDevotions It Is The Goodness & Mercy Of The LORD To Instruct Us
Psalm 25 8Because the LORD is good and righteous; He shows sinners how to live.
It is the goodness and uprightness of the LORD to be merciful to His creatures. In His goodness and uprightness He deigns to to show sinners how to live. He has given us a conscience and He has given us His revealed word to show us how to live good lives before Him and our fellow man. The commandments of the LORD literally teach us how God wants us to live our lives according to the way He has made us. Despite that we have rebelled against Him and sinned against Him, He opens His hands and speaks His word to us through the divine scriptures. But His divine grace and mercy Jesus provides us with pastors and teachers to proclaim and instruct us in the ways and thoughts of our Creator and Father. We do not deserve to have His word among us and it is a great punishment to us when it is taken away because we have not listened to Him and spurned His gracious offer of instruction.
9He enables the humble to live right, teaching them His way.
To the humble who when they hear His word, confess He is right in all His ways, confess that we have sinned against Him and seek His mercy, He enables us to live right and continues to teach us in His way. John the Baptist came preaching repentance. He prepared the way for Jesus by turning the people’s hearts back to God their Father. The LORD Jesus came and instructed us and instructed the twelve so they may continue to share His instructions with us. Jesus provided for us salvation by His innocent suffering, death and resurrection. From the right hand of the Father, Jesus sends for the Holy Spirit into our hearts so we may believe in Him, hear His word, transform our hearts and enable us to live right, according to His word. Paul in his epistles tells us how the Holy Spirit helps walk according to the Spirit that is the Gospel, the free gift of forgiveness of sins.
10The LORD is kind and true in everything He does for those who keep His covenant and His truth.
Those who keep His covenant and His truth, that is those who believe the Good News of Jesus Christ, i.e. He has forgiven our sins and remembers them no more and declares to us we are His people, Jesus is king and true in everything. The Father is kind and good in every He does for those who put their trust in His Son. Paul writes in Romans 8, 28“We know that God works all things out for good for those who love God, who are called according to His plan.” Again he writes in the same, 35“Who will separate us from God’s love? Will sorrow, hardship or persecution, hunger or nakedness, danger or a sword? 36So it is written: ‘For You we are being killed all day long. We are considered sheep to be slaughtered.’ 37But in all this He Who loved us helps us win an overwhelming victory. 38I’m convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, nothing now nor in the future, no powers, 39nothing above or below, nor any other creature can ever separate us from the love God has for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In everything, in good times and bad, through joy and suffering, in gains and losses, the LORD is kind and true. He is working through all things for our good.
Heavenly Father, continue to be merciful and kind to us in Christ Jesus, providing us with pastors, with word and sacrament, that we may be instructed in Your ways, and give us You Holy Spirit that we are enabled to do everything you say. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.