Today's readings are Psalm 118:5-14, Nehemiah 1:1-2:10, and 1 Timothy 1:1-20.
Today with Nehemiah we see that God's people are in trouble. They are real people in real trouble. Nehemiah is deeply disturbed over their plight. Even the king gets involved in caring for the troubles of a nation he barely knows.
Paul points out to Timothy that God knows the troubles of his people. We do not escape his notice. We are very real people in very real trouble. But that very real trouble we are in, trouble the Bible calls sin, is resolved by the very real Jesus who gave himself to save us.
We modern people may be uncomfortable with that message. It doesn't agree with our sensibilities. We'd rather think we were products of our world and have the power to do what we want to resolve problems. We'd rather think we're in control. We'd rather look at ancient people and their lives and struggles like so many fairy tales. But this is not the picture of the world the Bible gives. Rather, sin is real, God is real, and the very real God has dealt with the problem of sin on our behalf in Jesus' death and resurrection. May we have grace to believe and live.
No comments:
Post a Comment