I am pondering the last part of verse 6 in the Psalm, You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. Or as it says in the ESV, man and beast you save, O Lord.
I am trying to wrap my head around it. What do you think it implies?
Here is a devotional I wrote for today in our church's Lenten devotional.
Today in John we see Jesus and his friends and disciples at the home of Jesus’s friend Lazarus -- the same Lazarus who Jesus had just raised from the dead (possibly foreshadowing what would happen in just a few days, demonstrating the power of God over life and death). I can guess that Jesus had talked about what would happen to him, though they might not have fully understood it. How could they? So maybe this is why Mary anointed him, as a way to honor her friend before he would be killed. When Judas protests her extravagant actions, Jesus tells him that it is in preparation for his burial. He knows that he will be killed. He is speaking openly about it. His friends and disciples know first hand that he has the power to raise someone from the dead. They have the pieces of the puzzle. But even we will see at the end of the week, after Jesus was crucified, his disciples were in mourning.
I can understand where the disciples are coming from. Even when you know something will end well (even if you don’t understand the details of it, and it seems unbelievable), watching people beat and mock and kill another person, your Jesus, is difficult. Why does it have to be so terrible?
Because sin is terrible. Our sin is terrible. It is good to be reminded of this. If we don’t think our own sin is terrible, we soon think that we are good enough. I am a nice person (most of the time), I haven’t committed any heinous crimes, etc. James 3 says, “wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.” This is terrible news. We are all sinners. All of us.
BUT! This is what makes the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus, SO GOOD. If we are just simply nice people, then the Gospel is just simply nice news. Shoulder-shrug news.
Let’s remember this week, this Good News of what Christ did on the Cross. He conquered that sin.
Hebrews 9:13-15 says, Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Amen!
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