First Friday

Friday is a nice day to wake up. Especially today. The sun is shining bright, we got to sleep in because my first class is canceled this morning and I have a scooter that can transport me 3x faster than the bus. And tomorrow is Saturday. Good reasons for praise. And I'm healthy, and my wife is healthy.

Ps 68:1-3

To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

Who are the righteous and who are the wicked? Is there anyone who can truly say, "I am righteous"? This is a Psalm of David. If you look through his life as recorded in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, do you see a righteous man? If you compared your own life to his, how would you rank? We all like to compare ourselves to those who look worse than us (Although David made it in the Bible, you may find that your life stacks up pretty well against his; have you ever slept with another man's wife and then killed him to cover it up?), and by that measure we call ourselves 'good'. But when compared to God's requirements we know we fall short. We don't need Romans 3:23 to tell us that we have sinned. We know it whether we admit it or not.

Now, following that, if we are among the wicked then all we wait for is to be scattered, to flee before God, to perish before Him, to melt like wax and be driven away like smoke.

Psalm 68 offers a glorious encouragement. Look at verse 18.

18 You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

This verse is referenced in Ephesians, to remind us that this gift is the gift of grace. And if you're wondering what that gift of grace is, according to the measure of Christ's gift, read Ephesians 1-2; an awesome, awesome passage saturated with an understanding that we were dead, but God made us alive by his grace.

So, now we do not stand before this righteous Judge of Psalm 68 in fear and trembling, waiting for our judgment. We come before Him with gladness, we exult before God, and we are jubilant with JOY!

Are you joyful this morning, because of what God has done through Jesus Christ? Does the Gospel move your heart to respond with praise and worship of Jesus?

Amen.

Today:
- Speaking and Comprehensive Chinese. In Comp today I have a tingxie, which, literally translated, means Hear-Write. The teacher reads to us a list of words, and then several sentences and we have to write the characters from memory.
- Scoot back home and probably do a little studying, or perhaps pick up the Cross-cultural study book to prepare for the last lesson next Tuesday.
- Followed by DATE NIGHT with my wife! Oh Yeah! If it's not raining (and it looks like it will be clear all day) we're gonna go on a scooter date, perhaps to South Lake.

Peace, and JOY!