prctugs

Today's Scripture reading: Amos 1-3; Psalm 80; 2 Timothy 4 

S: Scripture: Choose one thing that stood out.
O: Observation: What does it say (context, audience, meaning, etc.)?
A: Application: What principles apply to me? How should my life be different moving forward?
P: Prayer: Speak to God about what He showed you.
 

S:

Psalm 80: 3, 7, 19 (NLT) Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God Almighty. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

O:

The Psalmist asks God three times in this psalm to 1)turn us to yourself 2)make your face shine upon us with the result of us being saved. The people are being beaten down, oppressed, destroyed by their enemies. Their prayers are falling on God’s deaf ears. He is punishing them because they have turned away from him; yet, the psalmists insists they can’t turn back towards him unless he helps them do it, maybe even do it for them. They are powerless to turn to him. God must draw them by showing favor to them, protecting them, saving them from their enemies…and themselves.

A:

More and more I see God saying to me in the Scriptures, “Do the impossible:” Be holy, walk with me, worship me alone, be perfect, etc. Yet I also see God remind me again and again that He alone can & will give me the strength, ability, courage, and perseverance to do what he asks, not I, but Christ in me. God must turn me to himself because I can’t do it. He receives glory when I ask him and allow him to do in me what I am incapable of doing for myself. I need to continually, moment by moment, ask him to save me from myself.

P: