May 8, 2024

Passage Read: Psalm 148 - Proverbs 1
Meditation Verse: Psalm 149:4

Thought

That's a twist! The Lord honors His afflicted people with salvation, so His godly ones can rejoice on their beds. Why on their beds? Does he mean morning and evening or are they crippled or utterly exhausted? But then it turns in an unexpected direction: Let the high praise of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hands, because they will get to execute judgment on the earth! This is an honor for all His godly ones. Today God's holy ones are afflicted, perhaps so crushed they can't even get out of bed! But when Jesus returns to deliver His people, He will pass judgment, and His once afflicted people will have the honor of carrying it out! Afflicted for now, but mighty in the future!

Application

One day, if I hold fast to the Lord and pursue His ways, I too will be given a sword to execute His vengeance on the nations that hated Him. His vengeance, not mine. Today I'm in training to do His will, even if that cost me everything, especially so that it cost me everything. If I don't know how to do His will now, even though I suffer at the hands of every man, then I cannot be trusted to carry out His vengeance on the nations. My purpose is forever to do His will and not my own. But if I learn to do His will now, even though it makes me the scum of the earth, then I will have the honor of executing His fierce judgment on the nations.