For a full description of the (Y4) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Lev. 26
When you look at the consequences of either obeying or disobeying God’s commands, the choice is a no-brainer. And yet… So why do we make the wrong choice when we know better? Honestly, all the great promises in the world, no matter how certain, aren’t enough to keep us on the right path. We know this because Adam and Eve lived in those good promises and still made the wrong choice. Knowing and even experiencing what is right and good simply isn’t enough.
Paul wrote about this in Romans 7. “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Rom. 7:15). As I noted from Ecclesiastes the other day, it isn’t that we can’t make the right choice, we just can’t do it every time, even if we want to. The problem is that we are but flesh, and flesh serves its own desires. As Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Thus, as James wrote, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” (Jms. 1:14) This is why we so desperately need Jesus, to circumcise the flesh from our hearts, filling us with His desires.
Ps. 33
Who can understand the heart of man? “The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men…He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.” (Ps. 33:13, 15). God understands what He created, thus He knows what we need. It’s not that He made us flawed. It’s simply that, though He created us in His likeness, we are, by nature, human and not God. But in His infinite wisdom and goodness, He factored our nature in before He began His creation work. He made a way to overcome the problem of our human nature. Sing praise to our all-loving, all-capable God! Rejoice in Him and trust in His lovingkindness – He will never fail.
Ecc. 9
The preacher noted, “It is the same for all.” (Ecc. 9:2a). Righteous or wicked, clean or unclean, good man or sinner – all suffer the same fate. This is our truth without Jesus in the picture. Without Him, it doesn’t matter at all how we live our lives. Through Him, however, God offers us not only a different outcome, but a sure outcome that relies not on us, but on Christ alone.