July 14, 2023
Prayer
Psalm 51:15-17
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise.
I love this psalm. To see that it is in our brokenness that we are what God is looking for. God does not break us down. No, this sinful world breaks us down. And when we find we cannot do it on our own, then we turn to God and find rest. No matter what we have done, if we recognize our sin (which will break our hearts) and confess it to God and sincerely repent of it, the sin will be forgiven. In our weakness, God shows His strength. He will not leave us broken. He will rebuild us into the person He intended us to be. God will raise us up and make us whole.
Dear Lord,
You know my sin and see my brokenness caused by it. I truly feel the words of Romans 7:15 "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." And then I hear the words of Romans 7:24-25 "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Thank you for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for all of my sins and to restore me from my brokenness.
1 Peter 2:7-8
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,"
8 and
"A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."
They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for.
What is this teaching me?
Jesus is our precious cornerstone and capstone. He is our cornerstone as He is the base of our faith. If He is not there, keeping everything straight, then our faith becomes crooked or falls apart. He is our capstone because He is our protection. Without Jesus as our cornerstone, there is no building to put a capstone on.
Jesus was rejected by nonbelievers when He was here on earth and He continues to be rejected to this day by nonbelievers. They may have rejected Him, but to believers he is the capstone.
Jesus is our Rock that we build our faith on. However, for nonbelievers, He is a rock that causes them to stumble and fall. They call the Bible nonsense and that is where they stumble. Their ultimate fall will come when Jesus returns.
One more thought, God uses the very things and people that men reject. So when the world turns against us, God is there to take our hand and pull us back up on our feet. He gives us a purpose in our lives- to serve Him and spread the message of the Gospel. Though men reject us, God will always accept us.
Going Forward
How do I go forward knowing that Jesus is my cornerstone and capstone, as well as knowing that God uses me when the world rejects me?
I go forward with confidence that God is beside me. I may feel weak and ineffective, but God is always there and He can use whatever I do for Him to further His Message.
I go forward wanting to know more about my Rock. What am I standing on? I find this in His Word. The more time I spend in my Bible, the better I know Jesus and the better I can share His message.
When the world rejects me and I feel the hurt, I can confess that hurt to God and then give it to Him. The world rejected Him and He well knows our pain. He has big enough shoulders to carry that hurt away from us and give us strength to continue forward.
Thanks be to God!