THE MEETING & THE KISS

Today’s Reading: Psalms 84-86

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Golgotha (meaning “skull” in Aramaic) also called Calvary (from Latin calva, meaning “bald head” or “skull”), may be at this skull-shaped hill in Jerusalem. It is an ancient quarry through which a main road passes just outside the Damascus Gate. The prophet Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which the Lord inflicted on me in the day of His fierce anger.” Thousands of people “pass by” each day here at the Arab East Jerusalem Bus Station. Without exception, the Romans always crucified people beside the most busy roads in order to show an example to as many people as possible.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Psalm 85:10

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Our key verse found fulfillment at the cross of Christ! God’s mercy to the entire human race was made available at the Cross! God’s Truth and righteousness, for which Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, was satisfied. The Apostle Paul, a Jewish Rabbi, wrote, “Having made peace through the blood of His cross…” (Read Colossians 1:15-22).

Psalm 84 should cause us to ask of ourselves this question: When is the last time we longed to go to church with such an intense desire?

Psalm 85 is a cry to God for revival, a hymn to be sung in the house of God! After such a fervent prayer, confidence fills the heart and mind of the writer. “YES, the Lord will give what is good!” (Psalm 85:12a).

In Psalm 86, King David gives reasons why he believes that the Lord will hear his prayer, preserve him, save him, show mercy, teach him, deliver him, strengthen him and give him a sign. When we speak out our confidence in God, our faith is increased.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, You help the helpless. That’s me! I’m confident in Your salvation because You are my God and I trust in You! “You, Lord, are good and ready to forgive” (86:5a). “You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth” (86:15). Therefore, O Lord, I’m filled with faith in You as I kneel in Your presence to call upon You for this new day. I pray in the Name of the One who brought mercy and truth together, and through Whom righteousness and peace have kissed each other, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

The eternal, all-powerful, all-loving, all-wise God has provided a way for His unchangeable “rule of law” to be satisfied. God’s Son, fully God, took upon Himself the punishment which I deserved, so that eternal justice has been satisfied. That “kiss” referred to in our key verse presents a picture of what happened as Jesus, fully God, suffered in my place.

I can do no less than give myself again to God for this new day and for the rest of my life. Again this morning I am quoting my daily confession, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

David