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HOW DO WE RESPOND?
We’ve acknowledged the existence of God. (v.1-6) We’ve read, through His Word, of the great love He has for us, and what He desires our lives to be like. (v.7-11) Verses 12-14 now compel us to ask the toughest and, perhaps, scariest question of all: How do we respond?
For us, as for the Psalmist, our first response is in recognizing just how broken and sin-ridden we are as human beings. Our obvious faults notwithstanding, it is the hidden sin in our lives that demands the greatest account. (Luke 8:17) In this, we must respond in full submission to God’s judgment, acknowledging how blind we have become to our own vices and moral decay. (v.12) We must ask His forgiveness for all that we’ve done – or, in some cases, what we have failed to do.
Our next response should be one of supplication – which is to say humble, heart-in-hand need. We must call upon the Most High to lead us away from the life of sin to which we’ve grown so accustomed. And we must beseech Him to strengthen us against the temptations which brought us to accept such sin-driven lives in the first place. (v.13) It is through brokenness and humility that God does His best redemptive work after all. (James 4:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
Lastly, we must respond by accepting God for who He is and for the grace He freely gives. Only by accepting God (Proverbs 3:5-6), accepting His Son and the substitutionary sacrifice He made on our behalf (John 3:16), and accepting the gift of His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) will our response have any meaning. (v.14) As Methodism co-founder John Wesley explains, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.”
We’ve acknowledged the existence of God. (v.1-6) We’ve read, through His Word, of the great love He has for us, and what He desires our lives to be like. (v.7-11) Verses 12-14 now compel us to ask the toughest and, perhaps, scariest question of all: How do we respond?
For us, as for the Psalmist, our first response is in recognizing just how broken and sin-ridden we are as human beings. Our obvious faults notwithstanding, it is the hidden sin in our lives that demands the greatest account. (Luke 8:17) In this, we must respond in full submission to God’s judgment, acknowledging how blind we have become to our own vices and moral decay. (v.12) We must ask His forgiveness for all that we’ve done – or, in some cases, what we have failed to do.
Our next response should be one of supplication – which is to say humble, heart-in-hand need. We must call upon the Most High to lead us away from the life of sin to which we’ve grown so accustomed. And we must beseech Him to strengthen us against the temptations which brought us to accept such sin-driven lives in the first place. (v.13) It is through brokenness and humility that God does His best redemptive work after all. (James 4:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
Lastly, we must respond by accepting God for who He is and for the grace He freely gives. Only by accepting God (Proverbs 3:5-6), accepting His Son and the substitutionary sacrifice He made on our behalf (John 3:16), and accepting the gift of His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) will our response have any meaning. (v.14) As Methodism co-founder John Wesley explains, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.”
About this Plan
Some of the toughest questions life throws at us are often some of the simplest to answer Scripturally. This short devotional will examine three such “meaning of life” questions – Is there a God? What does He want? How do we respond? – through the lens of one of the Bible's smallest passages, Psalm 19.
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