Psalm 9<\/strong><\/p>\nPsalm 9 begins:<\/i><\/p>\n
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nI will be glad and exult in you;<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nAnd these are the concluding words:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\nLet the nations know that they are but men!\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nHere\u2019s something for you to think about today:<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0 \u00a0Men (people) want to become god;<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0 \u00a0God wanted to become man.<\/span><\/p>\nNow, what does that mean: men want to become god? Well, it means we want to be in control, in charge. We want to get what we desire. We want our wishes carried out. We want others to praise and exalt us. We want to be on the top, not the bottom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYet at the end of the psalm it is written: Let the nations know that they are but men!\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nMen may want to become god, but we aren\u2019t. We are but men. We may think we\u2019re in control of our lives, but we\u2019re not; God really is. We may want what we desire, but God gives us what He knows we need and what is good instead. We may want others to praise and exalt us, but it doesn\u2019t last. One wrong word, one mistake, and it\u2019s all gone. We want to be on the top, but how often do we find ourselves looking up at others?<\/span><\/p>\nWe are but men.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nBut this Advent season, leading up to Christmas, we remember this astounding fact: that God became man<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen God became man for men who [sinfully] want to become god.\u00a0He came to serve us.\u00a0He came to take care of us.\u00a0He came to lay down His life for us.\u00a0He came from the top and went to the bottom \u2013 all the way down to the grave.<\/span><\/p>\nHow different from us is God! How different in His thinking, His desires, and His actions. For all this He does not for Himself \u2013 God doesn\u2019t need anything and He certainly doesn\u2019t need us! Yet He did all this for us, that we \u2013 sinners all \u2013\u00a0might be called children of God. We\u2019re not God, but we can be children of God. Born from above, born of water and the spirit.\u00a0With a loving Father who protects us, provides for us, disciplines us, and saves us.<\/span><\/p>\nHe really does.<\/span><\/p>\nDon\u2019t complain that he didn\u2019t save you from the mess you just made of your life. If you do what He told you not to do or go where He told you not to go, there are consequences for our sin. But with Him there is also forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd don\u2019t complain that because you don\u2019t have all that you want that God doesn\u2019t love you. He actually loves you\u00a0enough not to make you into a spoiled brat.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd don\u2019t complain that others have more than you. Parents don\u2019t treat their children all the same. Children are\u00a0all different and should be treated differently. To treat all\u00a0your children the same would not be love, but indifference or lack of thought or care.<\/span><\/p>\nSo instead of complaining, do this instead: if\u00a0you really want to see the love of God for you, don\u2019t look at your life \u2013\u00a0look at the manger,\u00a0look at the cross,\u00a0look at what God was willing to do for you \u2013 His wonderful deeds<\/b>; His wonder-filled deeds; His deeds filled with wonder \u2013 that you might be His. To defeat\u00a0not just your earthly enemies, but your eternal enemy. To give you not just earthly riches, but heavenly ones. To give you not just a life here that will one day end, but a life that will never end.<\/span><\/p>\nTo give you what\u2019s better.<\/span><\/p>\nSo we can go on trying to be god, but why?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nRather, as the psalmist says, let us praise the Lord<\/b>. And not just any god who goes by that name, but the God who did this wonderful deed; this God: the God who became man, that we men might become children of God.<\/span><\/p>\nThat\u2019s a real God. A God you can count on.<\/span><\/p>\nDear Jesus, thank You that though you are God yet in love for us you became man, and not only became man, but laid down your life for us to atone for our sins \u2013 especially our sin of wanting to be god. Help me to trust in you and your ways, praise not what I do but what you have done for me, and rejoice that in you, I am not god, but am something even better \u2013 I am a child of God. Amen.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\nPainting, \u201cJesus Before His Crucifixion,\u201d by Henry Thomas Bosdet (1897), [Public Domain] via Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How different from us is God! How different in His thinking, His desires, and His actions. For all this He does not for Himself \u2013 God doesn\u2019t need anything and He certainly doesn\u2019t need us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":30330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,21,47],"tags":[94,931,1076],"class_list":["post-30328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christ","category-holidays","category-theology","tag-advent","tag-god","tag-incarnation"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n