Devotional for October 4

A Meditation Pleasing to the Heart 

6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee. Psalm 50:6-17 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

Never let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can. Don’t just sit around whining and complaining. It doesn’t help, and it certainly doesn’t please God. Just get busy making the most out of whatever opportunity you do have, and leave the lingering on lack to the unhappy and the depressed. Trust God, and waste no time complaining about your best-laid plans as they lie broken upon the jagged rocks of life. Refuse to allow discouraging feelings to carry your thoughts away captive. Rather, set your hope firmly upon your full salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for the needed grace based on what God has promised. Take the promise as being immediately answered by faith based on the incorruptible truth of the Word, and not on evidence based upon our corruptible physical senses and unstable emotions. Wait on the Lord in faith, which means to keep the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart pleasing to God. Rest in the knowledge of the faithfulness of God. Wait for the blessing with joyful expectation. When peace, thanksgiving, and praise to God reign in your heart, regardless of temporary circumstances, all will be well.

Today’s Bible Reading

1 Kings 7

Ephesians 4

The Prayer Appointed for This Week from the Book of Common Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon your church the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.