Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of Gordon Mote live singing his songMercy Walked In … poignantly singing of how we as sinners can come before a faithful and merciful God and be redeemed by His love and grace.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2 Samuel 11:27c [NLT] … 27c … But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.
… God is always displeased when we choose to satisfy self, rather than our Lord.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Samuel 11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David relents to his sin nature and abuses his power by taking Bathsheba and having her husband killed.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 51:1-4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… David begs for forgiveness from God following his repentance and confession of his sin with Bathsheba and her husband.
Reference Passage : … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s mercies and His faithful forgiveness never end!!
Reference Passage : … 1 John 1:9 [NLT] … 9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
… God is always willing - and able - to forgive any sin when one is humbly contrite and willing to confess and repent.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mike Wittmer, used a story about President Lincoln who needed words of encouragement because of his responsibilities in life; and then the author showed us how we all need words of encouragement. … The ODB author wrote: Painfully, the evil that has long been swept under the rug—sexual abuse of many women by men who had power over them—has come to light. Enduring headline after headline, my heart sank when I heard proof of abuse by two men I admired. The church has not been immune to these issues. [see photo]
Any Christian certainly should be saddened, if not angered, by the recent litany of reports of sexual abuse in the news; … but even more so in the church, … reportedly by clergy abusing their power and authority. But tho there has been a rash of such reports lately, this pattern of power and sexual abuse is certainly not new, is it? We can read of one of the most notorious biblical reports in the highlight passage, … the telling of King David’s sexual abuse with Bathsheba and his cover-up of the affair by having her husband, Uriah, killed.
And yes, we most certainly know that God deplores such heinous and abusive sin (see 2Sam. 11:27). But … as we also read in Psalm 51, that David came to a place of contrition and surrender to God’s mercies, which thankfully are new and available anytime (see Lamentations 3:22-23) for the sinner who’s willing to repent and confess their (our) sin and be cleansed completely (see 1John 1:9).
Yes, sexually abusive sin is deplorable; but even with a King, like David, such sin can be cleansed by God’s love, mercy, and grace just as Gordon Mote sings in the linked song. And I pray that any reading here who need to repent and confess any sins today … that we do so … FORTHWITH!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your faithful mercy and grace when I’m willing to confess and repent and receive it.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to confess any sins we harbor, … repenting to receive God’s mercy and forgiving grace. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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