Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. § No eye pitied you … but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you … ,“Live!”
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God.
When we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. § God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
Isa. 51:1; Ps. 51:5; Ezek. 16:5–6; Ps. 40:2–3; Rom. 5:6–8; Eph. 2:4–5
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall be joyful in my God.
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. § The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You! § Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. § Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things. § Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. § Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Isa. 61:10; Ps. 34:1–3; 84:11–12; 103:1; James 5:13;
Eph. 5:18–20; Col. 3:16; Acts 16:25; Phil. 4:4
The crowning jewel of Creation was man himself. He was created for a distinct purpose. If the purpose is lived out, life is fulfilling. If the purpose is rejected or ignored, life will never be what it was meant to be.
A light bulb is a simple glass globe. If placed on a desk or table, it is meaningless as well as useless. But if it is fitted into a lamp and plugged into a power source, it fulfills its purpose for existence, taking on meaning as a source of light that is useful for daily living.
Apart from the Creator’s purpose, you and I are like a light bulb lying in a meaningless, useless state. We need to fit into the Creator’s original design, plugging into the power source – our relationship with Him – if our lives are to be what they were meant to be.
I know their sorrows.
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. § Sympathize with our weaknesses.
He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. § Jesus … being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Jesus wept. § For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death. § He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. § When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.
He who touches you touches the apple of His eye. § In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them.
Ex. 3:7; Isa. 53:3; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 8:17; John 4:6, 11:33,
11:35; Heb. 2:18; Ps. 102:19–20; Job 23:10; Ps. 142:3; Zech. 2:8; Isa. 63:9
I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day.
The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. § He who waters will also be watered.
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, “There are still four months and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. § The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. § Do business till I come. § I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
John 9:4; Prov. 13:4; 11:25; John 4:34–36;
Matt. 20:1–2; 2 Tim. 4:2; Luke 19:13; 1 Cor. 15:10
Have you ever denied the Lord?
Denied Him with your silence?
Denied Him with your behavior?
Denied Him by calling yourself a Christian yet not acting like one?
Denied Him by the priorities and plans and people and places in your life that are Christ-less?
If you have denied Jesus – and surely all of us have in some way – then you know something of the price Peter paid in shame and humiliation for his denial. Instead of repressing your shame and guilt, will you confess it to the Lord so that you can experience the same forgiveness and restoration that Peter did? When you do, you can share the testimony with Peter and the saints down through the ages who know from their own experience that He is precious! “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3:9, NIV).
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. § [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. § Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Jer. 31:3; 2 Thess. 2:13–14; 2 Tim. 1:9;
Ps. 139:16; John 3:16; 1 John 4:10
I have made, and I will bear.
Thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.” § Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you!
As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him. § He bore them and carried them all the days of old.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. § For I am persuaded that neither … height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Isa. 46:4; 43:1–2; 46:4; Deut. 32:11–12;
Isa. 63:9; Heb. 13:8; Rom. 8:38–39; Isa. 49:15
