Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

This is a republication of an old but still profitable “Letter to Harry” posted at my web site under the tag “Gold Mining”.

Yours truly,
Bill

GOLD MINE 1:  DEUTERONOMY 33:12

THE BELOVED OF THE LORD REST SECURE IN HIM.

July 29, 1992

Harry:

God loves us, and we rest secure in Him!

As you may remember, I am going through the Bible sequentially starting with John and reading a chapter or more a day. I have already moved from John through Revelation and then started in Genesis and now I am at Deuteronomy 33.

I came across an unfamiliar verse that I would like to share with you. It presents a beautiful memorable picture. “About Benjamin he said: `Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.’”  Deuteronomy 33:12b

What wonderful love God has for us!  It is particularly meaningful to me as I hold my two-year old son, Joshua, in my lap with his chest and head resting on my chest between my shoulders. Joshua falls asleep secure, and I love him and protect him with awe and wonder.

Does God love us and protect us any less?!

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 33:4-11.

“4 “Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 “And He was king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
The tribes of Israel together.

6 “May Reuben live and not die,
Nor his men be few.”

7 And this regarding Judah;  so he said,

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people.
With his hands he contended for them,
And may You be a help against his adversaries.”

8 Of Levi he said,

“Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man,
Whom You proved at Massah,
With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;
9 Who said of his father and his mother,
‘I did not consider them’;
And he did not acknowledge his brothers,
Nor did he regard his own sons,
For they observed Your word,
And kept Your covenant.
10 “They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
And Your law to Israel.
They shall put incense before You,
And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
11 “O Lord, bless his substance,
And accept the work of his hands;
Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,
And those who hate him, so that they will not rise again.”  Deuteronomy 33:4-11.

———————–

We can see the fulfillment of these three blessings in Christ. 

The tribe of Reuben, like our families today, want to live and have many descendants and to have no end.

“May Reuben live and not die,
Nor his men be few.”  Verse 6.

In Christ, our tribe or family is His kingdom which will have no end. 

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;  and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”  Luke 1:32-33.

“And they *sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals;  for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”  Revelation 5:9-10.

The tribe of Judah, like our families today, want help against our adversaries.

“And this regarding Judah; so he said,

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people.
With his hands he contended for them,
And may You be a help against his adversaries.”  Verse 7.

Christ is the Lion of Judah Who gives us salvation from our enemies.

“and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping;  behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”  Revelation 5:5.

“68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”  Luke 1:68-75.

The tribe of Levi, like our families today, want to faithfully observe God’s Law, teach it, and keep His covenant.

“… For they observed Your word,
And kept Your covenant.
“They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
And Your law to Israel.  …”  Verses 9-10.

Christ came and live a life of perfect obedience, made an offering for sin, to make us righteous in Christ. 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  2 Corinthians 5:21.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:  sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:3-4.

In summary, “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes;  therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”  2 Corinthians 1:20.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 33:1-3.

“1 Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. 2 He said,

“The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones;
At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.
3 “Indeed, He loves the people;
All Your holy ones are in Your hand,
And they followed in Your steps;
Everyone receives of Your words.”   Deuteronomy 33:1-3.

———————

Does this sound like God loves everybody or that God loves His people? 

Does this sound like resistible grace or irresistible grace? 

Does this sound like a fall from grace or preservation of the saints? 

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God;  the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 7:6.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God;  you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  1 Peter 2:9-10.

“TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation best summarizes Scripture and best shows God’s special love for His people:  limited to His people but unlimited in faithfulness and other fullness to save.

“TULIP” may not be most popular, because it humbles man and exalts God, but it needs to be identified, examined, and proclaimed, because it is the truth.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:48-52.

“The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.  Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.  For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”  Deuteronomy 32:48-52.

————————

No one, not even Moses, is justified by the Law.  “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident;  for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”  However, the Law is not of faith;  on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.”  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”  Galatians 3:11-14.

Like the rest who received approval, Moses was justified by faith.  See Hebrews 11:24-29.  “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”  Hebrews 11:39-40.

By not allowing Moses to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, it seems to me that the LORD wanted to illustrate vividly that no one is justified by the Law and that the righteous live by faith, even to their death.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:44-47.

“Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun.  When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.  For it is not an idle word for you;  indeed it is your life.  And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”  Deuteronomy 32:44-47.

————————

“… Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”  Matthew 4:4.

“It is the Spirit who gives life;  the flesh profits nothing;  the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”  John 6:63.

“Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.”  John 6:68.

Jesus is the “Incarnate Word”.   

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14.

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—  and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—  what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us;  and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”  1 John 1:1-3.

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has the life;  he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  1 John 5:11-12.

The words of Scripture point us to “the Word of Life”, Jesus Christ.  And, we do not learn about Jesus through pictures or sculptures or other images (in fact, they are forbidden by the second commandment);  we learn about Jesus through the words of Scripture.

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;  it is these that testify about Me;  and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”  John 5:39-40.

And so, we have daily devotions, seeking to learn more about Jesus, “the Word of Life”.

“34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35 “For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.”  Proverbs 8:34-35.

“‘Give us this day our daily bread.”  Matthew 6:11.

“Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”  Acts 17:11.

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.”  Psalm 1:2.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:34-43.

“34 ‘Is it not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 ‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
In due time their foot will slip;
For the day of their calamity is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’
36 “For the Lord will vindicate His people,
And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 “And He will say, ‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 ‘Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your hiding place!
39 ‘See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 ‘Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,
41 If I sharpen My flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold on justice,
I will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 ‘I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’
43 “Rejoice, O nations, with His people;
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And will render vengeance on His adversaries,
And will atone for His land and His people.”  Deuteronomy 32:34-43.

——————–

This Scripture shows sovereign power of God.  God exercises both justice (“vengeance on His adversaries” – verse 43) and lovingkindness (“vindicate His people” – verse 36).

“‘See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”  Verse 39.

Some doctrine teaches alleged free-will of man.

Reformed Doctrine teaches absolute sovereignty of God.

Some doctrine conspires:  “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”  Psalm 2:3.

But, Reformed Doctrine knows:  “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”  Psalm 2:4.

“9 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken;  truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.”  Isaiah 46:9-11.

“Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;  but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth;  for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:28-33.

“28 “For they are a nation lacking in counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.
29 “Would that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would discern their future!
30 “How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?
31 “Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 “For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
33 “Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of cobras.”   Deuteronomy 32:28-33.

———————–

Today’s Scripture leads us to consider our counsel, our produce, and our Rock.

Is our counsel like Israel’s counsel which is a “nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them”?  Verse 28.
 
Is our produce like Israel’s produce which are “grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter.  Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras”?  Verses 32 and 33.
 
Is our Rock like Israel’s rock?  “Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.”  Verse 31.    

Before we get smug and just simply deny it, maybe our counsel, produce, and Rock are not so easily identifiable.

It is easy for us to be like a chameleon, an animal who easily changes color to match and hide in its environment.  With diversity our primary mantra, our counsel, produce, and rock change to please (or at least not offend) those people that we are around.

The result of these fleeting changes is that at best we do not have any identifiable counsel, produce, and rock.

Many with Reformed background have caved into evangelical or social causes pressures to lose their Reformed salt.  They blend into  the evangelicals:  “All I care about is Christ and bringing in converts.”  Then, they blend and get lost in the latest social cause.

Certainly, we can and should have these concerns and do these things.  But, if we, the Reformed, don’t preach and teach Reformed doctrine, then who is going to do it?  If we switch back and forth so often, what indeed are our counsel, produce, and Rock?

“You are the salt of the earth;  but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”  Matthew 5:13.

We should heed the message of the angel to the church in Laodicea:  “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot;  I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”  Revelation 3:15-16.

In conclusion, we are on the brink of a new year.  It is a good time to examine our counsel, produce, and Rock.  Are we going to be content to be chameleons and tasteless salt in 2015?  Or, are our counsel, produce, and Rock going to be identifiable and consistent with our Reformed faith?

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:19-27.

“19 “The Lord saw this, and spurned them
Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 “Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 ‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
And consumes the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 ‘I will heap misfortunes on them;
I will use My arrows on them.
24 ‘They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague
And bitter destruction;
And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 ‘Outside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror—
Both young man and virgin,
The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26 ‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces,
I will remove the memory of them from men,”
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
That their adversaries would misjudge,
That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant,
And the Lord has not done all this.”’  Deuteronomy 32:19-27.

—————

Our hope is not to claim:  “We are not so bad;  we don’t deserve the punishment.” 

Our hope is not to plead:  “Give us a second chance!” 

Rather, our hope is to claim:  “We are sinners!  You are a holy and righteous God Whose work is perfect and Whose ways are always just!  But, we belong to You!  We were purchased for You by the blood of Christ!  We are hidden in Christ!  For Your own sake (the sake of Christ), save us, You Who also executes perfect lovingkindness in addition to perfect justice.” 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  Ephesians 2:4-6.

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”  Colossians 3:1-3.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:5-18.

“5 “They have acted corruptly toward Him,
They are not His children, because of their defect;
But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 “Do you thus repay the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is not He your Father who has bought you?
He has made you and established you.
7 “Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of all generations.
Ask your father, and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.
8 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 “For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 “He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He encircled him, He cared for him,
He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.
12 “The Lord alone guided him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
13 “He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
And He made him suck honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the finest of the wheat—
And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.

15 “But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked—
You are grown fat, thick, and sleek—
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 “They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 “They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
To gods whom they have not known,
New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 “You neglected the Rock who begot you,
And forgot the God who gave you birth.”   Deuteronomy 32:5-18.

———————-

Despite all that God did for Israel, Israel acted corruptly toward God.

When we consider that God acted like a father to Israel, this Scripture proves Israel acted foolishly and unwisely.

As intended by the words of the last chapter, this song was a witness for the LORD against the sons of Israel.  Deuteronomy 31:19.

Some doctrine would be content to only comment that we should not neglect God as Israel did.  That doctrine would focus only on the wisdom of being faithful to God.  That doctrine would only focus on the alleged free-will of man and exhort man to try harder to obey God.

But, Reformed Doctrine knows that his Scripture reminds us of the “Total Depravity” of man.  Man has every motivation to be faithful to God and obey God.  It is clearly and simply wisdom to be faithful to God and obey God;  any child would understand it.  It is absolute foolishness to forget, neglect, or reject God.  But, the fact that man does it continually reminds us of the “Total Depravity”, the “T” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation.

Our hope is not that we should try again, this time try harder to be faithful and obey God. 

Our hope is that God is a Faithful Father.  

Q. 1.  What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A.  That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ;  who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil;  and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head;  yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.  Heidelberg Catechism.

Q. 26.  What believest thou when thou sayest, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”?

A.  That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by His eternal counsel and providence) is, for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father;  on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt but He will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body;  and further, that He will make whatever evils He sends upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out to my advantage;  for He is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.  Heidelberg Catechism.

But, as the following two Articles of Canons of Dordt in the section “Of the Perseverance of the Saints” teaches, this hope and confidence in our Faithful Father does not make us careless. 

Article 13.   Neither does renewed confidence or persevering produce licentiousness, or a disregard to piety in those who are recovering from backsliding;  but it renders them much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of the Lord, which he hath ordained, that they who walk therein may maintain an assurance of persevering, lest by abusing his fatherly kindness, God should turn away his gracious countenance from them, to behold which is to the godly dearer than life: the withdrawing thereof is more bitter than death, and they in consequence hereof should fall into more grievous torments of conscience.

Article 14.  And as it hath pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of grace in us, so he preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing and reading of his Word, by meditation thereon, and by the exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, as well as by the use of the sacraments.   FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE  Of the Perseverance of the Saints.  The Canons of Dordt.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 32:1-4.

“1 Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 “Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As the droplets on the fresh grass
And as the showers on the herb.
3 “For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 “The Rock!  His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.”    Deuteronomy 32:1-4.

————————–

Today’s Scripture is the introduction to the Scripture which follows which is a long set of “finding of fault” facts in the LORD’s judgment against Israel.  But, before the these “finding of fault” facts were listed, the LORD wanted His name exalted primarily as a just God.  “The Rock!  His work is perfect, For all His ways are just;  A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.”  Verse 4.

Likewise, the section on predestination in The Canons of Dordt starts with the justice of God.

Article 1.  As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish, and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin, according to the words of the apostle, Romans 3:19, “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  And verse 23:  “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”   And Romans 6:23:  “for the wages of sin is death.”  FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of Divine Predestination.

Likewise, before we consider predestination a/k/a “Unconditional Election”, the “U” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation, it is good for us to meditate on “The Rock!  His work is perfect, For all His ways are just;  A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.”  Verse 4.  If we do so, we may be less likely to bristle against predestination a/k/a “Unconditional Election”.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  Proverbs 9:10.

My web site starts with a section “About God” at the top left tag.  In it, God’s justice is proclaimed including the following summary.  “Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;  but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth;  for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24.