Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 11:1-7.

“1 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.  2 Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm, 3 and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;  4 and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them;  5 and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;  6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel— 7 but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.”  Deuteronomy 11:1-7.

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We have not literally seen with our physical eyes the parting of the Red Sea and the other signs and wonders that Israel literally saw with their own physical eyes.  But, we have read about them in Scripture.  We have figuratively seen them with our eyes of faith.

And, we have seen much more.  We have seen all that is contained in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  Most importantly, we have seen our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through our reading of Scripture.  We have seen the great work of salvation which the LORD did.

“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.

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.  This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”  I John 5:13-15.

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true;  and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life.”  1 John 5:20.

In summary, we too have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did, because we have the Scriptures and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has given us understanding. 

Today’s Devotion comes from Deuteronomy 10:12-22.

“12 “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?  14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.  15 Yet on your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.  16 So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.  17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.  18 He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.  19 So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.  20 You shall fear the Lord your God;  you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. 21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.  22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”    Deuteronomy 10:12-22.

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“11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph.  Selah.”  Psalm 77:11-15.

“3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.”     Psalm 78:3-4.

What god is great like our God?  What god works wonders?  What god has truly redeemed his people?

Is the god truly God who waits, wringing his hands, to see which ones will exercise his or her alleged free-will to do works or have faith?

Does that god work wonders?  Does that god truly redeem his people?

Or is the Sovereign Almighty God of Reformed Doctrine truly God Who initiates and works the wonder of making those dead in sin alive when there is no one else to intercede and help?

That Sovereign Almighty God of Reformed Doctrine is truly God Who does all of the works of wonder necessary to truly and fully redeem His people from “Unconditional Election” to “Limited Atonement” to “Irresistible Grace” to “Preservation of Saints”, the “U”, “L”, “I”, and “P” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation.

Today’s Scripture comes from Deuteronomy 10:1-11.  Here is a link to this Scripture – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+10&version=NASB

I quote only the following verses.

“1 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself.  2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’  3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.  4 He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.  5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”

6 (Now the sons of Israel set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah.  There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.  7 From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.  8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.  9 Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers;  the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)  …”  Deuteronomy Chapter 10:  Verses 1-9.

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Levi’s brothers (tribes of Israel) all received large areas of land in the Promised Land, mostly west of the Jordan River.  But, Levi received no such land.  Instead, “the Lord is his inheritance”.

Like Levi, we are a priesthood.  Like Levi, we are called to serve the LORD and bless Him.  “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;”  1 Peter 2:9.

And like Levi, the LORD is our inheritance.

“5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
8 I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”  Psalm 16:5-11.

Today’s Scripture comes from Deuteronomy 9:6-29.  Here is a link to this Scripture – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+9&version=NASB

I quote only the following verses.

“6 “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.  7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness;  from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.  8 Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.  9 When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights;  I neither ate bread nor drank water.  10 The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.  11 It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.  12 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly.  They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them;  they have made a molten image for themselves.’  13 The Lord spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.  14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven;  and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’”  …

25 “So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you.  26 I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;  do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. 28 Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.”  29 Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’”  Deuteronomy Chapter 9:  Verses 6-14 and 25-29.

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Moses rightly prayed emphasizing the sake of God’s name as you can see repeatedly in bold italic font in the last paragraph of today’s Scripture.

And, God indeed acted for the sake of His name as He declared.  “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out (of Egypt).”  Ezekiel 20:14.

Other doctrine focuses on man for the sake of man.

Reformed Doctrine focuses on God for the sake of God.

Other doctrine seeks that man be improved.

Reformed Doctrine seeks that God be glorified.

Other doctrine asks:  “What will attract seekers in worship?”

Reformed Doctrine asks:  “How will God be glorified in worship?  What pleases God?”

When man sins, other doctrine asks:  “What is the effect on man?”

When man sins, Reformed Doctrine asks:  “What is the effect on God?”

Other doctrine simply wants man to be saved and is only interested in God’s lovingkindness.

Reformed Doctrine teaches that God’s whole purpose will be accomplished including all of God’s justice, God’s lovingkindness, and God’s righteousness.

Other doctrine wants man to be saved according to man’s desire, man’s control, and man’s glory.

Reformed Doctrine teaches that man will be saved according to God’s desire, God’s control, and God’s glory.

Other doctrine want a god who is their puppet.

Reformed Doctrine teaches that God is their Potter.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 9:1-5.

“1  “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’  3 Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire.  He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.

4 “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.  5 It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”  Deuteronomy 9:1-5.

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Today’s Scripture makes us contemplate on God punishing the wicked.  We like to solely dwell on God rewarding the righteous, but today’s Scripture repeatedly informs us:  “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you …”.  Verse 5.

We read similar motivation of God in Leviticus 18:24-25:  “‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things;  for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.  For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.”

There are two perspectives to salvation.  The first, which we like the most, is that the LORD loved us and seated us in the heavenly places.  See, for example, Ephesians 2:4-7.  The second, which is given in today’s Scripture, is that the LORD hated the wicked and punished them, and in a sense, we were left behind.  We escaped the wrath of God.

“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.  For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.”  Hebrews 12:25.

“For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”  Hebrews 2:2-3.

“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”  2 Timothy 2:24-26.

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”  2 Peter 1:4.

“And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?”  1 Peter 4:18.

The fictional book and movie series on eschatology called “Left Behind” portrays salvation as the righteous beamed up to heaven with the wicked “left behind”.  But, today’s Scripture and Jesus’ parable on the wheat and tares and other Scripture should make us contemplate the perspective of salvation that the LORD hated the wicked and punished them, and in a sense, we were left behind.  We escaped the wrath of God.

“Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.  But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.  The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?  How then does it have tares?’  And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’  But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up;  but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”  Matthew 13:24-30.

In conclusion, God will certainly gather His righteous and bring them to heaven, so in that sense, we will not be left behind.  But, let us also not forget the just wrath of God, “a consuming fire“, in punishing the wicked and that we escape this punishment not based on any righteousness of our own.  In that sense, we escaped;  we were left behind.

We are called to not only rejoice but also to tremble.

“Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.”  Psalm 4:4.

“For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;  In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;  He will lift me up on a rock.”  Psalm 27:5.

“119 You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross;
Therefore I love Your testimonies.
120 My flesh trembles for fear of You,
And I am afraid of Your judgments.”  Psalm 119:119-120.

“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You;  And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.”  Psalm 57:1.

“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;  for our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:28-29.

“20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until indignation runs its course.
21 For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth will reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.”  Isaiah 26:20-21.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 8:11-20.

“11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;  12 otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water;  He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.  16 In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.  17 Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’  18 But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.  19 It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.  20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.”  Deuteronomy 8:11-20.

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When we get our first job, we may get proud and forget about God.  When we get our first promotion, we may get proud and forget about God.  When we buy our first dream house, we may get proud and forget about God.  When we start buying stocks and bonds, we may get proud and forget about God.  When we saved enough for retirement, we may get proud and forget about God.

“But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”  Verse 18.  “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’”  Verse 17.

Verse 18 teaches us that God gives us the power to make wealth, not so that we become independent and forget God, but rather so that His covenant (“I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” in Hebrews 6:14) is confirmed.  God can surely bless us in many different ways, but one of the ways that He may bless us is to give us the power to make wealth.  That does not mean that God makes every believer wealthy or equally wealthy.  It also does not mean that everyone who is wealthy is blessed by God.

But, when we believers become wealthy, we need to use it to build our faith more than to build our bank account.  We need to turn our focus to God and remember that it is He Who has made us wealthy to confirm His covenant that He will surely bless us and multiply us.

“It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich,
And He adds no sorrow to it.”  Proverbs 10:22.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 8:1-10.

“1 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.  2 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  3 He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.  4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.  5 Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.  6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.  7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;  8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;  9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.  10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.”  Deuteronomy 8:1-10.

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Some may wonder why we don’t skip parts of Scripture.  Or, they may wonder when we get to the Psalms or the New Testament.  We are not impatient.  We delight to be in the middle of Deuteronomy.  We find riches in every chapter.  We live “by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord”.  Verse 3.  See also Jesus’ quote of this Scripture in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4.

When we read about the Promised Land in verses 7-9, we think about our land, United States.  It is also “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;  a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;  a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper”.

So, let us eat and be satisfied.  Let us bless the Lord our God for the good land which He has given us.  Verse 10.

How can we bless our LORD?  

Let us proclaim the excellencies of our LORD.   

“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.

Let us use every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD to “proclaim His excellencies”.  Let us use every impulse of our thanks (for every word of the LORD and for every piece of the good land) to “proclaim His excellencies”.   

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 7:17-26.

“17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I;  how can I dispossess them?’  18 you shall not be afraid of them;  you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:  19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out.  So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.  20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.  21 You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.  22 The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little;  you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.  23 But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.  24 He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven;  no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.  25 The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire;  you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.  26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban;  you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.”  Deuteronomy 7:17-26.

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We should not be afraid of our enemies.  We should remember what the LORD our God has done for us.  We should remember Who the LORD our God is, a great and awesome God.  We should have faith that God will destroy our enemies.

“And what more shall I say?  For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”  Hebrews 11:32-34.

How can we better remember what the LORD our God has done for us?  How can we better remember Who the LORD our God is?  How can we build our faith? 

We read and meditate on God’s Word. 

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it;  for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”  Joshua 1:8.

“2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”  Psalm 1:2-3.

“4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.
5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”  Psalm 27:4-6.

“11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph.  Selah.”  Psalm 77:11-15.

See Psalm 18:31-50 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+18&version=NASB

Other doctrine exhorts us to focus on our self and be wiser and be stronger and use our alleged free-will to do more good.

Reformed Doctrine exhorts us to focus on God and His wisdom and His strength and His works from “Unconditional Election” to “Limited Atonement” to “Irresistible Grace” to “Preservation of the Saints”, the “U”, “L”, “I”, and “P” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation.

“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.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 7:12-16.

“12 “Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.  13 He will love you and bless you and multiply you;  He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.  14 You shall be blessed above all peoples;  there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.  15 The Lord will remove from you all sickness;  and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.  16 You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you;  your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.”  Deuteronomy 7:12-16.

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“For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”  And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.  For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.  In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  Hebrews 6:13-20.

“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.  Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:

‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish;
For I am accomplishing a work in your days,
A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”  Acts 13:38-41.

“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.  For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified;  for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”  Romans 4:13-15.

“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.

Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations:  even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.  Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.  He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.  What I am saying is this:  the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.  For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise;  but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”  Galatians 3:12-18.

Daily, and even moment by moment, we experience so many of the good and glorious ways that God loves us, blesses us, and multiplies us.  Yet, there is one fulfillment of this promise that so exceeds the other fulfillments such that John could speak of the fulfillment of the promise in a single fulfillment.  “This is the promise which He Himself made to us:  eternal life.”  1 John 2:25.

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 7:1-11.

“1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them.  You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.  3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.  4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods;  then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.  5 But thus you shall do to them:  you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.  6 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.

7 “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  9 Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;  10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them;  He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.  11 Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.”

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Today’s Scripture leads us to consider “Unconditional Election”, the “U” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation.  “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you …”  Verses 7-8.  There were no conditions supplied by Israel that caused God to elect Israel to be His chosen people.  God simply chose Israel, because He loved Israel.

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;  for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”  Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then?  There is no injustice with God, is there?  May it never be!  For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”  So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”  Romans 9:10-18.

Many reject such “Unconditional Election” also known as predestination.  They form their own doctrine on the basis that they think that it is unfair for God to arbitrarily chose whom He will save based solely on His desire.  They think salvation should be determined by man (man’s wisdom, man’s alleged free-will, man’s works, or man’s faith).

The Apostle Paul anticipated that objection.

“You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault?  For who resists His will?”  On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?  The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”  Romans 9:19-20.

Paul continues:  “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?  What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?  And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”  Romans 9:21-23.

God is not unjust because He did not choose everyone to be saved.  Consider that if an earthly judge pardoned everyone and did not punish anyone, we would think he or she is most unjust.

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  Canons of Dordt.  

God shows forth His lovingkindness in saving His elect.  God shows forth His justice in punishing the rest.  God delights in exercising both lovingkindness and justice.  “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.

Moreover, “Unconditional Election” makes logical sense when we consider the first point of “Total Depravity”, the “T” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation.  If man is totally depraved, “dead in sin”, then there is no condition that man could produce that could motivate God to choose him.  Man’s only chance for salvation is that God would unconditionally elect him.

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  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.  For by grace you have been saved through faith;  and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:1-8.