the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Psalms 33:1
‘Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous’
Read Psalms 33:1-22
We have a very gracious God indeed. He makes delight a duty. He commands us to do that which is most pleasant. God commands his people to rejoice. Have you not read that commandment in the Scriptures? ‘Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Again we are exhorted: ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice’ (Philippians 4:4). If you are a child of God, you should be a person full of joy. You are chosen of God, redeemed by blood and regenerated by grace. Why shouldn’t you rejoice? Is it possible for a man to know the love and grace of God and not rejoice? I do not suggest that you be light-hearted to the point of being frivolous. We must take life, and our responsibilities in it, seriously. I do not suggest that you should rejoice in your heartaches and sorrows. But I do say that men and women of faith can and should rejoice, even in the midst of their sorrows. I cannot rejoice in pain, but I can rejoice in my God, who sends me the pain. I am addressing you who are the people of God. Do you want a reason to rejoice?
Child of God, rejoice because your greatest trouble is past. Your sin and guilt are gone. Why shouldn’t you rejoice? God took your sin and put it on his own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ took your sin and washed it away in his own precious blood. Oh, if you ever get hold of this, you will rejoice - God has put away your sin! God no longer charges you with sin. ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us’ (Psalms 103:12). Our God declares, ‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins ... I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins ... for I have redeemed thee’ (Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin’ (Romans 4:8). I can and will rejoice in my God, for he has put away my sin!
