Blessed Are The Redeemed
Blessed Are The Redeemed
Early one morning, I noticed a repetition of the word anger. “Anger?” I thought. “But I’ve been feeling down (sad) lately, not angry… have I been angry?”
Later that morning, I finally opened my Bible for daily reading. Many times, we don’t like to do the right things with the wrong heart; I’d thought it would be wrong to read just so I could feel better, but I realized I was grieving Holy Spirit and my heart would not grow stronger without God. So, I repented and prayed to know Him, then opened my Bible to read Romans chapter 4. However, out of those 25 verses, I would only get through eight.
Try them out yourself:
Romans 4 NKJV
Abraham Justified by Faith
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
I read through this and felt Father telling me to put down my works and pick up His faith. Those works needing to be put down were like traces of religiousness which were buried and covered with dirt, so they’d almost be unrecognizable.
What do I mean by religiousness? I mean the conscious and unconscious belief that we can appease to God (or satisfy Him) by doing good. The truth is that, on our own, we will never be able to reach a standard of holiness that will make us worthy of His Kingdom. The truth is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Before, we could not atone for our own sin except to follow the law in its entirety and make sacrifices, so the new covenant was established so that we may be justified by the Justifier, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ! Read Romans 3:21-26 and Hebrews 10:4 & 9-10.
When I began to continue onto verse 9 of Romans 4, I felt a strong tugging backward. Read it again, He said. And to understand His tone, I would add “cuz I don’t think you got it the first time.” (awkward nervous chuckling…)
Let’s read it again, starting from where I was directed back to:
Verse 5: But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
~ “Accounted for” can also be read as “credited as, supposed for.” As a metaphor, it can be read as “his faith IS his righteousness.” So, righteousness is found because of the faith we hold onto, which is given by He who justifies the ungodly; us being the ungodly. This replaces work.
Verse 6: just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
Verse 7: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
~ Whose forgiveness will allow lawless people to be blessed? The Lord’s. What could properly cover their sins? Jesus’ blood.* How does one become forgiven, then? And how can they get their sins covered? By belief of what He’s done for you: lived as a servant, died as a sacrifice, and was raised from the dead by the Father, purchasing your everlasting life by the shedding of His blood, becoming the ultimate sacrificial Lamb and the Chief Cornerstone of the Church. You choose to love Him every day, keeping His commandments with the Holy Spirit who was given to us.**
That is how your sin will be covered. The answer lies not within man, but in God alone.
Verse 8: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
~ Blessed is the man that believes on Him. Blessed are they that live by the law of faith. Blessed are those who draw near to the Almighty God, becoming His child, His servant, His student, His all He wills you to become. Not the man who made himself into perfection. Nor they that make themselves defenders of rules. Nor those that let themselves fall into deep despair over [insert mistakes which God, in His power, can easily take care of–or redeem–here]. Blessed is he that the Lord redeems. Read Isaiah 44:21-23.
Now, in my mind I saw a toddler sitting on a step with knotted, improperly tied shoes. “I CAN’T DO IT! WHY CAN’T I DO IT?” Their tiny, strong voice echoed, and with fists, they shoved away their tears. Bigger, wiser hands came down, comforting the young one. They un-knotted and re-tied the shoes the right way. I felt akin to the toddler as Holy Spirit said You get so frustrated when you don’t understand something. When you don’t know how to do something, I will take care of it. You only have need to keep watching and learning.
There is a time for everything. Do we have a need to hold onto frustration through every experience that could help us learn? All the tears, all the anger—it can just get in the way of our watching Him, and it can cloud our ability to do what is necessary. Turning quickly to anger is a sign of folly, and fools despise wisdom. By turning quickly to anger, we are not respecting the Lord nor His wisdom. Read Ecclesiastes 7:9, Proverbs 1:7 & 12:15.
The toddler’s misshapen shoelaces were redeemed by the work of the wiser. We can trust that even when we make mistakes, God sees our eagerness to learn and not only corrects us in love but rewards us for seeking Him. Read Hebrews 12:6 & 11:6. Let go of anger, hold fast to what is true and be sanctified by the truth—the Word. If you are eager to learn, then go to the One or ones that can teach you—don’t fall into frustration from your mess-ups.
The Lord made sure to remind me of something else.
We forgive. (“We” includes me and you, too.)
You must not forget that I love you. You will not be orphaned. You were never left behind. In this way, He spoke directly to my fears, and silenced my doubting.
As some of us have heard more times than we can count, the learning is in the journey. Along with learning, comes mercy. (Mercy is holding back punishment that is rightly deserved.) So, as He commanded me, God is commanding us to stop being mean or harsh to ourselves, especially as He teaches us. Is there something you have not forgiven yourself for? Please, forgive yourself for it all and instead trust that God can redeem all things. He will redeem you as He redeemed Israel.
I pray the knowledge you can glean from this devotional will be something that Holy Spirit brings to your memory for meditation and for when you need it.Think back to what you’ve read and consider what your key takeaways are. Ask Holy Spirit to highlight important things to you. Share your takeaways with someone you love!
Peace be with you.
(PS. Please do not skip over this portion! All God’s Word is useful for instruction. Get equipped! Take up your sword! Read 2 Tim 3:16-17)
*To cover is to atone, to reconcile. Atonement in the Kingdom of God was the sacrifice of an animal to take the place of the sinner; the animal took a person’s punishment for sin. The Day of Atonement is taught about in Leviticus 16.
**Christ becoming a servant in Philippians 2:6-8 ; Jesus’ death & resurrection in Hebrews 10:10, Mark 8:31 & Romans 10:9 ; Redemption by Jesus’ blood in 1 Peter 1:18-19 AMP ; The Lamb of God in John 1:29 ; the Chief Cornerstone in Ephesians 2:20 ; Keeping commandments and Holy Spirit, the Helper in John 14:15-18