July 18

1 Chronicles 26:12-27:34, Romans 4:13-5:5, Psalm 14:1-7, Proverbs 19:17 



Pray: The contrast is between the generation of the wicked and the generation of the righteous. The latter group is expressed in our Psalm today of those who seek the Lord and pray for His will to be done. For the former, God is not in their hearts and they have no desire or inclination to pray.

Read: As we read yesterday, each of us have a calling as a part of the body. This is God’s design for building His church and we must give God our best. David himself was a musician, David was probably especially concerned that the music in the temple be the finest available and God gave him skilled musicians. Let us praise Him today with the gift He has given us.

Edify: It is greatly encouraging that Paul reminds us that the result of our being justified by faith is that we have peace with God through Jesus. But then Paul takes it a step further and reminds us that even our tribulations become steps on our journey of faith to become more like Jesus so we ought to rejoice in those too! Much like it says in James “consider it a pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” It is most often the difficult things of life that draw us ever closer to God. Let us thank God in the valley as well as the hilltop because He is ever at work to draw us closer to Him no matter what the circumstance.

Practice: It is better to be rich in character and poor in wealth, especially when that wealth is earned by deception. Today’s proverb reminds us how important it is that we are careful how we treat the poor because God is concerned about them.