July 19

1 Chronicles 28:1-29:30, Romans 5:6-21, Psalm 15:1-5, Proverbs 19:18-19



Pray: David pours out his heart in today’s Psalm about who it is that truly fellowships with the Lord. He prays “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.” May this be our prayer today Lord to walk blamelessly and speak truth so that we may truly find intimacy with You.

Read: In our reading in Chronicles today there seems to be a theme of “the heart” that develops as you read of David. First, there is the disappointed heart that hears that because of his great bloodshed David will not be able to build the temple himself. Then we read of Solomon and his loyal heart and willingness to follow through with his father’s preparations and God’s plan for the building of the temple. Lastly, we see the devoted heart as it says in verses 17 and 18 “Fix their heart toward You” in other words, give us a devoted heart to seek after You. Unfortunately, Solomon himself did not keep a devoted heart to the Lord and turned away. This shows us that anyone can be susceptible to this so we must heed His word.

Edify: There is a beautiful truth revealed in our reading in Romans this morning. Jesus died while we were still sinners. This is our hope in the gospel knowing that we don’t have to clean ourselves up and look a certain way when we first come to Christ. We simply come “just as we are” because Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. Our sin debt and God’s wrath were placed on the sinless Jesus. 

Practice: There is a somewhat comical proverb today especially if you have a young son as it reads, “Discipline your son, for there is hope, do not set your heart on putting him to death.” We may not think of putting our kids to death but we do get some practical advice to continue in disciplining our children knowing there is a fruitful outcome.