Cornerstone URC

THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD

THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD

September 13, 2015

Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me
A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
[1] Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry come to you!
[2] Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!
[3] For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
[4] My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
[5] Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.
[6] I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
[7] I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
[8] All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
[9] For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
[10] because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
[11] My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
[12] But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
[13] You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
[14] For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.
[15] Nations will fear the name of the LORD,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
[16] For the LORD builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;
[17] he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.
[18] Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
[19] that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
[20] to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
[21] that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
[22] when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
[23] He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
[24] “O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”
[25] Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
[26] They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
[27] but you are the same, and your years have no end.
[28] The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you. (ESV)

Malachi 3:6–12

Robbing God

[6] “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. [7] From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ [8] Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. [9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. [10] Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. [11] I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. [12] Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)

SHARE ON
Buffer LinkedIn Pin It