Week Nineteen of Cultivate Delight, where we are actively planning our spiritual endeavors this coming week with the goal of a consistent time spent engaging our hearts with Christ in his word, in prayer, in reflection, and in music. Below are some starting points for reflection, and I hope you find them helpful. The goal is to not just rush through these and then get on with your day. Take your time and reflect throughout the week on these items.
“The wisdom of God devised a way for the love of God to deliver sinners from the wrath of God while not compromising the righteousness of God.”
― John Piper, quote from Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
Bible Reading
Deuteronomy 10-18
Old Testament
(Two-year plan)
Acts 2-6
New Testament
(One-year plan)
Liturgy – New City Catechism
Question 19: Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer.
Isaiah 53:10–11
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Prayer
My great Redeemer. The One who is full of mercy and grace in abundance. My sin is great. Greater still than I can even think or imagine. The weight of my sin is far too great for me to bear and deeper still than I have the capacity to understand. But God… In Your tender kindness You have opened the gates of your rich mercies that are ever increasing. As vast and limiteless as the universe iteself, your mercy far exceeds my sin. The oceans of your mercy have swallowed up my sin and your mercies have only increased in measure. My Redeemer lives. He came and lived a perfect holy life. Jesus my perfect sacrifice. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for redeeming me. Thank you for pursuing me. Thank you for your perfect steadfast patient love for this child who is so underserving. Praise the Lord who saves sinners and makes them children of God!
Worship
The Glory of the Cross
VERSE 1
What wisdom once devised the plan
Where all our sin and pride
Was placed upon the perfect Lamb
Who suffered, bled, and died?
The wisdom of a Sovereign God
Whose greatness will be shown
When those who crucified Your Son
Rejoice around Your throne
CHORUS
And, oh, the glory of the cross
That You would send Your Son for us
I gladly count my life as loss
That I might come to know
The glory of, the glory of the cross
VERSE 2
What righteousness was there revealed
That sets the guilty free
That justifies ungodly men
And calls the filthy clean?
A righteousness that proved to all
Your justice has been met
And holy wrath is satisfied
Through one atoning death
VERSE 3
What mercy now has been proclaimed
For those who would believe?
A love incomprehensible
Our minds could not conceive
A mercy that forgives my sin
Then makes me like Your Son
And now I’m loved forevermore
Because of what You’ve done