His Forgiveness, Our Service
Psalm 130
Verse 4 But with You there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve You.
We have talked about crying out to Him from the depths, to call to Him for mercy and to see our true need of Him due to our sinfulness but what is the next step?
We mentioned yesterday that when Isaiah had his vision, he saw his sinfulness and responded with surrendering to God and His mission. The psalmist points out in our verse for the day that he understood this too. He also understood that it wasn’t just a blind surrender as he says it is with reverence that he will serve God.
This serving God isn’t a matter of earning His favor nor a way to earn our salvation. This is a matter of knowing His will and wanting to do it. When we see the greatness that is our God, we won’t be able to keep from doing what we know He wants us to do. We will want to do whatever He desires because we are so humbled by who He is.
One of the main things we find in the Lord is His forgiveness. There is no forgiveness like His because there is no forgiveness more needed. His forgiveness isn’t randomly handed out, neither is it to be treated like we are entitled to it. His purpose for this forgiveness is to spur us on to service.
The work that we do in response of His forgiveness is the service of a person that reveres God. We know we don’t deserve His forgiveness. We have chosen things in life that break fellowship with Him and yet He chooses to forgive us. Why don’t we take that more seriously? Why do we act as if we are entitled to His mercy? Because we don’t revere Him as we should.
When we are missing that deep respect for God we miss that He doesn’t owe us anything. Without Christ and His blood we have no worth. But God called us His own because He wanted to. This should drive us to such deep awe for God that we can’t help but want to serve Him in any way He asks.
Making It Personal
What level of reverence do you hold for the Lord? What has that reverence led you to do for Him? What do you know He wants you to do that you haven’t done yet?
Making It Personal Kids
What does it mean to have reverence for Jesus? Does seeing how much Jesus deserves all your respect cause you to want to serve Him? How does Jesus want you to serve Him today?
Closing Prayer
Father, Your forgiveness is underserved and yet You give it freely to Your children. This forgiveness means You deserve reverence and we confess that You don’t always get that from us. Please help us learn the truth of all You are and what You have done for us so that we will see that You have ways for us to serve You. In Jesus’ name, amen.