You lookin at me?

Our Daily Bread
Have you ever seen a horse race?  Many folks don't notice the fact that the horses wear "blinkers" to keep them from seeing all the things around them.  They can only see what is ahead of them.  They don't need to know what the horses around them are doing. That is the jockey's job!

I confess that the devotional hit me hard today.  God has been dealing with me about looking too much at other people and judging them.  Maybe not judging in the harshest form of the word, but in a "I am rationalizing my behavior" helpful kind of way!  NOT!  I swear that I need blinkers sometimes to keep me focused ahead on the direction that God has for me!

How about you?

Lord, thank you for giving us purpose and direction.  Please help us stay focused on you!

Psalm Sunday
The psalm for this week, Psalm 82, is odd to me.  It is only eight verses, but talks about "other gods" and how our great God will render judgment towards them.  There is disagreement among Biblical scholars about "other gods" in Biblical history.  This phrase could just mean the the false gods like Baal or the fertility gods or could refer to the gods worshiped regionally.  There are also some theories about the gods in mythology.  An way you look at it, our God reigns!


Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

1 God presides in the great assembly;
    he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
    and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
    uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
    They walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
    you are all sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
    you will fall like every other ruler.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
    for all the nations are your inheritance.


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Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40