Today's Reading August 20

This morning we look to Psalms 116, 117, and 118. All of these are good, I'm partial to 116 but that is a matter of personal taste. Yet the 117th Psalm is pretty familiar too. Growing up in that little country church, we were expected to memorize Scripture. We didn't appreciate it at the time, now I'm grateful for it. And, being kids, we naturally looked for the least effort. Many of us know well the shortest verse in all the Bible, ''Jesus wept''. But that got us only a short reprieve. So some of us looked to very short chapters. Psalm 117 is one of those. But good.

Chapter 117
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
Rom 15:11
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.

Just two verses, but that was all the Psalmist needed to say that day.

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This evening's New Testament passage is 1st Corinthians chapter 2.
This is a short little section, only 16 verses long, yet there is much in it. I want to draw attention in particular to two verses in it.

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Isa 64:4

The Lord of the universe has, long before we were born, made provisions for those who are His own. We are not an afterthought to Him, and what He has in store for us is far greater than we can imagine. He's quite creative you know.
And there is this,

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Isa 40:14

Indeed we do. The term Christian means ''little Christ''. And I understand that to mean, among other things, that anyone wanting to know something of nature of Christ ought to be able to look at a Christian and learn something of His nature. Most of us have a ways to go on that, but it is nonetheless true. There is, within us, a piece of Him, a seed if you like, that needs to grow.