Read Psalm 105:12-15. 12When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, 13wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, 14he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, 15saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!”
Here the psalmist recalls the early days of Israel under the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is clear that it was the protection of God alone that kept the fledgling nation alive. Abraham himself twice deceived a neighboring king and was not only left unharmed but walked out of Egypt a wealthy man. This was a family of liars (Isaac and Abimelech) and killers (Jacob and the Shechemites) that God let get away unscathed.
We too survive our sin only by God’s amazing grace. Not that God has turned a blind eye to our sin, like some sort of doting grandparent. No. Rather, in Christ, God has dealt with our sin at great cost to himself. The cross of Christ allowed God’s grace to flow freely to the patriarchs back then just as it does to us today.
The psalmist is reminding us not of the patriarch’s great moral examples that we must follow (far from it), but of the great grace of God that we must trust by faith. Faith alone in grace alone is what to live is Christ requires. The morality will follow faith, in this life and definitely in the next. Until then let Christ be your Savior first and the only example you need second.
You: To what degree are you relying on God’s grace alone in your daily life?
You in Christ: Why does union with Christ mean trusting Christ as Savior before following him as example?
Christ in you: Where do you actively need to trust the grace of God today?
Pray: Jesus, you are my great example that I can follow only because first you are my great grace giving savior. I stand on your grace today, guide me deeper into it as I learn to trust in you more and more. Amen.
To Live is Christ 