READING:
One-year plan: Ezra 2-5, Acts 10:17-48
Two-year plan: Joshua 8:30-9:27, Luke 7:18-30
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I’m excited about today’s reading, perhaps even more than usual because I just love to praise the Lord. Here is the way the writer described the reaction of the people when they had laid the foundation for re-building the temple in the days of Zerubbabel:
10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed.11They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: “For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid. (Ezra 3:10-11)
The older leaders actually wept because the restored Temple was not as elaborate as the first Temple, but these praises still rang out, too. I can just hear the people singing out the words of the familiar refrain for the Hebrews, “He is good; his love endures forever.” Indeed, I’m certain I’ll be singing these same words in this contemporary praise chorus throughout this day—and that’s a good way to get through the day!
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you living in the light of God’s enduring love today?
DAILY PRAYER: “Thank You, God, for being good – and for loving me forever.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Ezra 6-8, Acts 11
Two-year plan: Joshua 10, Luke 7:31-50