Monday, January 20, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Romans 4-5
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 9
Key Verse
Romans 4:24 — “But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;”
Devotional Thought
Paul turns to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, to make his case that righteousness comes by faith and not by works. Abraham was not justified because he performed the right rituals or kept the law—he lived centuries before the law was given. Rather, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Paul then reaches forward to David, who likewise described the blessedness of the one whose sins are forgiven and covered, whose iniquity the Lord will not impute. The argument is sweeping: from Abraham to David to us, God has always justified sinners by faith, not by merit. Circumcision came as a seal, not a source, of the righteousness Abraham already possessed by believing.
In chapter five, Paul traces the great exchange: Adam’s one act of disobedience brought sin and death to all, but Christ’s one act of obedience brings justification and life to many. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” This is not a close contest. Grace does not merely match sin; it overflows. And the fruit of this justification is peace with God, access into grace, and a hope that does not disappoint—a hope so sturdy that it can even glory in tribulations, because tribulation produces patience, patience produces experience, and experience produces hope.
On this January day, when the year still feels new and resolutions may already be wearing thin, Paul’s words land with peculiar tenderness. We are tempted to measure our standing with God by our performance—by how well we have prayed, how faithfully we have read, how consistently we have resisted temptation. But Abraham was not counted righteous because he was strong; he was counted righteous because he believed the promise of a God “who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” He was nearly a hundred years old, and Sarah’s womb was dead. Yet he staggered not at the promise through unbelief.
Psalm 9 echoes this confidence. David praises the Lord who maintains his right and his cause, who is a refuge for the oppressed, who does not forget the cry of the humble. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead for our justification is the God who lifts us up from the gates of death. If God has already given His Son while we were yet sinners, what will He withhold now that we are reconciled? The promise is sure—not because we are steady, but because He is faithful.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you subtly treating God’s favor as a wage to be earned rather than a gift to be received—and what would change if you truly believed it was by faith?
- Abraham “considered not his own body now dead” but was “fully persuaded” that God could perform what He promised. What dead circumstance in your life needs that same persuasion today?
Prayer
Lord God of Abraham, David, and all who trust in Thee, we confess that we have too often sought to stand before Thee on the strength of our own works. Forgive us, and teach us to rest in the righteousness that is by faith. Thou who didst quicken the dead and call things that are not as though they were, quicken our weak faith this day. Thank You that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Grant us peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and let our hope overflow in praise, even in tribulation. In His name we pray. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 9:1 — “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”