Weekly Devotional 11th of July 2025
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 11th of July, 2025
We will continue our series on hearing God through the Psalms by examining Psalm 145, a Psalm of David.
Psalm 145:8-11 – “The LORD is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and great in lovingkindness. 9 The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. 10 All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, And Your godly ones shall bless You. 11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power;”
This is the way He chose to reveal Himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6), and the same terms are used several times in the O.T. to provide insight into His nature and character (Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; Psalm 103; Joel 2:13, etc).
God is gracious and treats all His people with kindness, compassion, and mercy. All His actions toward us manifest His grace or free favour. How blessed we are to discover that there is nothing malicious, vengeful, unfaithful, or vindictive about Him. He is slow to anger and possesses deep compassion for human suffering. His natural response to humanity is a loving compassion that embraces every sinner with the best for their help and comfort. Spurgeon gives us much to consider when he writes,
Kindness is a law of God’s universe: the world was planned for happiness; even now that sin has so sadly marred God’s handiwork, and introduced elements which were not from the beginning, the Lord has so arranged matters that the fall is broken, the curse is met by an antidote, and the inevitable pain is softened with mitigations. Even in this sin stricken world, under its disordered economy, there are abundant traces of a hand skilful to soothe distress and heal disease. That which makes life bearable is the tenderness of the great Father.
Although wrath is part of His nature and should not be provoked, it is reserved only for those who turn their backs on His great mercy. All His works praise Him and bear witness to His loving embrace, which excludes no one who does not exclude themselves.
They also testify to the glorious majesty of His Kingdom, which is a Kingdom for all ages, periods, and generations. Ultimately, all things in heaven and on earth shall be gathered together in the all-embracing Kingdom of God in Christ.
Here is something to consider. God’s works can testify to His glory and greatness; however, they cannot offer an anthem of praise. They do not raise holy hands, joyful hearts, or proclamations of His greatness. Only His faithful servant followers—actually, His true sons and daughters—can do that. It is our greatest pleasure to proclaim His greatness and to speak of the glory of His Kingdom in its justice, kindness, and mercy, and the fact that it will be established for eternity. We can tell of its riches—its coming victory, liberty, and majesty from which He will reign along with His saints for eternity.
As Spurgeon says, it is only we who can talk of God’s power to create or to destroy, to bless or to punish, to strengthen or to crush. All power comes from God. Apart from Him, the laws of nature would be inoperative. His power is the one source of force—mechanical, vital, mental, and spiritual. Beyond the power of God that has been put forth, infinite force lies latent in Himself.
His Kingdom cannot fail. We need to train ourselves to think more deeply and speak more broadly about how the power of God, which always makes for righteousness and works for mercy, is available to us today. We can only embrace it in Christ, but when we do, the Holy Spirit is living within us and seeking every opportunity to work through us.
Paul teaches that the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20). Is that power flowing in your life today? If not, why not?
May God bless you.
Bruce Billington