Thurs.’s Devo - We Are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus

Read: 1 Chronicles 19:1-21:30; Romans 2:25-3:8; Psalm 11:1-7 Proverbs 19:10-12 King Nahash of Ammon died. He had been a friend of David’s so David sent some men to pay respects to Nahash’s son, Hanun. When they arrived in Ammon, their commanders convinced Hanun that they were there to spy out the land. Hanun seized the ambassadors of David and shaved them, cut off their robes at their buttocks and sent them back to David. The men were so shamed because of their hair that David had them stay in Jericho until their hair could grow. This meant war! The Ammonites realized how much this offended Israel so they hired the Arameans to fight with them against Israel. Israel easily won the first attack so the Arameans sent for additional troops. They attacked again and Israel won making them slaves. After that, they were no longer willing to help the Ammonites. In the spring when kings went out to war, David decided to stay home. Joab went to war in his place and took the city of Rabbah which was the capital of Ammon. Joab had David come and take the crown of the king so he would get the victory and not Joab. David returned home but his army went on to fight the Philistines and kill a few giants. Satan rose up against Israel and put in David’s mind to count the people. This would bring a curse on Israel and Joab knew it. He tried to convince David not to do it but was unsuccessful. Joab didn’t complete the census because it distressed him so much. He left out Benjamin and Levi. The rest of the tribes were cursed. The law said that if you are counted you must give a price for your soul. David didn’t require this so they started dropping like flies as God sent his death angel with a plague like his law stated. Seventy thousand were killed in the plague. When the death angel was approaching Jerusalem, God stopped it by the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. David saw the angel and fell on his face to the ground asking for mercy. God stopped the plague and sent Gad to tell David to build an altar to the Lord on that threshing floor. David insisted on paying Araunah for his land and built the altar and offered burnt offerings to the Lord. God told the angel to put away his sword and the people were saved. In Romans, Paul was answering their questions about salvation. Salvation was not a Jewish birthright anymore assured by circumcision. It was a change of heart produced by the Spirit. It was available to the Jew and the Gentile. The advantage of being a Jew as that they were the people who God spoke to audibly his laws. The Jews had argued that their sins were a contrast to show God’s righteousness but Paul told them they were thinking carnally. Our sin does not show the glory of God, his righteousness in us does. Lord, may we not look for excuses but repent of our sins and trust the Spirit of God to give us grace to walk righteously. Jesus was our example who was sinless as a man. He did it with the power of the Spirit of God to show us that when we become believers, we can too.