A Fool Denies, The Righteous Believes
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Acts 9:32-43 and Psalm 14:1-7 (NIV)
(Hoo Feng Wen from Small Group Ministry)
READ:
For this devotion, I have chosen to reflect on Acts 9:32-43 and Psalm 14:1-7 (ESV).
OBSERVE:
The Psalm began with, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’, there is none who does good.” David describes these characteristics about his enemies, “the evildoers who eat up my people”. They are fools who denied and rejected God, and therefore corrupted and people of destruction v1-4. Despite the harm from his enemies, David demonstrates his faith in God to be his refuge and salvation in v5-7. With that, the Psalm ends in a joyful tone.
I believe the faith that David had in God in Psalm 14 is the same as the faith Peter had in Christ in Acts 9:32-43. Peter healed Aeneas from paralysis v32-35, and raised Tabitha from the dead v36-43 in the name of Jesus Christ. I am immediately reminded of Mark 9:14-29 where the disciples were unable to heal a boy with an unclean spirit due to their lack of faith. At this point of Acts 9, Peter has witnessed for himself the death and resurrection of Christ, his disbelief was removed, and his faith enabled him to heal and even raise the dead.
APPLY:
Today’s passages are God’s prompting to me to rest my faith in Him. In a lot of my day-to-day tasks and challenges, I have been over-fixated on what I can do to solve my issues. I have been over reliant on my abilities, forgetting that I believe in a God whose abilities are beyond what I can imagine. It is as if David is reminding me that I have been a fool to rely on myself more than God.
DO:
In the things that I do, I want to have a transformed heart and attitude to entrust the outcomes into God’s hands, commit them in prayer before embarking on my tasks. From there, my successes will no longer be about elevating myself but glorifying God’s name.
PRAY:
Dear God, You are the creator of this world, my salvation and joy. You are more amazing than what I can imagine, please forgive me for the times that I have put You aside and depended on myself instead of You. I thank You for Your guidance to show me how to submit and place my faith in You. Please continue to guard my heart in this manner to worship and love You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
