“He sends his command to the earth, his word runs swiftly. 

He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 

He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 

He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 

He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 

He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. “

Psalm 147:15-20

–

AUGUST 15, 2025

Our sovereign God is in control of His universe. There is nothing that escapes His notice or can resist His authority. Even the forces of nature are subject to Him. This truth is beyond our understanding. When a flash flood sweeps through a camp taking the lives of young girls and staff, we cry out “How could this happen in the providence of a good God?”  

But within this mystery is a good God who is worthy to be worshipped.  

In His sovereignty God, selected a nation through which He would bless all the peoples of the earth. God revealed Himself to Israel like no other people. He did not choose the nation of Israel because its people were more righteous than other nations. The story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is to some extent a tale of lying, familial dysfunction, jealousy, scheming, anger, and violence. Yet God took these men and their families to form a nation who would know Him. No other nation enjoyed this unique relationship with God. 

The people of Israel struggled to uphold this relationship with many lapses and defeats. But their failures did not negate God’s unique revelation of Himself to them. In fact, God never gave up on His people. At a point in history when everything seemed to be going wrong for Israel as a nation, God fulfilled His promise to Israel through the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

And through Jesus, all of creation is invited into God’s family.  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • How does the story of the nation of Israel reveal the faithfulness of God?  
  • What personal encouragement do you find in God’s dealings with Israel?  
  • How did God’s relationship to Israel provide the opportunity for all nations to come to the living God? 

 Church Reading Plan:

  • Today. August 15: 1 Samuel 5-6; Romans 5 
  • Saturday, August 16: 1 Samuel 7-8; Romans 6 
  • Sunday, August 17: 1 Samuel 9; Romans 7