Inspired by Psalms

Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise His holy name.
Praise my God, whose promises are sure. Indeed Christ will surely come.
He will fully reveal His glory. He will bring upon perfect justice. He will show unfathomable grace.
Love will overflow.
He brings glory. He upholds justice. He shows grace. His love overflows.
Praise to my Father who gives the best gifts.
He has already made in us everything we are ever meant to be.
In time, he will reveal us to ourselves, like a child unwrapping her presents.
I'll leave you to do the surprising. You are best at it.

ESV Study Bible

I received an ESV Study Bible this year as a graduation gift from a close family friend. So far, I've been putting it to good use by utilizing the commentaries, the online features, and following their Bible reading plan. I especially enjoy the "Listen" feature, where a man reads the passages aloud. Listening to his voice is so much more interesting that listening to my own. Plus, he can actually pronounce the names correctly!

Today's readings on Genesis 3, Psalm 2, and Luke 1:57-80 gave me another picture of God's faithfulness throughout history. In Genesis, he promised that he would send someone to take down Satan (3:15) despite the fall of humanity and the punishments for their sins. In Psalm 2, the king, in which God has appointed over Israel, affirms the degree or covenant God made with David and Zachariah's hymn in Luke's passage is a praise to God for bringing the fulfillment of his promises through the coming of the Savior, Christ.

Other interesting topics include the various responses the characters have toward God and even people's response to sin. I will reflect more on these issues to understand how I ought to rightfully respond to God's promises by following the "way of the righteous" through faithful obedience.

Zechariah's Prophecy (Luke 1:67-79)68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 

67 And his father Zechariah ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and fprophesied, saying,

g“Blessed be the Lord hGod of Israel,

for he has ivisited and jredeemed his people

and khas raised up la horn of salvation for us

min the house of his servant David,

nas ohe spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

pthat we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

qto show the mercy promised to our fathers

and rto remember his holy scovenant,

tthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him uwithout fear,

vin holiness and righteousness before him wall our days.

And you, child, will be called xthe prophet of ythe Most High;

for zyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

ain the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the btender mercy of our God,

whereby cthe sunrise shall dvisit us1 efrom on high

to fgive light to gthose who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into hthe way of ipeace.”