November 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 42:

¹As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
²My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
³My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
⁴When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
⁵Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
⁶O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
⁷Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
⁸Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
⁹I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
¹¹Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Devotional

Sunday is a day when many seek their own pleasure. All sorts of pleasure-giving events and activities are being scheduled on the day appointed by God for rest and worship. Many of these functions would be quite legitimate on other days of the week, but they have no place on the holy day of the. Lord. Those who violate the sabbath day by doing their own pleasure may think that they are having a good time; but how inferior their pleasure is to the delight and joy that God gives to those who obey the fourth commandment.

The fourth commandment is not to be considered merely as negative. It does not simply forbid our doing certain things. It would also have us actually delight in God's holy day and take real pleasure in the opportunities for worship, devotion, and service that this best day of the week provides.

If we belong to the Lord our God, and If we seek our joy in the things that please Him, and if as the hart panteth after the water brooks our soul longs after God, then the Lord's Day will be to us a delight, holy to the Lord, and honorable—a day when we shall truly delight ourselves in the Lord.

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For January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, we are planning to post Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a full-year daily devotional, with each month devoted to a particular theme (January—Your Kingdom Come, February—Living with God, March—Sharing the Suffering of Christ, etc.).

So that we can begin the Kuyvenhoven postings on January 1, we are re-posting until then devotional selections from Think on These Things, a daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)