January 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 126:

¹When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
²Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
³The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
⁴Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
⁵They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
⁶He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Devotional

The Lord had granted Israel release from captivity. In their joy at God's great deliverance, their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing. In exultation they cried: "The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad."

The joyous cry of the people of God upon their release from the Babylonian captivity is appropriate also on the lips of God's people today. We may not have been subjected to an earthly Babylon as they were, but we, too, have known the joy of a great deliverance. We should daily rejoice that our Lord has saved us from our sins, that we have been delivered from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Though our sins were as scarlet He has made them white as snow; though they were red like crimson He has made them as wool. We have had our particular sorrows; for some of us there have been difficult times from which we have prayed fervently for deliverance. This very week some of us may have had to face trials that seemed overwhelming. But how often and how marvelously has our loving and mighty God delivered us! Every day let us praise our God; let His praise continually be in our mouth; for He has done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week 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.)