February 15 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 24:

¹The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
²For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
³Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
⁵He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
⁷Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
⁸Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
⁹Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
¹⁰Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

Devotional

Pharaoh opposed the will of the Lord, and the divine judgment fell on him and his land. Evidence after evidence was supplied to him that the earth is the Lord's. After the plague of hail had come, for example, Moses said to him: "I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's." But when the rain, the hail, and the thunders ceased, Pharaoh sinned yet more; he hardened his heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go (Exodus 9:34,35).

The judgment that fell on Pharaoh and the Egyptians should warn all men and nations today. All should humbly acknowledge that the earth does not belong to them. All should confess that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). All the inhabitants of the world should stand in awe of Him, and all should acknowledge His universal dominion.

Men and nations invite ruin when they act as if they were independent of the Lord: as if He did not exist; as if the world and its fulness could endure or be understood apart from Him; as if His law could be safely ignored or defied. On national holidays and always let us be mindful of this danger and let us call the nations of the world to confess that the earth is the Lord's.

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.)