Daily Lesson for Sunday 11th of February 2024

Psalms 136:1-26 summons God’s people to praise the Lord for His mercy as revealed in creation (Psalms 136:4-9) and in Israel’s history (Psalms 136:10-22). “Mercy” (Hebrew khesed, “steadfast love”) conveys God’s goodness and loyalty to His creation and to His covenant with Israel. The psalm shows that God’s immense power and magnificence are grounded in His steadfast love.

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The Lord is “the God of gods” and “the Lord of lords,” which is a Hebrew idiom that means “the greatest God” (Psalms 136:1-3), not that there are other gods but that He is the only God.

The Lord’s great wonders, which cannot be replicated by anyone else, are the undeniable demonstration of His dominion (Psalms 136:4). God created the heavens, the earth, and the heavenly bodies, which are worshiped by the pagans (Deuteronomy 4:19). The Psalms, however, strip the pagan gods, and by extent every human-based source of confidence, of their authority. They are mere products of the creation. They are merely created things—not the Creator, a crucial distinction.

The image of the Lord’s strong hand and outstretched arm (Psalms 136:12) stresses the efficacy of God’s power and the far-reaching domain of His mercy.

God’s mercy in creation and history should inspire His people to trust in Him and to remain faithful to His covenant. The refrain “For His mercy endures forever” is repeated 26 times in Psalms 136:1-26, thus reassuring the worshipers that the Lord does not change and will repeat His past favors to each new generation. God remembers His people (Psalms 136:23) and is faithful to His covenant of grace. The belief in the Lord’s enduring mercy is at the core of biblical faith, which includes joyous worship and confidence, as well as reticence and repentance.

Psalms 136:1-26 closes with God’s universal care of the world (Psalms 136:23–25). God’s mercy is extended not only to Israel but to all creation. The psalm thus speaks of the universality of God’s saving grace and exhorts the whole world to join Israel’s praise of the Lord (see also Luke 2:10, John 3:16, and Acts 15:17).

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Daily Lesson for Saturday 10th of February 2024

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Read for This Week’s Study

Psalms 136:1-26, Psalms 51:1-19, Psalms 130:1-8, Psalms 113:1-9, Psalms 123:1-4.

Memory Text:

“I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds” (Psalms 57:9-10, NKJV).

The psalmists realize that they are spiritually poor and have nothing good to offer to God; that is, they have nothing in and of themselves that would recommend them before God’s holy throne (Psalms 40:17). They understand that they, as do all of us, need grace, God’s grace.

In short, they need the gospel.

The Psalms stress the fact that people are fully dependent on God’s mercy. Fortunately, God’s mercy is everlasting, as evidenced in both God’s creation and the history of God’s people (Psalms 136:1-26). Before the everlasting God, human life is as transient as grass, but God pities humans and renews their strength (Psalms 103:3,5,15), and in Him they have the promise of eternity.

God’s people take comfort in the fact that the Lord is faithful to His covenant. The people’s appeals, no matter how pressing at times, are often filled with hope because they are directed to their compassionate heavenly Father (Psalms 103:13, Psalms 68:5, Psalms 89:26). Fresh experiences of God’s grace and love strengthen their resolve to worship and serve God and no one or nothing else.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 17.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-07-your-mercy-reaches-unto-the-heavens/

The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week:

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-february-10/

Inside Story for Friday 9th of February 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Seventeen-year-old Sekule wanted to know truth as a high school student in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so, he started to visit various houses of worship. But he didn’t find satisfactory answers to his questions about why a God of love would burn someone in hell for eternity. So, Sekule resolved to find the truth on his own by reading the New Testament.

When he returned to his home village in Montenegro that summer, he read one Bible book a day. On the first day, he read the 28 chapters of Matthew. The next day, he read Mark. Then he read Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. He read only one book a day, even when he came to such smaller epistles as Titus and Philemon.

Some answers to his questions about God emerged in his reading of the New Testament. But he longed for more information. He visited several more houses of worship. But he didn’t visit a Seventh-day Adventist church. He had heard that Adventists celebrated “Sweet Sabbaths” every week, a time when they engaged in sexual relations with each other. He thought, They’re crazy. They cannot have the truth.

Failing to find answers in the many houses of worship that he visited, he decided that God probably did not exist. He stopped reading the Bible.

Then a high school teacher saw Sekule’s Bible. She was an Adventist, and she saw the Bible as faculty members conducted random searches of dormitory rooms to see whether boys were hiding alcohol or drugs.

“You have a Bible!” she said.

“Yes,” Sekule said.

“What have you learned?”

“Many things.”

She quizzed him about Daniel, and Sekule, who had a good memory, provided clear answers.

“You actually understand!” she exclaimed. “You’re the first person whom I’ve met who understands. You must come to the Seventh-day Adventist church.”

Sekule didn’t dare refuse. She was his teacher. He feared that she would lower his grade if he didn’t go.

“OK, I’ll go,” he said.

But he lied. He had no plans to go to church.

Sekule Sekuli´c is an affluent entrepreneur and faithful Seventh-day Adventist in Montenegro. Read more of his story next week. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the good news of Jesus’ soon coming in Montenegro and around the world.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-06-inside-story-invited-to-church-part-2/

Daily Lesson for Friday 9th of February 2024

Read Ellen G. White, “The Beatitudes,” pages. 6–13, 29–35, in Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

The Psalms are protests against human indifference to injustice; they are a refusal to accept evil. They are motivated not by a desire for revenge but by a zeal to glorify God’s name. Hence, it is fitting for the righteous to rejoice when they shall see God’s vengeance on evil because in this way God’s name and His justice are restored in the world (Psalms 58:10-11). The Psalms oblige people to raise their voices against evil and to seek the coming of God’s kingdom in its fullness. In the Psalms, we are given assurance of divine comfort and deliverance. The Lord will arise!

“ ‘When men shall revile you, and persecute you,’ said Jesus, ‘rejoice, and be exceeding glad.’ And He pointed His hearers to the prophets who had spoken in the name of the Lord, as ‘an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.’ James 5:10. Abel, the very first Christian of Adam’s children, died a martyr. Enoch walked with God, and the world knew him not. Noah was mocked as a fanatic and an alarmist. ‘Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment.’ ‘Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.’ Hebrews 11:35-36.”—Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 33.

Discussion Questions

1. Because the painful realization of the evil in the world can cause one to wonder whether the Lord actually reigns, how can we grow an unshakable faith that will stand strong even under temptation? That is, what must we focus on in order to maintain our faith in God’s love and goodness and power? What should the Cross say to us about God and His character?
2. Why is it important not to rely on human means (leaders, institutions, and social movements) as the ultimate wisdom and solution for justice in the world but rely solely on God’s Word and judgment?
3. What are the practical implications of the truth that the sanctuary is the place of divine judgment?
4. How can we understand the harsh language of some psalms? How does that language help us relate to the humanity of those who wrote them?

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-06-further-thought-i-will-arise/