Daily Lesson for Sunday 28th of January 2024

The psalmist seeks to grasp the great controversy between God and the powers of evil, and he points to God’s unfathomable forbearance, as well as to His infinite wisdom and power.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

The problem of evil in the Psalms is primarily theological; it inevitably concerns questions about God. Thus, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is seen principally as a divine scandal because it provided an opportunity for the heathen to blaspheme God. God’s inheritance (the people of Israel) is the sign of His divine election and covenant (Deuteronomy 4:32-38; Deuteronomy 32:8-9) that will never fail. The concept of God’s inheritance also contains an end-time dimension, as one day all nations will become God’s inheritance and will serve Him. The notion that the nations invaded God’s inheritance threatens these divine promises.

No question, the psalmist acknowledges that the sins of the people corrupted the people’s covenantal relationship with God and brought upon the people all the consequences (Psalms 79:8-9). The people’s survival depends solely upon God’s gracious intervention and the restoration of the covenantal bond through the atonement of sin. The Lord is “God of our salvation,” which conveys God’s faithfulness to His covenantal promises (Psalms 79:9).

However, more important than the restoration of Israel’s fortunes is the defense of God’s character in the world (Psalms 79:9). If the evil actions of the nations go unpunished, it will appear that God has lost His power (Psalms 74:18-23, Psalms 83:16-18, Psalms 106:47). Only when God saves His people will His name be justified and uplifted.

As today, the same principle existed back then. Our sins, our backsliding, our evils, can bring disrepute not only on ourselves but, worse, on the God whose name we profess. Our wrong actions can have detrimental spiritual effects on our witness and mission, as well. How many people have been turned off to our faith by the actions of those professing the name of Christ?

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-05-the-days-of-evil/

Daily Lesson for Saturday 27th of January 2024

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Psalms 79:5-13, Psalms 88:3-12, Psalms 69:1-3, Psalms 22:1, Psalms 77:1-20, Psalms 73:1-20, 1 Peter 1:17.

Memory Text:

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalms 137:4).

We do not need to get deep into the book of Psalms in order to discover that the Psalms are uttered in an imperfect world, one of sin, evil, suffering, and death. The stable creation run by the Sovereign Lord and His righteous laws is constantly threatened by evil. As sin corrupts the world more and more, the earth has increasingly become “a strange land” to God’s people. This reality creates a problem for the psalmist: How does one live a life of faith in a strange land?

As we already have seen, the psalmists acknowledge God’s sovereign rule and power, as well as His righteous judgments. They know that God is the everlasting and never-failing refuge and help in times of trouble. For this reason, the psalmists are at times perplexed (who isn’t?) by the apparent absence of God and the flourishing of evil in the face of the good and Sovereign Lord. The paradoxical nature of the Psalms as prayers is demonstrated in the psalmists’ responses to God’s seeming silence. In other words, the psalmists respond to God’s perceived absence, as well as to God’s presence.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 3.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-05-singing-the-lords-song-in-a-strange-land/

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-january-27/

Is this True or False? Our confidence in God’s promises comes naturally after we are baptized. Join us as we discuss Lesson 4, The Lord Hears and Delivers.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/the-lord-hears-and-delivers-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Inside Story for Friday 26th of January 2024

By Joe Peola

Margaret and her husband, Levana, were sitting one morning in their living room in Perth, Australia, after returning the previous night from a trip to Papua New Guinea, located some 2,000 miles (4,500 kilometers) away.

Margaret was reflecting quietly on her father’s parting words at the airport. After praying with her, he had said, “Margaret, Jesus is coming back very soon. When you arrive at your home in Perth, my God will be at your door the next day.”

Not far from Margaret and Levana’s home, literature evangelist Jo Laing and several friends were praying at a Seventh-day Adventist church. They were praying for divine appointments as they prepared to head out for a day of canvassing.

A couple hours later, Jo knocked on the door of Margaret and Levana’s home. The home looked no different from the other houses on the street.

Levana opened the door and politely looked through the cookbook that Jo showed him. But he didn’t express any real interest in the book. Then Jo gave him a copy of Ellen White’s The Great Controversy and began telling him about it.

Levana flipped through several pages and called to his wife.

“Do we have this book?” he asked.

Margaret came to the door and confirmed that they did have the book. She turned to Jo and explained that she was a former Seventh-day Adventist. The words tumbled from her mouth.

“We just came home from Papua New Guinea last night,” she said. “The last thing that my dad said to me was that he would be praying for God to show up at my house.”

It was a hot day in Perth—109.5 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius). But Jo felt goosebumps on her arms. She and Margaret looked at each other with big smiles and marveled at how God had answered the prayer of Margaret’s father.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I could come to your church and share this story?” Margaret said.

“It would,” Jo agreed, and the two exchanged phone numbers.

A few weeks later, Margaret stood with tears in her eyes at Bickley Seventh-day Adventist Church and told her story of how God had found a lost, straying lamb.

God used a woman with a copy of The Great Controversy in Australia to answer a father’s passionate prayer in Papua New Guinea.

Join the Seventh-day Adventist world church in the mass promotion and distribution of The Great Controversy in 2023 and 2024. Visit greatcontroversyproject.org for more information or ask your pastor.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-04-inside-story-prayer-answered-in-perth/