Daily Reading: 4-6-16
Psalm 122 New Living Translation (NLT)
6
Pray for peace in Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper.
7
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
8
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”
9
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
Scripture teaches about Yahweh’s heart for Israel; His love for Jerusalem—the City of our God. Jerusalem is a special place; God put his name to it. Refresh you memory with Truth. God made a covenant with Abraham; in that covenant everything depended upon God bringing blessing to his people and the land God claimed as his own. Jesus made his way to Jerusalem to be sacrificed for the sins of the world; no other location but Jerusalem would do. One day the Lord will return to save his people; he will dwell and rule from Jerusalem. Other nations will know Israel’s God is the true God and will worship the Lord in his holy city—the city that will exit throughout eternity.
Do you pray for the peace of Jerusalem? The peace that is mentioned in our reading is not simply the absence of conflict; rather, it is the shalom of God which suggests completeness, wholeness, health, justice, prosperity, protection due to faith in God. We must love and pray for the shalom of Jerusalem, because when we do we are praying for the Lord’s return and reign over the world. Only the Lord can bring shalom, so we must pray for and embrace peace with God.
Prayer: Father, this morning I pray for the Prince of Peace—Jesus Christ the Holy One of Israel—to spill shalom over Jerusalem. Today, may your people gain a fresh glimpse of Your love and faithfulness to them and rise to praise Your holy name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.