Psalms 75:2, 8
“At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity." …
For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
That is what I deserve -- to drink the cup of God's wrath and drain it down to the dregs.
For I have been these:
Psalms 75:4-5
"I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.’”
I have been haughty toward others.
I have been wicked in every part of me, every faculty of my soul: my desires and will, my thoughts, words, and actions.
I have broken every one of God's commands:
I have worshipped other things, made idols for my heart, misrepresented the God I claim to serve, dishonored his day and used it for my pleasure, dishonored and disobeyed my parents, hated others, lusted after others, taken what was not mine, deceived, and coveted.
I have especially not loved my God with all my being, nor loved my neighbor as myself.
It is I who deserve to be included in the camp of the wicked who will drain the cup of God's wrath.
And yet God!
Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
What kind of love is it, that would do this?
Why should the Lord drink the cup of wrath that I deserve, and be brought to death because of it?
Ephesians 2:4-7
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Why did God show me this mercy?
So that he might get the glory for his enormous grace toward me! (Eph.2:7).
So that I might boast in him and not in myself:
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
So that I might do good works as one who is in Christ:
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So that I might be called one of God's children and one day be like him:
1 John 3:1-2
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. … Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Because God's goal is to make me like Jesus, my goal must be to purify myself and turn away from sin:
1 John 3:3,5,8-9
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. … You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. … Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Why has God saved me?
So that I might now rejoice in him through Christ:
Romans 5:11
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
O God! Teach me to rejoice in you! Cause me to live as one who DOES "rejoice in the Lord always" -- because it is such an undeserved mercy to be included in Christ my Lord!
Every spiritual blessing comes through my connection to Jesus (Eph.1:3).
Every temporal blessing is given because you are kind to me through Christ (James 1:17; 1Tim.6:17); and because of my being in Christ, those blessings are truly blessings, rather than becoming something for which your wrath is stored up for me due to how I use those blessings (Rom.2:5).
Every temporal hardship is turned into good for me, because you have put me in Christ; a difficulty is no longer an expression of your anger but instead of your love working out your better purposes in my life (Rom.8:28).
O Lord, how can I not rejoice?! Make me a perpetually rejoicing person -- not because my life has become easy, but because Christ is precious and lovely and all that I need.
Though this life be difficult and only increasingly so, help me to be one who is "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing":
2 Corinthians 6:9-10
as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
