Peace is not the absence of conflict with people. Peace is the absence of conflict with God.

Leviticus 7:11-15 says, "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the LORD. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning." (ESV)

Those of us who have been granted the gift of repentance that leads to saving faith in Jesus Christ, had the only acceptable peace offering made on our behalf, when the Son of God suffered and died for our sins. Because Jesus alone is God, He alone can completely satisfy the wrath of God that is due every sinner...which is every single human being that has lived, is living, and will live. Through Christ, we who repent of our sins and trust wholly in Jesus' name, now have what we could never attain for ourselves—peace with God.

What a glorious joy it is to know that while we were enemies of God, living for ourselves, hating Him, and hating others; Christ died for us. Therefore, let all who call on the name of the LORD, rejoice in His holy name! Let us lift up our hearts and our voices to proclaim the excellencies of Christ Jesus our Lord! And let us demonstrate our utter gratitude and love to God the Father for giving us His Son, by offering Him a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for continuously humbling us, so that we will never forget our depravity without Christ.

Depending on your relationship with God, today's Psalm will either be the aroma of life, or the stench of death to you (2 Cor 2:14-16). You will either read Psalm 49 and have your soul refreshed, comforted, and filled with joy and hope; or you will read this Psalm and it will expose your pride and illusions of self-sufficiency, which will cause your soul to become embittered, angry, and insulted.

For those of us who repent of our sins and trust in Jesus for this life and the next, this Psalm is another beautiful and comforting reminder of God's love and faithfulness to us because of His Son.

Because I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who willingly disrobed Himself of His glory in Heaven where He was perfectly worshiped, honored, and obeyed; came to earth in sackcloth and ashes (skin and bones); to pay the high cost of the ransom for my soul drenched in sin, by suffering the punishment I justly deserve from God Almighty, and dying the second death (spiritual) that my sins earned me, yet because He alone is God, had the power to raise Himself from the dead, so that I would only die the first death (bodily), and in Him, would never die the second death, but have been freed to live the resurrected life now and forevermore, this Psalm is nothing but salve for my soul and a joy to my innermost being!

I pray it is the same for all who read this.

Rarely do we hear anyone saying that they rejoice because of God's judgments. Rarely do we hear anyone saying they enjoy and rejoice because of any kind of judgment...from anyone. It's not exactly the popular thing to rejoice and be glad about. Strangely enough, everyone wants justice for themselves or their loved ones, but they do not want others to get justice when they themselves are the perpetrator. This hypocrisy evinces the depravity of our hearts and minds without Christ.

But thanks be to God our Father for giving us His Son. Thanks be to God for choosing to free us from this depraved and hypocritical state, so that we might delight in God's just judgments and rejoice when anyone receives justice; even when we are in the wrong. Thanks be to God for the freedom and strength to repent—to humble ourselves before the LORD Almighty and receive His loving discipline, or His merciful reprieve from our enemies.

Today's Psalm exhorts us to rejoice in the name of the LORD, and His righteous judgments. Therefore, let all who love the LORD our God, let all who rejoice in truth and holiness, rejoice because our God has said "vengeance is mine", and all will be made known and right when He ushers us Home to glory.

As you can see, I'm a bit late on posting my #PsalmSunday this week. But the saying, "Better late than never" is true...and especially in this case. It's always better to encourage one another's hearts to sing praises to our Lord Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords; late, rather than never.

So what happened that this week's #PsalmSunday is so late? Life. That's what happened.

Most days it's very difficult for me to simply get of out of bed, let alone live "normal" daily life. And lately, there's been quite a bit happening around here, good things in God's sight, that's left my frail body quite exhausted. Again, a good thing in God's sight, so no complaints here—just thanksgiving to our awesome God and Savior who allows me to participate in His holy and magnificent work of being able to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6).

This week's psalm, Psalm 47 is a joyous reminder and praise of our mighty Father's goodness and kindness to those whom He foreknew and therefore predestined, to be called sons and daughters of the Most High; to conform us into the glorious image of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. What an awesome privilege and joy it is to be adopted into the holy Family of God Almighty! What peace we have, that nothing in this world can ever touch or take away (Jn 16:33). What a refreshment and comfort to our souls to know that the LORD reigns!

So let us clap our hands, and sing songs of praises and thanksgiving to our wonderful, compassionate, good, sovereign, and loving God whom we trust withholds no good thing from us, because He's already given us His Son.

Let us exult in the name of the LORD together!