Galatians 1:1-10; Psalms 53, 54

Galatians 1:1-10
Paul was quite the letter writer! Galatians was his letter to the churches in Galatia. He begins by affirmed that God the Father and Jesus Christ Himself had appointed him to preach the gospel. He mentions this gospel in v. 4, "Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live." And he praises God for this miracle of being saved from the power and enslavement of this sinful world.

It didn't take Paul long to get into the reason for his letter. Apparently, the Galatians had begun following "a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all." v. 7
Remember that these people had come out of the Jewish religion, Paul was Jewish as was Jesus Christ Himself. Some false teachers had crept into the church teaching that faith in Jesus was not enough--that it was necessary to practice the Jewish laws in order to be saved. Paul is denouncing this as false teaching. Unfortunately, some people today still teach that we must add some works to Christ's finished word, and this teaching is just as false today as it was in Paul's.

Psalm 53
The Bible calls people "fools" who say there is not God. As we all know, saying something is true or not true does not make it so. God is not affected by what we think of Him, but we are affected by what He thinks of us! This passage teaches that we are all sinners; every one of us is corrupt. We deserve God's judgment. The only escape we have is to believe what God has said and to trust Jesus for our salvation.

Psalm 54
Here David calls on God to deliver him from his enemies. "Listen to my prayer, O god. Pay attention to my plea." v. 2  Sometimes it seems as if God is not listening. These are the times we need to keep praying and meditating on His word. By v. 4, David is praising the Lord!  "But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!" and also v. 6 "I will sacrifice a voluntary offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good."

In so many psalms we see this pattern

• Fear, worry, or discouragement
• Prayer
• Praise

Let's spend less of our lives on fear, worry, and discouragement and more on prayer and praise!