MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2026
10:27 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The
Blessed”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
6:20b-23
Message
of the verses: “Blessed are you who are poor, for
yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are
you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and
ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the
Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap
for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to
treat the prophets.”
I want to pick up from where I left
on in last night's SD as I kind of left in an awkward place. I will begin with a quotation from MacArthur’s
commentary.
“Such an acknowledgment of spiritual
deficiency was unthinkable to the proud, self-righteous people of Israel.”
(Make sure you go back to the previous SD on this section to help you better
understand what I’m writing about now. “They
saw themselves as the spiritual elite, whose good works, religious observances,
and Abrahamic ancestry had earned them entrance to God’s kingdom. The Lord completely overturned that
self-serving assessment. In reality,
they were like the people in the Laodicean church, who said, “I am rich, and
have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and [did] not know that [they
were] wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked’ (Rev. 3:17).”
Now the promise to the spiritually
destitute is that theirs is the kingdom of God. MacArthur then adds “the present tense
verb is indicates that more than just the future blessings of the earthly
millennial kingdom are in view. Believers
enjoy now the kingdom blessings of ‘righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit’ (Rom. 14:17). They are ‘heirs of
God and fellow heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), and possessors of the kingdom
blessings of eternal life, grace, mercy, forgiveness, joy, hope, security,
comfort, peace, love and righteousness.”
Now MacArthur begins to write about a
second mark of the blessed, and that is hunger. Let us look at Matthew 5:6 and then make a
few comments on it. “6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” From this verse we can see that the hunger is
not physical hunger, but having a hunger and thirst for righteousness. There is a lack of righteousness and thus
there has to be a hunger for it. MacArthur
writes “It is an intense, deep,
all-consuming longing for acceptance with God.
The picture is of impoverished, starving spiritual beggars, longing for
the righteousness that they cannot obtain on their own. The psalmist described this yearning for God
when he wrote, ‘As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for
You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God’ when shall I come and appear before God?’ (Ps. 42:1-2). In a similar vein David wrote, ‘O God, You
are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh
yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water’ (Ps. 63:1).”
Now the blessing pronounced on the
spiritually hungry is that they shall be satisfied. Chortazo (satisfied)
literally refers to fattening animals, which will eat until they cannot eat any
more. When used of humans, it means to
eat one’s fill, or to be completely satiated.
Those who truly hunger for righteousness will be fully satisfied. Psalm 34:10 promises that “they who seek the
Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.”
The most beloved of all Psalms opens, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want’ (Psalm 23:1). In Jeremiah
31:14 God declares, “My people will be satisfied with My goodness’ (cf. Ps.
107:1-9; Isa. 25:6; Luke 12:37; 13:29).
I will now take the time to look up
these verses before I begin to quote MacArthur again as he will next look at
the third Beatitude.
(cf. Ps. 107:1-9; Isa. 25:6; Luke
12:37; 13:29)
“1 ¶ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever! 2
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands, from
the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no
way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from
their distress. 7 He led them by a
straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast
love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the
hungry soul he fills with good things.”
“ 6 ¶ On
this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food,
a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well
refined.”
“37 Blessed are those servants whom the master
finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for
service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.”
“29 And people will come from east and west, and
from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.”
“The third Beatitude pictures the
blessed as those who weep now. This
is the emotional breakdown that follows recognition of spiritual bankruptcy and
lack of righteousness. These mourners
view themselves as the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed (cf. 4:18), and
are burdened, disappointed, fearful and hurting. Theirs is the sorrow of repentance, of which
James wrote: ‘Be miserable and mourn and
weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the
Lord, and He will exalt you’ (James 4:9-10).
It is the ‘sorrow that is according to the will of God [which] produces
a repentance without regret, leading to salvation’ (2 Cor. 7:10).”
(2 Cor. 7:10)
“10 For godly grief produces a repentance that
leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
Lord willing, I will continue
looking at these verses in this evening’s SD.
Spiritual
Meaning for my life today: One of the things that I have noticed in my
walk with the Lord is that living the first 27 years without knowing the Lord
caused a lot of sinful habits, and even today some 52 + years later it seems
that the world, the flesh and the devil still remind me of this old life and it
causes a spiritual fight to go on.
Having more spiritual weeping over my past is something that I need.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord with all that is going on in
my life dealing with my wife’s cancer has brought some very wonderful things
that the Lord has put into motion in my life.
Knowing that people, many people are praying for our family, and having
my family around me most everyday means so much.
“He Giveth More Grace”
He giveth more grace when the burdens
grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the
labors increase
To added affliction He addeth His
mercy
To multiplied trials He multiplied peace
His love has no limit, His grace
has no measure
His pow’r has no boundary known
unto men
For out of His infinite riches in
Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth
again
When we have exhausted our store of
endurance
When our strength has failed ere the
day is half done
When we reach the end of our horded
resources
Our Father’s full giving is only
begun.
His love has no limit, His grace
has no measure
His pow’r has no boundary known
unto men
For out of His infinite riches in
Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth
again
For out of His infinite riches in
Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth
again.
7/17/2026
12:07 PM
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