Garth Stewart shared the message.

1 Lord, how many are my foes!

How many rise up against me!2Many are saying of me,God will not deliver him.[b]

3But you,Lord, are a shieldaround me,my glory, the One who lifts my head high.4I call out to theLord,and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5I lie down and sleep;I wake again,because theLordsustains me.6I will not fearthough tens of thousandsassail me on every side.

7Arise,Lord!Deliver me,my God!Strikeall my enemies on the jaw;break the teethof the wicked.

8From theLordcomes deliverance.May your blessingbe on your people.

Lord, our Lord,how majestic is your namein all the earth!

You have set your gloryin the heavens.2Through the praise of children and infantsyou have established a strongholdagainst your enemies,to silence the foeand the avenger.3When I consider your heavens,the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars,which you have set in place,4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,human beings that you care for them?[c]

5You have made them[d]a little lower than the angels[e]and crowned them[f]with glory and honor.6You made them rulersover the works of your hands;you put everything under their[g]feet:7all flocks and herds,and the animals of the wild,8the birds in the sky,and the fish in the sea,all that swim the paths of the seas.

9Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

In this parable, the third in a series of three related parables, Jesus once more confronts the Jewish religious leaders and the nation who, for the most part, have rejected Gods kingdom invitation. We see in the story the amazing goodness of God into which we are invited and we are confronted by the sobering reality that will be faced by those who reject the invitation as well as those who presume on the King and fail to heed his call.

Brad Wright shared this message.

Jesus has come to Jerusalem with a mere week left before he will be arrested, tried and crucified. In this passage Jesus shares the first in a series of three parables that speaks to a similar theme, his rejection by the Jewish religious leaders and many in Israel. This first parable focuses on Gods call for more than merely the right words. God desires our obedience, an obedience that begins with changing our minds.

As we come to this parable, it is vital that we read it carefully so that we avoid getting stuck in some peripheral details but rather discover the central point Jesus is making. Most parables aim to communicate a single, primary point and that is the case here. What we will discover in this story is the message of the amazing goodness and generosity of God who desires to meet our greatest need.

With this parable Jesus addresses the matter of forgiveness in what is probably the most sustained treatment of this theme in the New Testament. As we discover, forgiveness plays an absolutely central role in the kingdom of God and the lives of us as subjects of the kingdom.

With this parable Jesus speaks to our relationships with one another as believers. He makes clear the incredible value each one of us has to our Heavenly Father and spells out the implications of the Fathers love for us. God desires for each one of us to walk in intimate fellowship with him and if that is ever interrupted, he will come after us. That reality ought to move each of us to be those who likewise care deeply for one another and our spiritual well-being.