May 21, 2026; Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness

Daily Dose of Hope May 21, 2026   Name of God: Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord Our Righteousness Scripture: Jeremiah 23:6, 33:16, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21   Prayer:  Jehovah Tsidkenu, You are my righteousness. I know I could never earn Your love, yet You have freely given it to me. Thank You for covering me in Christ's righteousness and making me new. Help me to walk in confidence, knowing that I am fully accepted by You. In Jesus' name, Amen.   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently on a reading plan covering the names of God in the Old Testament.  Today, we are covering our twelfth name of God out of sixteen, so we really only have a few more.  On June 1, we will start a new reading plan on 1 and 2 Kings.  Hope you will stay with us!   Today's name of God on which we are focusing is Jehovah Tsidkenu, which means the Lord is our Righteousness.    We see this name in the book of Jeremiah.  The southern kingdom of Judah was in decline and moving closer to exile when the prophet Jeremiah spoke these words in Jeremiah 23:6, 'The days are coming' when the Lord will raise up for David a 'righteous branch'. He will reign as king; ruling wisely, accomplishing justice and righteousness in the land. In the days of this king Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. They will know this king as 'The Lord is our righteousness' [Jehovah Tsidkenu].  In the middle of great despair and darkness there was a promise of hope and light for the nation.  We know that hope to be Jesus Christ, the promised messiah.   The prophecy of Jeremiah aligned with God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 that he would establish his throne forever. The coming king, from David's line, would be 'a righteous branch'. Righteousness would be the chief characteristic of this coming kingdom but this would not come from the citizens themselves.    Let's talk a bit about righteousness. First, righteousness is an attribute of God. God always does what is right, just, proper, and consistent with all His other attributes. When we say that God is righteous, that means that there is no wrong, dishonesty, or unfairness in Him. He is the perfectly righteous one and his righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.    While humans seek to be righteous, there has never been a human being that could live up to God's righteousness at all.  Think of Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul.  They were all Godly men who followed God closely, but they messed up.  They were sinful and the Bible doesn't hide that.  But God is always pure, always righteous.  And Jesus, because he was God, was the only human who exhibited perfect righteousness.  He was the only righteous king.    Because we are sinful and broken, Jesus offers us his righteousness.  If we believe in Jesus as Savior and repent of our sins, then Scripture says he "imputes" his righteousness onto us.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sina]">[ for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  Because of Jesus, we can receive his righteousness and be fully accepted by God.   What does this mean for us today, right now?  Many of us struggle with guilt, shame, or the pressure to "be better." But Jehovah Tsidkenu is our righteousness.  If we know Jesus, then we don't have to worry about our past flaws and failures, nor do we need to try to be "good" in our own strength. Jesus took our sin so that we could stand blameless before God.  This means you don't have to live in fear of not measuring up. You are already loved, already forgiven, and already made new in Christ. Blessings, Pastor Vicki