24 January 2021 Devotion for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
The watch word for the week is taken from the Book of Psalms, “Trust in Him at all times, pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us,” Psalm 62 verse 8. This psalm of David opens with the verse “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” In times of great anxiety, when our minds and emotions are stirred, our souls long to be under the shadow of Him whom we trust, the one who listens to our speechless cries and our voiceless prayers. God knows our deepest thoughts and fears. We can trust him when we pour our hearts out to his consoling heart. He brings us to the place where we can find quiet waters and shelter. He calms our hearts and minds. He gives us composure to face the trials we have to endure. David came to the Lord continually throughout his life, whether he could celebrate at God’s tabernacle, or whether he was hiding in a cave, he experienced God’s protection. Like David, the prophet Jeremiah knew that only God was to be trusted with the secrets of one’s heart and the safety of one’s body and soul. Jeremiah prophesied to Israel and was put in jail for pleading with the people to turn back to God. Despite his treatment, he never stopped calling Israel and Judah to repentance and warned that their children were not taught God’s ordinances; neither were they disciplined to be in right standing with God and men. When things started to fall apart, people grumbled. “Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, says the Lord;” as we read in Jeremiah 2 verse 29. It was not God who changed the stipulations of the covenant: it was the nation of Israel who was unfaithful. God, their Father, was angered because he was disobeyed and rejected for so long. However, he still blessed them because of his enduring love. Due to their own falling away from their God, they were starting to reap the grim fruits of praying to lifeless idols. Idols cannot intervene, help or save, for they are man-made. They have to be carried around, and taken care of, but the God of Israel is the caring, living, working God.
God is working in us through his Spirit and all the powers at his command. It is he who brings those who have strayed back to him. There is no one, neither in ages past, or present, nor future, who is not in need of God’s grace. “Since all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3 verses 23 to24, (NRSVB). Grace is like love. Parents don’t tell their children that they have loved them so much today that it will be enough to sustain them for life. God’s grace is new every morning, given to us through the person of Jesus Christ and his work on the Cross. He died on the Cross once and for all. He received everlasting life, and everlasting pardon for us. Because Christ is the living Lord, he bestows love, grace and forgiveness on us continuously. Like a beloved bestows love on the beloved and a loving parent on a child. This is the work of God in us, continuously enriching us with his love and power, so that we can enrich the world around us with the blessing of neighbourly grace. None of us can save ourselves; it has been done once and for all for us, through Jesus. We cannot boast of our goodness to merit this grace, it is a free gift from God. Each and every one is equally justified and forgiven in the eyes of God, for earthly beings cannot fulfil the stipulations of holiness as God demands. God provided the gift that he demanded in his Son. When we come to the realization of what God has done for us, and is working within us, we cease to grumble. We come in quiet contemplation and awe for his grace that is sufficient for each day.
Father God, thank you that your love and grace continue to pour over us and strengthen us with joy, love and courage for each new day. Father, we adore you. Amen.
