Devotion for Wednesday 7 July
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from Psalm 79 verse 9, “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your Name; deliver us and forgive us for your Name’s sake,” (NRSVB). The poet, Asaph, calls on the Lord and states that the temple lies in ruin and the servants of the Lord have been killed. It is as if there is no hope, as if the enemies are invincible. These enemies have no regard for God and have no respect for his Name. They are conquering the people who call on the Name of the Lord as they battle against them. The psalmist calls on God and states that the nations around ask where the God of Israel is, for his peculiar people, the nation that he chose to lead out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, have been defeated in battle and have been taken as prisoners. Israel, who was once the pride and joy, the jewel of the Ancient Near East, is mocked by her neighbours. Israel has been invaded and humiliated, taunted and reviled by the enemy. In this situation of devastation and anguish the psalmist calls on God to forgive the iniquities of the people, to accept their remorse and to take away their shame that they are suffering, through the taunting of their enemies. God is implored to show his might and power and redeem his people by turning their situation around, pouring his wrath on the enemies who have destroyed and defiled the temple. Because of God’s seeming inactivity regarding the people of Israel and their lot, their enemies scoff at the God of Israel, mock his Name and question his power and authority.
Asaph is under no illusion that Israel’s disobedience to God and indifference regarding their following of his commandments lie at the heart of their tumultuous state. However, he is certain that God will not stay angry with his disobedient children forever, but will like a father, accept his children’s remorse, bring them back home and stand up an defend them against the enemy. When people’s lives are being turned upside down, they start to realize the privileges they enjoyed. Then they start to assign value to the things that were regarded with little appreciation. As we traverse this new world situation and the calamity that is over-shadowing life during the pandemic, we wish with renewed fervour for the time to come when we could enjoy being gathered together in the house of the Lord with no encumbrances. We yearn for a time being able to sing hymns and enjoying fellowship over a cup of tea and a friendly chat. We wish for the joyous celebration of Christmas and Easter that have eluded us in the past year and a half, due to the pandemic. Each generation fight their own war, and this world-wide pandemic is our war, and like the Israelites, we desperately need to experience God’s hand of mercy and his acts of deliverance on our behalf.
God’s name and his person are honoured if we continue to trust and rely on Him and wait patiently for his outcome. He has not forgotten his world and her people. As he walked with the Israelites in the the desert and guided the steps of his chosen people through history, so he will do for us, for he has promised not to leave us nor forsake us, but to deliver us from evil. When Joseph looked over the course of his life and the difficulties he had to bear, he realized that God even used the evil that was planned against him and turned it to his benefit. “As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day,” he told his brothers, as we read in Genesis Chapter 50 verse 20, (Amplified Bible). Joseph’s brothers were suffering great remorse as they saw Joseph, whom they hated so much, that they sold him to slave traders, stood before them, the second in charge of the greatest empire of that time, Egypt. Their lies that they lived with for decades were exposed, but instead of receiving punishment, they received pardon and the promise of being reinstated as brothers, now not brothers of Joseph the dreamer, but brothers of Joseph the vice ruler of Egypt. God worked his plans and purposes during the time that Joseph had to endure slavery, wrongful sentences and life in prison. Through the work of Joseph, the Name of God was glorified for he trust and relied on God’s deliverance, even thought it tarries, it will never be late.
The works of humans can never atone for their wrongs, nor can their remorse turn the wheel of history, but through the work of the Lord and his plan of salvation for humanity, all are redeemed. The Apostle John writes in his First Letter, Chapter 4 verse 10, “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin,” (NRSVB). As we wait patiently for God’s intervention and his deliverance from the current situation, let us meditate on his Name and pray in the Name of our Lord to send his deliverance.
Father, we thank you that we have seen your work through the pages of your word, we thank you for the Cross and the victory that Christ attained on our behalf. Help us to carry the Cross that we have been assigned, as we wait on you, our Saviour, who carries our burdens, Amen.
