Devotion for Saturday 3 July
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from Psalm 75 verse 1, “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks! For your wondrous works declare that your name is near,” (NRSVB). This psalm of the poet, Asaph, is a song to the Lord, to be sung to the tune of a hymn, known to the assembly, called, “Do not destroy.” The psalm is in the form of a sung dialogue between the people worshipping God, receiving his comfort, from the words that is attributed to him through the vision and words written by the psalmist. In verse three we read, “When the earth totters, and all the inhabitants of it, it is I Who will poise and keep steady its pillars. Selah, pause, and think calmly of that, (Amplified Bible). When these words were sung, the assembly of believers must have received great comfort, thinking about God’s promised intervention. When the world is unsteady and her people can’t find their sure footing it is God who will stabilize and correct the earth and her people. We can take great consolation from this promise today. We are still standing on solid ground, we are not being moved, even though it seems as if things are in free fall and that the foundation of the rules and regulations of life on earth are being shaken. We can lift up our eyes and our hearts, and receive assurance that will give us hope and will move our trembling hearts to a place of rest and peace. It is God’s work to secure the foundations of the earth and the foundation of the church and our faith. And he has done it, he has promised us that the Corner Stone of all is Christ, and he has overcome on our behalf.
When little children and animal learn to walk, they are unsure of their steps and totter around, until they become sure-footed and stronger in pacing themselves correctly in the space and place that they dwell in. When people and animal grow old and weak, they sometimes totter when they become uncertain of the steps they have to take and how to place and space their steps on the earth. Sometimes we totter and feel faint when we are unwell, and we are ordered to rest and regain strength in order not to fall in our attempts to walk. As it is with the physical life of people, so it is with the spiritual life, there are times when our spiritual walking also amounts to tottering. It is in these times that we are vulnerable to falling, but it is also precisely in these time when we experience the help and nearness of our Lord most profoundly. He is the One who keeps our feet from slipping and our steps from failing. Our Lord is very near to us, he grabs us with his mighty right hand and holds us up so that we will not fall and stumble in our walk of faith. He restores us and brings us into a wide and open space where we can rest and gain our strength. As he supplied food and water and rest to the prophet Elijah, he comes to restore us and to give us faith anew, after we have rested for awhile.
We can give thanks to our Lord, for it is no small thing that He is very near to us, he is nearer to us than our parents and best friends, and promises never to leave nor forsake us. His ear is turned to us and his hand is ready to save us. He does mighty works on our behalf. We cannot behold, with our mortal eyes, the various and miraculous ways of his protection and help as we dwell and journey on this earth. One day, when the veil is lifted, we will stand in awe when we realize how closely God has been, how present he was at every breath we took and every step we ventured.
The Apostle Paul preached and taught the Greeks and other listeners, as they gathered on Mars Hill, “God is not far from each on of us,” Acts 17 verse 27. Paul experienced God nearness on his road to Damascus, when Jesus Christ appeared to him and spoke to him and asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” A blinding light cause the horse on which Saul was riding to rear, and he was thrown down on the earth, blinded, like the horse, by the light of Christ’s truth. Saul, the self-assured and zealous persecutor of the Christians had to be taken by the hand and led, for his steps tottered and his sight failed. There, in his state of helplessness, Christ spoke to him and gave him a new vision and life assignment, to become Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. He was restored, his feet grounded on the Rock of his Salvation, and his eyes given sight of the truth of the Gospel, through the Grace of God. God allows tottering and falling to accomplish his work, the work of course-directing. We can never fall further than into God’s hand.
Father, we thank you that we can turn to you and keep our eyes on you when we feel our feet are slipping and the world is shaking under us. Help us to work with you and reach out to our stumbling and tottering brothers and sisters. Teach us to point them to look unto you, who strengthen our trembling limbs, You who are bringing us to safety, Amen.
