Year: 2023

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” Psalms‬ ‭103:13-14‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the things that hinders many of God’s children is, that they have an unbalanced perception of Who God is. Oftentimes people become so focused on His divine attributes, that they forget His loving heart is touched by the feelings of our infirmities. Others see God as so Holy and Righteous that He is unapproachable. Some see Him more as the stern Judge, Who looks upon His creation with a frown of disapproval, ready to condemn. But when Jesus came, He said that He came to reveal the Father. He came to remind us that as our Heavenly Father, God is more compassionate towards His children than any earthly father. And rather than have an unhealthy fear and dread of Him, we should have a loving reverence that such a great God would be willing to be mindful of all of our needs and care for us. It is only when we see and know Him as our merciful and compassionate Father, that we can truly have the deep appreciation and love for Him that we should, and that He desires from us. May we lift our minds to see His loving heart and know Him as the Perfect Father He is.

“…let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.” Psalms‬ ‭105:3-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬. We are in a world where people are seeking everyday for something or someone to satisfy their heart’s desire. Many people seek to be strong in many ways. They seek for physical strength, financial strength and even for intellectual strength. But the psalmist reminds us here that we should seek the Lord and His strength above all. We should seek Him first and wholeheartedly. In seeking God’s face, we are seeking that personal intimacy with Him that He desires and we so desperately need. Too many people in religion are seeking God’s gifts, but not Himself. They want the blessings but not the Blesser. And that is one of the reasons for so much spiritual weakness. But when we truly seek the face of God, we are doing so with the knowledge that His eyes see us as we are. We can only seek His face when our hearts are pure before Him and our attitude is right with our fellow man. And when we do seek His face, it is there we find the true Source of spiritual strength. Because the greatest strength available to man, is in an intimate relationship with our Holy God.

“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm‬ ‭118:24‬ ‭KJV‬‬. What a change would come to our attitudes if we truly understood, as we start each day, that this is a day that God Himself has made. And because He made it, it is a good day. Because He created this day, there is definite purpose for it. Because he has granted us the privilege to live this day, we should live it for His glory. Too often, we dread the day because we worry things won’t go as we desire. We tend to focus on all of the negative things about the day. But let us decide that because this is God’s day, we are going to rejoice and be glad in it. It will change the way we approach the day when we begin by thanking God for it. And while we may face struggles in the day, let us remember, that God’s grace will be sufficient for this day. Our bodies may grow weak and our minds may weary during the day. But may we keep in mind Deuteronomy 33:25, ‘as your days, so will your strength be’. Today is a gift from God. Let us be glad that His presence will be with us all through the day.

“Your Words were found, and I ate them, And Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. What a joy it is when a needy soul truly finds the Word of God. When we find His Word, we begin to find out about our gracious Lord. We find out how good He is and the many things He provides for us. Thank God, we find out about our own needs and we find the One Who is able to meet our every need. But let’s realize that we will not truly find God’s Word through someone else. Others can introduce us to it and tell us about it, but we must personally seek God in His Word! We must develop a hunger and thirst for His Words of life. We must taste and see for ourselves. And we must make the daily effort to open our heart and mind to it. As we do this, we will soon begin to experience the reality and power of God’s Word. We will feel as Job wrote (23:12), that ‘he treasured God’s Word more than his daily bread’. It is sad that to most people, God’s Word remains a hidden book. But to us that have found it, God’s Word brings great joy to our hearts and opens our spirits for God to work in us for His glory.

“Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” Psalm‬ ‭17‬:‭5‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This verse speaks of the holy desire that God gives to His children. We don’t want to wander from the path of holiness. We don’t want our steps to slip and bring grief to our Father’s loving heart. Because we have experienced God’s saving grace, we desire to live each day to please Him. But also, this verse reminds us of our weakness and need to depend completely upon God. As much as we desire to do right, we soon find out that our strength is not sufficient. There are powers that war against our souls that are far greater than anything we possess in ourselves. So we must cry out to God to do what we cannot do. We must depend upon His strong arm to hold us up when in our ourselves we would surely fall. For most people, this is difficult to admit. We like to imagine that we are sufficient. Many times, we pride ourselves on our human resourcefulness. But in this spiritual battle, the only way to victory is to humbly confess, “I am weak, but He is strong. I can’t do it, but God can.” And as we cry out to Him, God will hold us up.

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness…” Psalms‬ ‭112:4‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Many people in the world have the idea that good and bad days come to us for no reason. They believe that we go through things by chance and then they change, much like day and night. But for God’s children these words mean something altogether different! Because for us, we know the different seasons of our life are ordained by our Heavenly Father. He allows us to go through days of darkness to teach us many things for our good. Most of all, they teach us how much we need Him and must learn to depend on Him. The dark valleys we go through remind us that this world is not our home and that we have a better place awaiting us. But then when the long night is ended, and the True Light arises, we realize that it is not just a turn of circumstances. Rather it is our blessed Lord, the Light of the world, Who comes in His mercy to reveal Himself to us in exactly the way we need. Perhaps you have been walking through a dark valley, and you wonder when things will change? Dear ones, please remember, our Lord never makes a mistake! He knows exactly when the time is right for each of us. And then, He will shine His glorious light upon our pathway.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm‬ ‭27:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬. When we think about the goodness of God, it is easy for us to think more on a physical and material level than it is spiritual. We want to see and feel His goodness in the physical things of life. In this verse, the psalmist was struggling with this thought as well. At first, he looked around at this present world, trying to see and measure God’s goodness. The previous verse reveals there were enemies rising against him. Lies and false accusations were told on him. He was receiving the cruel treatment that men so often give to their fellow man. It was a very difficult time for him on a human level. But then he understood, that it takes faith to truly see the goodness of God! And he chose to believe, that no matter what happened around him or to him, he would lift his eyes Heavenward and see the goodness of God. And it is still that way today when we go through the valleys of life. Maybe it is difficult to see much goodness as we look around in this fallen world. Maybe it is hard to feel good about our situation. But if we will look to Jesus and believe what He has done for us, then we will see how very good God is to us.

“For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good…And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.”‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭24:6-7‬ ‭KJV‬‬. When God promised those Jews that He was bringing correction for their good, they could not comprehend the measure of God’s goodness. They were thinking like most do today, only of physical and material things. But in these words we begin to see that the very best thing God could ever do for anyone, is to give them the privilege to know Him. What an awesome thing it is, for us as fallen individuals, to be able to know the Living God in personal relationship. When we could never do enough or become good enough to be worthy of such a relationship, God Himself chose to give us a heart to know Him. Today, we know that this is part of the miracle of true salvation and the new birth. We are not the same old, sinful people we used to be! Thank God we are new creatures because God has given us a new heart! Oh how great is His goodness to us! Dear ones, even when we walk through the valleys, may we remember that the eyes of our Heavenly Father look upon us for our good.

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy‬ ‭2:19‬ ‭KJV‬‬. David asked the question long ago, (Psalm 11:3) “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And certainly that is a concern, when it comes to the foundations of societies and governments. We are in such a time, when the very foundations of most nations are crumbling, because they have turned their backs on God and opened the floodgates of iniquity. But when it comes to God’s true church, the Christian faith, and the message of the Gospel, may we understand that the foundation of God will forever stand sure and steadfast! May our faith in God be such that we know, beyond all shadow of doubt, that whatever God does, it is going to stand sure. The key for us personally is, to make sure that we do not anchor our souls on any other foundation. We cannot rest on the foundations of men, or religious ideas and feelings. Our souls must be anchored on this one Foundation which stands safe and secure forever. We must rest on the foundation of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, Saviour and Lord of all. As the song says, “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus Christ… On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand!” By God’s grace, may this be the only foundation we build our lives upon.

“If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy‬ ‭2:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This is one of the truths we anchor our souls upon: Jesus Christ Abides Faithful. There are times in our lives when we question and wonder about the stability and security of many things. We live in times when many are concerned about the stability of our world. We wonder what kind of world the next generation will be left with. We see the collapse of nations and the terrible transition societies are making to more liberal and ungodly philosophies. And yet, in the midst of all of this change and decay, we see One Who never changes, Who always abides faithful. We see Jesus, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever! And God help us to believe, He is forever faithful and He cannot fail! He is faithful to His Word and promises. His love and mercy abide faithful. And for all who will keep their eyes on Him and their faith in Him, we will be able to endure all that life brings our way, because He is faithful to keep our souls. He does not rise and fall according to how strong our belief is. We may struggle to keep our faith. We may even cease to believe. But HE will always be faithful and true! Thank God, in the midst of this ever-changing world, we have a Saviour and Lord Who abides faithful.