Day by Day

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"Peace Through Trust"

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3
   

Trust is demanding. Trust challenges our own competence. Trust is humiliating since it recognizes our dependence on the one we trust. So what's so good about trust?

Christian trust is rewarding beyond measure. For one thing, it takes an honest look at what we really are and makes us know ourselves and our need for help. That, then, leads us to look to Him in whom we trust to supply our wants and make up for our shortcomings, whether they be our inability to stand before the throne of God's justice or our weakness to bear life's burdens and our inadequacy for our tasks. Trust says with Saint Paul: "My God will meet all your needs" (Philippians 4:19).

And from this there comes into our hearts and lives God's own perfect peace, a peace that He Himself sends us through faith in His Son, the peace that will keep our hearts and minds in a security that is known only to one who trusts in Him.

So the new life in Christ is a life of trust. That is where we must begin to live. And in the measure in which we trust Him who loved us and washed us in His blood we shall be able to live out that new life to His glory and in His service.

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"Portrait of a Provider"

Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. John 6:11
   

When some of our fellow human beings have insufficient food, we sometimes dismiss their plight quickly and say, "It is their own fault; they have been careless." We ought to remember that we, too, on occasion were so engrossed in nonessentials that we have neglected the necessary.

The multitudes that followed the Master "saw signs," and their curiosity became aroused by the miracles. They forgot the time of day and the place -- uninhabited hills devoid of markets. In facing the problem of feeding the multitude, human resources could declare only the inadequacy of "eight months' wages" (John 6:7) and "five small barley loaves and two small fish" (John 6:9). But Christ, the provider, was not only the first to recognize the problem, but already He had the solution in mind. His gifts, then and now, are superior, unmeasured, and satisfying. The multitude "all had enough to eat" (John 6:2) while the remaining fragments "filled twelve baskets" (John 6:13). What providence!

Even when we are careless and inept, even when we are unconscious of our needs, even when we pursue lesser goals, Christ cares for us and graciously meets our needs. O wondrous love! That same love moved Him to lay down His life for us.

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"Jesus Was Puzzled"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Matthew 8:26
   

Experienced seamen plied the boat on the Sea of Galilee the night Jesus slept in the stern. At first they all held up bravely, but eventually they grew tired and weary, saying to themselves, "Won't He ever wake up?" At last, frantic with fear, they said, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" (Matthew 8:25).

The noise of the wind and waves didn't bother Him, but when the disciples turned to Him with a desperate prayer, He awoke and asked, "Why are you so afraid?" Before they could answer, He rebuked the wind and waves, and there was agreat calm. It's a fact, isn't it, that these men, who could have given many excellent reasons for their fears a few moments before, were silent now. Their fears were positively foolish in the presence of Jesus, who acted in calm confidence.

"Why are you so afraid?" Do you understand the lesson that Jesus wants to teach with this question? How often, like the disciples, we struggle against odds in our lives, forgetting to turn to Jesus, who always stands ready to help! Remember, if God so loved us that He gave His own Son to die for us, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things!

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"I Am With You"

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you." Isaiah 41:10
   

Here we have one of the many comforting "fear nots" in the Scriptures. When we say to a little child, "Don't be afraid," or to an adult, "Don't worry about it," we mean good for that person. But we often don't have the power to make the threatening thing go away. The dark room is still there. Our friend still needs the surgery.

But when our Lord says, "Do not fear," He has the power to either make the source of our fear disappear or to calm our quaking hearts so completely with His presence that our fear seems to have left us, and we are at peace.

"I am with you," says our Lord. Everywhere, every second, He knows where we are, and He is there to sustain us.

Since He is our God, we need never be dismayed. He gives strength; He helps us; He upholds us with His righteous right hand. With His divine power Jesus Christ defeated Satan and all his cohorts. Nothing can harm His redeemed, whom He purchased with His own precious blood. His victory is our victory. His promise holds: "I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

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"The Everlasting Arms"

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Deuteronomy 33:27
   

When we were babies, our mothers carried us in their arms. When they wearied, as we grew heavier, our fathers carried us in their arms. In the arms of either we felt secure. Now those arms are no longer underneath us. In a sense we are now "on our own."

Do we, then, no longer need arms underneath us? Quite the contrary. In our adult life we find ourselves time and again in situations in which we realize our utter helplessness and recognize, more than we could in our childhood, the need of strong arms to support us. "Lo, I sink, I faint, I fall" is the anguished cry that tells of our fears.

What a comfort, then, to know that the eternal God is our refuge and that underneath us in the storms of life are His everlasting arms! Whatever may be the nature of our distress, even when we brought it on ourselves by our own sinful folly, He will not fail us. For this eternal God is also our Savior. He has loved us with an everlasting love. He loves us to the end. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:. To Him let us go in every hour of need, assured that He will hear us as we pray.

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"In God We Trust"

"Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:4
   

A young girl awoke from her fitful sleep and cried out in the darkness. Her nightmare had sent shivers down her small frame. She felt alone and helpless. But as she cried out, she heard the familiar sound of her father's footsteps. She saw her bedroom door swing open and saw the face of her concerned father. He stepped to her bedside and gently brushed the hair from the young girl's face. The little girl smiled contentedly. There was nothing to fear; her father would protect her from the dangers of the night.

Our trust in God is similar to the little girl's trust in her father. When the trials of life lead us into situations that are as fearful as the nightmare of a little child, God asks us to trust in His continual protection.

God has always kept His Word. He promised to send the Savior to die for our sins and to rise again, and that promise was fulfilled. Through and in His Word we can see His loving face before us and feel the gentle touch of His hand. We are assured that God will use our trials and tribulations to our advantage. This is the everlasting truth on which our trust can rest.

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"Importance of the Individual"

Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house." Luke 19:9
   

We thrill when we read of Jesus' preaching to the multitudes in Judea and ministering to the thousands gathered by the Sea of Galilee. We behold with glad hearts the crowds that thronged about Him in Capernaum.

But how refreshing it is to also read in the Gospel record that amid the multitude in Judea He was not too busy to heal one leper! Or surrounded by the hungry crowd of people who came to hear Him preach by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus found time to use one boy to bless them all. And in the crowded house in Capernaum He stopped to heal one man who was let down through the opened roof.

Although besieged and mobbed by the multitudes, Jesus never lost sight of the value of one soul. How comforting it is to read of His conversation with a single Nicodemus; of His visit with one woman at the well; of his personal interest in little Zacchaeus in a sycamore tree; of the thief to whom He said, in view of His atoning death about to take place, "Today you will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). And regarding each one of us this is spoken: "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:7).

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"God is a Personal God"

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine." Isaiah 43:1
   

There are comparatively few true atheists in our day. Nearly everyone believes that there is a God. But there are many practical atheists -- people who live without God or as if there were no God.

God, we Christians believe, is an intensely personal God, deeply and vitally involved in everything that happens in our life. So deeply personal is God's involvement that even the very hairs of our head are all numbered.

This means that whatever might befall us today -- the illness, the bereavement, the trouble, the accident, the promotion, the salary raise -- is much more than merely a result of chance. God not only knows what is happening but also is concerned about it. He has a vital stake in our entire life.

You see, He has redeemed us. So intensely warm and personal is His relationship to us that He even has called us by our name. He lives in our home. He is at our side. He is with us really, personally, the very moment when we need Him most. That is why Jesus came to earth, when we were lost in sin and dead to God, to redeem us so that by faith in His atoning blood we might be saved. Today He calls us: Come and be healed.

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"A Life-Giving Savior"

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43
   

We could never find a greater depth of despair and hopelessness than we find in the two criminals crucified with Jesus. With their lives ebbing away in a fiendishly cruel execution, their hearts were filled with hatred and their mouths with curses. What a prelude to eternity!

But suddenly for one of the thieves, there was hope where no one could have dreamed of hope. Suddenly, he knew that beside him was his Savior and Redeemer, his Lord and God, who was bearing even his sins. Hardly daring to hope, he turned to his Savior and asked for help. He received help, incredible help.

For Christ it made no difference that the thief's life was one of crime, one in which little if any good had ever been accomplished. Our Lord saw his repentance, and He saw his faith. And that was sufficient. The thief's dying moments had been a prelude of horror to a horror greater still. Now those moments became a prelude, agonizing still, but to an eternity of glory.

When our sins overwhelm us and seem too great to be forgiven, we too can turn to our Savior in repentance and faith and receive from Him the same promise of forgiveness and never-ending life.

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"Barely Alive"

"A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out." Matthew 12:20
   

A grocer throws out the soft peaches and the wilted lettuce. An employer discharges the incompetent worker. We discard the inferior.

God isn't like that. He gives His attention to the weak, the brokenhearted, the enslaved, and the faltering ones.

Our faith may have been so buffeted by temptation that it's barely alive. We may be ashamed to face God because of the grave sins we have committed. God's grace reaches out also to those whose moral and spiritual condition seems to be hopeless.

The Gospel of God's redeeming love in Jesus is for all who are like a bruised reed or a smoking wick. God's power can undergird the faltering ones and give the floundering ones strength.

All who trust in Christ are God's children, and He reaches out His hand to them when they are almost down and out. He turns the bent reed into a flourishing plant and changes the smoking wick into a bright light. God never discards the weak as useless. No soul is worthless in His sight. Jesus died for all, including the weak and wavering. In His love and mercy He restores the weak.

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"Glory Through Affliction"

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17
   

The news is always a lesson in suffering. It tells us about sickness and disease, automobile accidents, train wrecks, and plane crashes that cost human lives. There are floods, famines, earthquakes, criminal violence, and the bloodshed of war.

What do all these things mean? Are we the victims of fate, the playthings of chance? Is there a vast indifference at the heart of the universe? Some say that whatever power may direct our lives, it is completely blind or at least beyond our understanding.

The Bible gives us a far happier view of life. It says that He who is called the supreme being of the universe is a wise and good God, who has a deep, personal interest in His people. Under His gracious control even affliction has value for us.

If we are in Christ, we can find meaning in our tears, purpose in our pain, and sense in our suffering. In Christ we too can say: "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." Christ was afflicted that we may be glorified.

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"We Have a Lord Who Heals Us"

Praise the Lord, O my soul ... who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:2-3
   

We have a Lord who is our great Healer. What a priceless blessing we enjoy if we have been granted a sound body and good health. Most often we fail to appreciate that gift until we lose it.

If we should lose it, what shall we say? Can we still enthusiastically bless the Lord? In seemingly endless pain and suffering, can we still bless Him who has promised to heal our diseases?

While our Lord walked this earth, He spent much of His ministry in healing bodily diseases. He has the same power to heal any and all of our illnesses today. But He may refrain from lifting such crosses when, in love, He has a purpose for allowing us to continue to suffer. His answer to our prayers may be a gentle and loving, "No, not yet."

But above all and without exception, He can and He will heal that which is in the greatest need -- our souls. He won our forgiveness at the cost of His own blood. When He forgives our iniquities, then we are truly whole. When our souls are healed, we can bear disease and pain, disability and weakness in whatever measure He allows. For in Him we have a vision of eternity. Through the life He gives us we can see the glory of life eternal and be forever healed.

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"The Joy of His Peace"

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. ...Do not let your hearts be troubled." John 14:27
   

These words of Jesus deserve to be written indelibly and unforgettably in our hearts: "In Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

The only truly happy people in the world are those who have the peace of Christ in their hearts. They have a secret peace of which the world knows nothing.

To illustrate this truth, we may think of beautiful Yosemite Valley in California. High up between the peaks and crags, storms rage in wild fury, but in the valley below placid calm prevails. Here the flowers bloom, graceful trees cast their shadow, and songs of birds fill the air. Greater is Christ's way of peace in every believing heart. Here in God's valley we enjoy the peace beyond understanding, the breezes of hope that gently blow from the peaks of paradise.

"God hates heavy and sorrowful feeling and loves cheerful hearts. He has sent His Son to cheer up our souls in Him. The apostles, prophets, Christ Himself, exhort us, yea, command us to rejoice and be glad" (Martin Luther).

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"Peace with God"

We have peace with God. Romans 5:1
   

A father and son are spending a night camping. The boy has pictured many possible dangers, but he feels that his father is stronger than any threat. His little heart may dread all sorts of evils. But he knows that his father is with him, and this gives him courage. In the midst of all his uneasiness he feels secure.

Before God we always remain children. The threatening dangers are greater than our strength. Take God away, and sickness becomes a never-solved why, death a fearful venture into the unknown. Our sins rob us of confidence. Our troubled conscience will not let us alone. We dread the judgment to come.

But what a difference it makes when we know that there is unmeasured strength to defend us, an impregnable refuge to which we can turn! We have all these when we have faith in Christ Jesus. He has proved the love that God has for us by going to the cross in our stead. There He proclaims peace to all who will accept it.

This peace with God is more than a tranquil feeling. It is a peace that God has established and that He has transmitted to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is our first and best treasure.

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"Broken Dreams"

"Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found." Job 20:8
   

The above words were spoken by Zophar, a friend of Job, to describe the fading life of a wicked man. They have meaning also for the Christian, for the Christian is not only a saint but also a sinner. The words speak to us as the end of each day forces us to add the subtotals of our life. The question we must answer as we take stock is not so much what lies ahead but what lies behind us.

At a time like this we dwell on our weaknesses and shortcomings, our sins of omission and commission. We recall also our unrealized hopes, unfulfilled longings, frustrated ambitions, and shattered dreams. Where have we gone wrong? What has really happened to change us in ways we did not anticipate and did not want? Sometimes we can pinpoint our answers with accuracy. More often than not, the answers are vague and elusive. We are left with two impressions -- very definite and very devastating: one, we have failed; two, we are under judgment for our failure.

Now is the time to listen to and believe the word of God: "But with You there is forgiveness" (Psalm 130:4). There is forgiveness because God made His sinless Son to be sin for us "so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That word gives us a new start for the week ahead. It bids us continue with Christian living -- with our hopes and dreams.