Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"Always the Same"

Psalm 121:3-4 "He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

One of the things that all of us have in common is our inconsistency. We have our ups and downs, our good days and bad days. And because we continue to be both saint and sinner, we are not consistent in our response to God's grace. Sometimes we feel strong, sometimes weak. Too often we need to admit with Saint Paul that "what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:19).

Only God is perfectly consistent. He does not have ups and downs. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The psalmist reminds us that God's steadfast love endures forever. In the giving of His Son, God made a commitment that will never change. He has sealed His promise with the blood of Jesus.

We fall alseep on the job at times. Love cools and commitment wavers. Not so with God! He does not vary between strong times and weak times. Nor does He ever fall asleep on the job. There is no moment or situation when we are beyond His care -- not because we are so strong in holding on to Him, but because He is strong in holding us. He who keeps us will neither slumber nor sleep.

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"Written in Heaven"

Luke 10:20 "Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

We all look for reasons to rejoice and celebrate. It may be getting an A on a test, receiving an honor or award, winning a game, recovering from an illness, or moving into a new home. These and many more can be reasons for rejoicing and praising God.

At the top of each day's list of reasons for rejoicing is the precious knowledge our Savior gives us that our names are written in heaven. It does not matter how many or few reasons we may have for joy in our lives this day. We have something to celebrate. God knows our names. He has reserved a place for us with Him in heaven. Our names are listed among those who through faith in Christ will receive all the joys and blessings of eternal life.

May this truth be what always gives us the greatest joy in life! May the joy and the hope of knowing that our names are written in heaven sustain and help us through days when sadness or difficulty leave us no other reason for rejoicing! To have our names written in heaven is reason enough to rejoice, even in time of trouble.

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"We Have a Lord Who Knows Us"

John 10:3 "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out."

We have a Lord, a Lord who owns us body and soul. We have a Lord who holds our lives in His hands. Were we His impersonal, unknown subjects, we would have cause to fear. Were He a proud and imperious ruler, well could we tremble.

But we have a Lord who knows us. His wisdom is past our understanding. He knows all things. Most important for us, He knows us. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knows each one of us by name.

He knows us as people. Thought we are but dust, He knows us as priceless, immortal souls. Though the star-filled universe makes us like a grain of sand, He knows us as the crown of all creation. Though our sins present us as enemies, rebels filled with the ugly fruits of Satan, yet He knows us as sheep for whom He was willing to die.

He knows who we are and what we are. But most important, He knows us for what we can be in and through His power and love. He knows us for what we will be, by His grace, in the endless reaches of God's eternity. He knows us as children of our heavenly King. He had each one of us personally in mind when He came to redeem us and to make us His very own, when He went to Calvary to purchase us with His own blood.

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"Hold Me, Please!"

Psalm 18:35 "Your right hand sustains me; You stoop down to make me great."

At two o'clock in the morning a little child is awakened by the discomfort of a high temperature and pleads: "Mommy, please hold me!" How comforting such holding is! the child is still ill, but wrapped in Mother's arms, healing, rest, and sleep come more easily.

All of us find ourselves at times in a night of pain and suffering, which leaves us feeling crushed and overwhelmed. Then we reach for the precious Word of our Lord and receive its assurances into our hearts. There comes the realization that we may join David in exclaiming: "Your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great."

Each time the Holy Spirit revives our faith, we realize that we are being held, sustained by the mighty hand of our God. Each time, through Word and Sacrament, we are impressed with the glorious truth of the forgiveness of our sins for the sake of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that our Lord is stooping down to make us great. We have good reason for pleading with our Lord; "Please hold me!" As we are held in the forgiving arms of our Lord, we are encouraged to hold others by giving them the great word of forgiveness.

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"Dealing With Doubt"

Mark 9:24 "Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'"

Many believers have experienced moments when they were not quite sure of their faith. With all their accumulated knowledge, all their broadening "education," and with the "tune of the times" dictating much of their thinking, they have wondered if they can still sing with the children of their Sunday school class: "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so."

Yes, you and I can still sing that hymn and mean it -- if we maintain the attitude of the man quoted in the above Scripture passage. He had asked the Lord to cure his son, who was suffering from a severe mental disorder. In response the Savior asked: "Do you believe I can?" To which the man replied: "Yes, Lord, I believe; please help me deal with my doubts and disbelief." And the Lord healed the man's son!

It was not the father's faith, weak or strong, that saved the boy. It was the strong Lord. And we may be sure that in the process the faith of the father was mightily strengthened. Let us always remember: we are not saved by the strength of our faith; we are saved by the redeeming love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we trust whatever the circumstance of life may be.

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"Hold on to Christ"

Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

According to Old Testament law a man who had unintentionally killed someone could flee for safety to the temple in Jerusalem and hang on to the horns of the altar of burnt offering. These horns were actually projections resembling horns that were placed at the corners of the altar.

The horns of the altar, as well as the altar itself, were considered places of absolute safety. The person who grabbed the horns was appealing to the pardoning power and grace of God.

For New Testament Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ is our refuge. Because God sacrificed His Son on the altar of the cross, we are assured that all our sins are forgiven.

As we cling to Jesus in childlike faith, looking to Him as the beginner and fulfiller, the author and perfecter of our faith, no one can harm us. We are in absolute safety.

With Saint Paul we can confidently declare that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Our hold on Christ is firm.

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"If God be for Us"

Romans 8:31 "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

The apostle's question comes after a recital of all God has done to bring us to Himself. In eternity He foreknew us and chose us in Christ to be His children. In time He called us to faith, through the Gospel. Having brought us to faith, He declared us just and righteous in His sight. He also glorified us, the full state of glory awaiting us in heaven.

How do we know that God will carry out His purpose to the end? May not our enemies intervene to set aside God's good and gracious will? Saint Paul answers with a counterquestion: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

This is not to say that we don't have opposition, for we do. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and the sword may try to separate us from the love of Christ, but to no avail. God is for us, and so this opposition fails.

With God for us, even we ourselves--everything we are or have done to defy Him--all our sins, our evil, our unbelief cannot keep Him from coming to us. In Jesus Christ, His Son, God takes our sins, needs, and weaknesses into and upon Himself, that we might be forgiven and reconciled with Him. In Christ God has found us--found us when we sought Him not. Now no one can be effectively against us.

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"Do You Feel Let Down?"

Joshua 2:15 "She (Rahab) let them down by a rope through the window."

Have you ever had your back to the wall? Look at the Israelites: desert to the left and to the right. Behind them were the armies of Egypt coming to capture them. God spoke to Moses: "Tell the Israelites to move on" (Exodus 14:15). They went forward into the Red Sea. The waters parted. Their backs had been to the wall, and God saved them.

Joshua's spies also had their backs to the wall. Soldiers were searching for them and came near the rooms in Jericho's wall where the men were hiding. Rahab lowered them by a rope down the outside wall. In Matthew 1:5 Rahab is listed as an ancestor of the Savior.

David's wife Michal helped him escape through a window when her father, King Saul, wanted to kill him. Paul was let down in a basket over the wall of Damascus when enemies sought to get him.

When our backs are to the wall, God can provide unusual ways out. So just trust the Lord! He may not save us by a rope or a basket, but He tells us that He will never send us more than we can bear. He will always provide a means of escape. If we feel "let down," He can pick us up. If our backs are to the wall, He will save us. As sinners we were in dire distress, but God sent Jesus Christ to save us.

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"Who Can do the Impossible?"

Matthew 15:33 "His disciples answered, 'Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?'"

There can be no question about it. No one can feed 4,000 people with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish! It's absurd to even consider the possibility! Unless -- unless less the one who determines to do so is the ruler of heaven and earth. Then every protesting tongue must fall silent.

The disciples were sincerely logical in their protest. Jesus was dynamic and immediate in His response. The 4,000 were fed. Seven loaves of bread and a few fish filled every stomach, with food to spare, because He willed it so. "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

But why does the human mind find this miracle impossible to believe? There is no other reason than pride. We can't do it, and pride insists that what we can't do no one can -- God or man. Yet the history of God's work in the lives of humankind is a recitation of the impossible accomplished. Where humanity stands overwhelmed, God easily succeeds. God's dynamic "Let there be!" mystifies human insistence on creation painfully progressing for eons. God's intrusion into history with the sacrifice of His Son makes humankind's struggle to become acceptable to God unnecessary. Humanity's "impossible" is God's signal to act. And He acts powerfully.

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"Life on Hold"

Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

After our new office phone system was installed, a representative from the company instructed us on the operation of the phones. In describing the "hold" button, she mentioned that when you are on hold, it sometimes seems like an eternity. And she is right!

When we are put on "hold," we fidget, we doodle, and we may pace--but mostly we wait.

Sometimes in life it seems that somebody pushes the "hold" button. We want to move ahead, but life is saying wait! We want all our questions answered, but life is saying not yet. We want our dreams fulfilled, our hopes realized, but for some reason they are not.

The question is "What shall we do when life puts us on "hold"? The answer is: "Hold on!" When we come to one of life's holding times, we shouldn't hang up; we should hang on. And we can hang on because of Jesus, who hung on the cross to enable us to know that even in the holding times of life, God is for us and not against us. Therefore, sooner or later the lines will click open, and life will go on. So, "hold on!" "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

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"The Secret of Contentment"

Philippians 4:11 "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

No matter what life threw at him, the apostle Paul was content. He had to learn the secret, but he did learn it. The secret was total trust in the Lord's love and wisdom. This made him quite independent of circumstances.

In times of trouble God's trusting child may say: (1) God brought me here; it is by His will that I am in this trouble; (2) God will give me strength to behave as His child, trusting in His love and wisdom; (3) God will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons I need for my growth; (4) In His good time He can bring me out again; how and when, He knows.

So, child of God, when your turn comes to "face the arrows of outrageous fortune," make up your mind to say, "I am here (1) by God's appointment; (2) in His keeping; (3) under His training; (4) for His time."

To be content under His care, we must believe God's promise to make all things even the most grievous losses and painful trials, work together for the final good of His beloved, believing children. That is His promise to all who are reconciled through Christ.

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"The Use of Adversity"

Psalm 119:75 "I know, O Lord, that Your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness You have afflicted me."

There are lessons we cannot learn in the light but which become obvious in the darkness. Adversity is a form of that darkness. It is the means our loving God employs to open our eyes to the reality of His goodness to us.

Afflictions are to our moral and spiritual life what periods of rest are to our bodily life. They stop the rush; they affirm that there is something more important than self-interest; they give opportunity for reviewing and rethinking. God tells us that His work of grace can be carried on through trials. To train children, parents use discipline involving correction. Faithful fathers and mothers must be chasteners.

God is committed even more than earthly parents to nurture in us a high moral and spiritual character through adversity. The psalmist shows great understanding of his God when he declares that in God's afflictive measures he sees His faithfulness. He notes that God's purposes are always for our good.

Our Savior Jesus Christ lived under the Father's deep chastening of suffering and death on our behalf. As His redeemed children we mature spiritually, using adversity for God's intended purpose in us.

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"Disciplined by Grace"

Psalm 94:12,14 "Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, the man You teach from Your law;...For the Lord will not reject His people."

Webster's dictionary defines the verb discipline as "to punish and to teach." It is interesting that a word that has as its root the idea of molding a person through instruction should, over the years, acquire the idea of punishment as its primary definition.

In our text, the psalmist tells us that we are blessed when we are disciplined by God. Does he mean that we are punished by God? Hardly! As children dearly loved by Him, He may chastise us--and we certainly may need it! But God does not punish us Christians in anger. He has already vented His wrath on His own Son, our Lord Jesus, who willingly went to the cross so that we would be spared the punishment our sins deserve. This is divine grace at its best!

And now, having been reconciled to our heavenly Father, we can truly enjoy the blessings He has in store for us and live secure in the fact that we are loved by Him -- loved so much that He will never reject or forsake us, so much that He will be by our side constantly to watch over us and keep us safe.

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"God's Willingness to Listen"

Psalm 138:3 "When I called, You answered me; You made me bold and stouthearted."

We need not worry about the problems we face daily, for Jesus, out of love, will gladly carry them for us. God's Word for today assures us that we have a ready listener--One who does not get bored with our constant pleading, but who listens and answers our prayers in the best possible way for us.

Quite often, one of our biggest frustrations results when people are so involved with their own concerns and affairs that they do not have time to listen when we are hurting or despairing. Sometimes even our loved ones may turn a deaf ear to our words. This only makes us hurt more and wonder if anyone cares.

At such times, we do well to remember that our Lord Jesus has promised to hear us and to answer our prayers. He is always close by and never too busy -- never too tired to offer us His word of comfort. He makes our hearts bold and strengthens us so we can face the difficulties and heartaches that life sends our way. He is always by our side, ready to support and defend us as we struggle with our flesh, the world, and the devil. He is our gracious Savior.

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"Secret Sins"

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Psalm 44:20-21

Sometimes I wonder if anybody can keep a secret. That thought went through my mind last week when the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) released hundreds of once top-secret documents. Those pages, taken from twenty-five years of their history, told of how the organization spied on people in the United States, got involved with kidnappings, attempted assassinations, and hired the mafia to poison Cuba’s President Castro. Things that were supposed to be state secrets were now part of the public record open for any and everyone to read.

People can’t keep secrets. “Deep Throat” revealed the secrets of Nixon’s Watergate break-in. Monica Lewinsky revealed President Clinton’s secrets. Anyone who knew her seems ready to talk about the secret life and thoughts of Princess Diana, and we’re all overwhelmed as the media force-feeds us information concerning the secrets of the young trendsetters like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsey Lohan.

Even though it seems nobody can keep a secret, that doesn’t mean we don’t try to prevent parts of our lives from being scrutinized. That’s understandable. We should be ashamed of our sinful natures. Since first-time sinners Adam and Eve were conscience-convicted of wrongdoing, humanity has been trying to keep their sins secret. It’s why we continue to try and hide ourselves from the Lord.

Now, it may be theoretically possible to fool all of the people all of the time and convince them we’re pretty good folks, but the omniscient Lord knows better. The 44th Psalm is very clear when it says, “He (the Lord) knows the secrets of our hearts.” God knows the darkness and doubt, and the sin and sorrow that reside within us. He knows of and wishes to free us from the condemnation and damnation our sins have deserved. The Father sent His Son into this world so we might be forgiven. The Savior lived, died, and rose so that we might be saved.

Because God has seen us, loved us, and redeemed us, our secret sins are set aside and forgiven. Because the Holy Spirit has given us faith in the Savior, we will be able to stand before our Divine King on Judgment Day and hear Him declare us innocent.