4/9/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
A luminary of American military history, General Thomas Jackson, was fond of citing Psalm 4:8. When asked how he could remain calm on the battlefield, with cannons roaring, bullets whistling, surrounded by pain and death, he would explain that he was a Christian and trusted in God. He was as safe in that situation as he was lying peacefully in his own bed at home. Nothing would harm him apart from God’s providential care. He would suffer no eternal harm because his God was the God of resurrection.
Why are we so ready to fear? Why are we moved to anxiety? We all are. Could it be that we don’t really believe that Jesus is the redeemer? Could it be that we don’t realize that Jesus, the one who rose from the dead, rose for us? Could it be that we don’t understand what it means to be an heir of eternity with Jesus?
Those are tremendous concepts. The fact is that we don’t understand them and never will. We can try, we can strive, we can agonize over our failings, we can be moved to repentance again and again. But we won’t actually grasp how great God’s salvation is or how trustworthy he is until we see him face to face in the last day. Until then it’s more a matter of seeing and hearing the words, trying to trust in God’s promises, and asking for faith and trust.
Maybe it would help if the prayer in verse 1 were answered? We cry out to God for deliverance, but we don’t seem to think he is answering. It’s because he has already answered, in the person and work of Jesus, God the Son. Truly, the Lord of all has answered our prayer. We have only to revisit it in the Gospels. May the Lord of all grace guard us in this life and to the next.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
A luminary of American military history, General Thomas Jackson, was fond of citing Psalm 4:8. When asked how he could remain calm on the battlefield, with cannons roaring, bullets whistling, surrounded by pain and death, he would explain that he was a Christian and trusted in God. He was as safe in that situation as he was lying peacefully in his own bed at home. Nothing would harm him apart from God’s providential care. He would suffer no eternal harm because his God was the God of resurrection.
Why are we so ready to fear? Why are we moved to anxiety? We all are. Could it be that we don’t really believe that Jesus is the redeemer? Could it be that we don’t realize that Jesus, the one who rose from the dead, rose for us? Could it be that we don’t understand what it means to be an heir of eternity with Jesus?
Those are tremendous concepts. The fact is that we don’t understand them and never will. We can try, we can strive, we can agonize over our failings, we can be moved to repentance again and again. But we won’t actually grasp how great God’s salvation is or how trustworthy he is until we see him face to face in the last day. Until then it’s more a matter of seeing and hearing the words, trying to trust in God’s promises, and asking for faith and trust.
Maybe it would help if the prayer in verse 1 were answered? We cry out to God for deliverance, but we don’t seem to think he is answering. It’s because he has already answered, in the person and work of Jesus, God the Son. Truly, the Lord of all has answered our prayer. We have only to revisit it in the Gospels. May the Lord of all grace guard us in this life and to the next.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
RSS Feed