August 23

Psalm 38, Job 8-11

As I was reading through today's Psalm, I stopped on verse 9 - "All my longings lie open before you, O Lord, my sighing is not hidden from you".  David goes on to describe his feelings of despair and loneliness -- I couldn't help but identify with his total exhaustion and desperation. David was totally spent and crying out to God.  I went back and reread the passage from Job.  In Job's desperation and despair he asks an interesting question --  "How can a mortal be righteous before God?"  When we're in that place as David describes it "my pain is ever with me" (v.17), that place like Job where nothing makes sense, all we feel is pain  and we are waiting for God to answer and not let our enemies gloat or our foot slip (v.16) how do we stand before God? Psalm 8:4 asks "what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" Paul gives us a piece of the answer.  "Christ died for our sins according to Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve".  There we have it -- because of what took place in Calvary and what happened three days later, we stand before God, covered in the blood of Christ, according to the Scriptures.  Our faith and everything that goes with it which will carry us into eternity, hinges on that belief.  Every time, in every circumstance, when we press into God through prayers like David, God takes us one step closer to who we were meant to be as He conforms us, and molds us like clay to His image which is our original design according to Genesis 1:27.  Paul told us yesterday in 1 Cor. 14:33 that "God is not a God of disorder but of peace". God is love. God is Sovereign. God allowed Job's trial (1:6-12). Even though our trials, like Job's, are far from "peace filled" as we go through them, Paul explains to us that "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile". Hold this truth close to your heart. God has a plan for each and everyone of us. Whatever page you are on in your life today, the Author had in mind when He wrote it.  Just as Job and David, we are fully known and loved by God. Let your longings lie open before Him. We stand righteous before the throne, covered in the blood of Christ.

Randi