February 2: Of Idiots and Perfect Days

Exodus 15:19-17:7

Matthew 22:1-33

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 6:20-26

At a discipleship group I attend, our pastor asked a question I'd not given much thought to recently: what would be your perfect day?  My earlier choices might been my wedding day, hearing my wife choose to be with me "till death do us part" - the words of my father in law to be, as he placed his daughter's hand in mine ("no returns, no exchanges") added an element of mirth to a day of happiness.  Or the birth of any of our children, and the indescribable mixture of awe and gratitude that accompanied their arrival.  

Today, my perfect day looks a bit different.  Today it's no longer about what I would like to be doing; it's what I would like to no longer have to do.  As a father and a husband, looking at how our world seems to be changing for the worse - how what is sinful is now celebrated, what is fact is now optional.  Today my perfect day is the day I will no longer have to worry about my family amidst all of this, about my children (perhaps, eventually, my grandchildren), about their relationship with God, relationship unclouded by the sinfulness of the world. And until that perfect day, I worry about them, I fear for them.

Today's psalm might as well have said "don't be an idiot".  

The Lord is my light and my salvation - 

     Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life - 

     Of whom shall I be afraid?

And today's OT reading was a reminder that God has manifest His dominion and His love for me and my family in so many ways.  As one may as well have told the Israelites when they complained about water after God had saved them from the Egyptians, then given them water, bread and meat in the desert, "don't be an idiot."

Father, for give me my persistent doubt in the face of Your persistent love, provision and mercy, and despite Your promises and Your faithfulness.  Teach me to see that the perfect day I long for is already here.