DAILY DEVOTIONAL – June 4, 2021

“I’m Still Here”

Prayer: Jesus, in the midst of the madness of this world, we come to You and pray the prayer of the father who came to You in fear as his son was mad and possessed by a demon, “Lord, I believe.  Help me in my unbelief!”  Amen.

Devotional – “I’m Still Here”

There is a question that I believe has been asked by every single person who has ever been alive.  It’s a question that is asked by atheists and those who reject the very idea of God.  It’s a question that is asked by Christians, whether they are new or nominal believers, or well-studied pastors and scholars.  The question I am talking about has been asked by the faithful throughout the Bible.  Everyone from Job, to Moses, to Abraham, to King David, to the disciples, has looked up to the heavens and asked, “Where is God in all of this?”

We do not need to wonder at all about where God is.  The same God who was with Moses and the Israelites as they trembled in between the mountains of Migdol and the Red Sea, with nowhere to go as Pharaoh’s armies barreled down upon them, is with you.  As He parted the Red Sea, so He has provided salvation for us in the arms of Christ spread wide on the cross.

The same God is with you who was with Joseph as he was betrayed by his brothers, enslaved and imprisoned, but who through his faithfulness to God and in the promises of God even through his hardships was exalted to be ruler over all of Egypt (second only to Pharaoh himself), and was redeemed before his own brothers and father, saying to his brothers who sold him, “What you meant for evil against me, God made for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” – Genesis 50:20.  This same God still turns evil to good today, even now, in His time and in His perfect way.

The same God who was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they remained faithful to God as they were thrown into the furnace for their faith and refusal to bend the knee to Nebuchadnezzar, but who did not burn up as “one like the Son of Man was with them”, is also with us.  The same God who closed the mouths of lions for Daniel, the same God who delivered David from Goliath and Saul, the same God who saved a remnant of Israel through Babylonian and Assyrian captivity, the same God who delivered Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah, and the same God who remained faithful to His perfectly faithful Son Jesus, even as He prayed in distress in Gethsemane and suffered the cross for you and me, is with us and has delivered us through the resurrection of His Son Jesus.  This risen Jesus tells us, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33.

Jesus, who was perfect in every way, who healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry, and even raised the dead, suffered the greatest injustice of all being treated as a criminal.  But through it all, He knew.  He absolutely knew and trusted that God was with Him and would deliver Him even from death itself.  And that is exactly what happened!

Jesus never mislead us or gave us false hope.  This world is sinful.  Full of evil and wickedness.  There will be suffering and turmoil.  Why does God let this happen?  Because He is gracious and loving, patient and gracious even to the wicked so that those who would have ears to hear the good news will hear while there is still time before the Last Day comes upon us like a thief in the night.  Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 3:8, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”  Because God has already secured our deliverance and salvation, He helps us endure this world for the sake of saving all who would come to faith.

As we look through the pages of Scripture, one thing is made perfectly clear about God: He is always with us.  God comes into our mess with us, to burden our sin for us, to take our anxieties from us, and exchange them for the peace and assurance of knowing our life and salvation is secure because of the horrific price He paid for our sins and His glorious resurrection from the dead that has already delivered us from sin, death and the devil.  When we look to the cross and the empty tomb and see the Lord Jesus who walked in our place and remember His words from the cross that “it is finished,” when we believe in Him and put our faith in Him and Him alone, it is then we are able to see exactly where God is in all of this.  He is right here with us.  Just as He has always been.

Thanks for joining me for another time of devotion in God’s Word, and remember my friends, God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of all of your tomorrows.  Amen.