Psalm 73:23-26
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand,
How beautifully these verses sum up all that You are and my own response to You and Your love. Beloved, loving You and being loved by You gives meaning to my life. It gives it direction and purpose. Your perfect love for me kindles in me a responsive love, a love that cannot be passive but has to be demonstrated in action. Your love is dynamic and it sets to flames, it burns, it creates a thirst and a desire to spend more time alone with You to taste of Your sweetness and goodness in turn it makes me want to try harder to reflect You to my neighbour.
Job 19 19:21-27
21 Have pity my friends, have pity,
for God’s hand has struck me!
22 Why do you hound me as God does?
Will you never have enough of my flesh?
23 Oh, that my words were written,
or recorded on bronze
24 with an iron tool, a chisel
or engraved forever on rock!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he, the last, will take his stand on earth
26 I will be there behind my skin,
and in my flesh I shall see God.
27 With my own eyes I shall see him –
I and not another. How my heart yearns!
Beloved, help me never to be like Job's friends, they neither knew the true character of their friend Job nor did they know You. In Job's affliction they wounded him even more and made his trials heavier by their lack of understanding. But Job remained steadfast in his faith in You. When we are responsive to Your work in us, through sickness, loss, hardship and grief. If we trust You, believing that it is necessary for us to be tried like gold in the furnace, then we will be purified and in the end, we will become what You want us to be. A delight to God and to man. I love verse 27 which says, "With my own eyes I shall see Him - I and not another. How my heart yearns!" It sums up the hope of one day beholding You whom I love face to face in erternity. This is the restlessness, this the yearning, to be perfectly united with You.
Luke 10:1-12
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place, where he himself was to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest. 3 Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4 Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know.5 Whatever house you enter, first bless them saying: ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Stay in that house eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.
8 When they welcome you in any town, eat what they offer you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and say to them: ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’ 10 But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim: 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know and be sure that the kingdom of God had come to you.’ 12 I tell you that on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for this town.
Beloved, to know You, to love You, to be aware of all that You did to save us - this is perfect joy, yet, how few know or care. We need laborers who are on fire with love for You to go out and tell the world the Good News that there is a love and a life that can bring a new birth. It is You who call my Lord. The calling itself is a gift and this gift is then given away freely, the gift of self for the sake of Your Kingdom. Set young souls on fire with zeal to bring the Good News to a world that has lost its way. Your Word has power to heal and restore and give new life. Today we are nearer to eternity than we were yesterday, may time not run out before the labourers have brought in the whole harvest.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand,
24 you guide me on the way you chose
and your Glory brings me along.
25 I have no one in heaven but you;
on earth I desire nothing but you.
26 My flesh and my heart waste away
for you, O God, O my rock,
you are mine forever.
How beautifully these verses sum up all that You are and my own response to You and Your love. Beloved, loving You and being loved by You gives meaning to my life. It gives it direction and purpose. Your perfect love for me kindles in me a responsive love, a love that cannot be passive but has to be demonstrated in action. Your love is dynamic and it sets to flames, it burns, it creates a thirst and a desire to spend more time alone with You to taste of Your sweetness and goodness in turn it makes me want to try harder to reflect You to my neighbour.
Job 19 19:21-27
21 Have pity my friends, have pity,
for God’s hand has struck me!
22 Why do you hound me as God does?
Will you never have enough of my flesh?
23 Oh, that my words were written,
or recorded on bronze
24 with an iron tool, a chisel
or engraved forever on rock!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he, the last, will take his stand on earth
26 I will be there behind my skin,
and in my flesh I shall see God.
27 With my own eyes I shall see him –
I and not another. How my heart yearns!
Beloved, help me never to be like Job's friends, they neither knew the true character of their friend Job nor did they know You. In Job's affliction they wounded him even more and made his trials heavier by their lack of understanding. But Job remained steadfast in his faith in You. When we are responsive to Your work in us, through sickness, loss, hardship and grief. If we trust You, believing that it is necessary for us to be tried like gold in the furnace, then we will be purified and in the end, we will become what You want us to be. A delight to God and to man. I love verse 27 which says, "With my own eyes I shall see Him - I and not another. How my heart yearns!" It sums up the hope of one day beholding You whom I love face to face in erternity. This is the restlessness, this the yearning, to be perfectly united with You.
Luke 10:1-12
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place, where he himself was to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest. 3 Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4 Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know.5 Whatever house you enter, first bless them saying: ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Stay in that house eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.
8 When they welcome you in any town, eat what they offer you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and say to them: ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’ 10 But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim: 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know and be sure that the kingdom of God had come to you.’ 12 I tell you that on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for this town.
Beloved, to know You, to love You, to be aware of all that You did to save us - this is perfect joy, yet, how few know or care. We need laborers who are on fire with love for You to go out and tell the world the Good News that there is a love and a life that can bring a new birth. It is You who call my Lord. The calling itself is a gift and this gift is then given away freely, the gift of self for the sake of Your Kingdom. Set young souls on fire with zeal to bring the Good News to a world that has lost its way. Your Word has power to heal and restore and give new life. Today we are nearer to eternity than we were yesterday, may time not run out before the labourers have brought in the whole harvest.
Psalm 27:7-9, 13-14
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord,
have mercy on me and answer.
8 My heart says to you,
“I seek your face, O Lord.”
9 Do not hide your face from me
nor turn away your servant in anger.
You are my protector, do not reject me
abandon me not, O God my savior!
13 I hope, I am sure,
that I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous
– yes, put your hope in the Lord!
Beloved, all the readings of today, including your first verses of the day to me in Psalm 73 are so beautifully connected. Truly Your Word is a seamless garment. To see Your Face is what our heart yearns for. Our knowledge of You enables us to trust You completely and You will never let us down. You help us to be all that we can be. A light that shines on the hilltop. It is Your light that shines in us.
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