PSALM 77:7-9 -“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
THEME OF THE DAY. THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING “NO”. Today’s scripture offers us a great place to rest our hearts and minds during times of upheaval in our lives, emotional turmoil, and just experiencing the difficult realities of living in a fallen world. It offers to us two things that are quite appropriate for the times in which we live. In the first nine verses we are taught that even the best of believers struggle when life is hard. Give time over to immerse yourself in this Psalm. It opens with a believer who is experiencing one of the worst things a Christian will ever be called to endure – a seeking of God which is filled with a wide-range of emotions. He has confidence God will hear him (verse 1) but then everything “goes south” spiritually and in a hurry. Discomfort, doubt, emotional upheaval, unbelief, fear and a trouble in his soul so intense he cannot even speak (verse 2-9). He is close to believing the God he proclaims to believe in and trust is a God detached, disinterested, and not caring about him. Yet, he changes. His perspective changes beginning in verse 10 and carrying to the end. What we may learn from him is how a believer gets out of the unbelieving pits of despair and depression. He focuses on the greatness of God and ultimately he lands in the shepherding care of his God in verse twenty – You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. But I want us to go back to the middle of the Psalm.
In today’s scripture, we read five questions that if the answers are anything but a resounding “No”, we are a hopeless people who would do nothing but despair. Imagine if God measured and kept our relationship with Him conditioned on our obedience. Think with me that if we didn’t live a life of perfect obedience to God’s Word, all the actions in today’s scripture would come true. He would “spurn and show no favor forever, cease His steadfast love to us, forget to be gracious to us, and remain forever angry at us with His compassion totally shut up from us.” No words describe the horrific nature and experience if all those actions happened. But here comes the glorious truth; the glorious truth that words also cannot describe the depth of joy found in them. God will never spurn us, never be unfavorable to us, never stop showing us steadfast love, never take back a promise from us, never forget to show graciousness to us, never display one second of punitive anger toward us, and never shut up the flow of His compassion to us. And His “no” answer is not dependent upon our obedience. It is dependent upon one single thing – our union in Christ. This is captured well in the opening verses of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:3-5),
Friends, take time and mediate on Ephesians 1:3-14. Circle, highlight, underline, memorize, or whatever to get inside our hearts and minds the staggering truth that God, the Father, has placed us in His Son. Look for the words “in Christ Jesus, in Christ, in Him, and in the beloved.” If we haven’t discovered the ramifications and rich blessings of being in the Lord Jesus, change that starting today. It will be the greatest joy-producing truth we will ever experience.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your unchanging faithfulness, steadfast love, and unfailing promises.”
QUOTE: “Once a child of God, always a child of God regardless how we feel. Feelings change. God’s faithfulness won’t”