Page 19 - Living light - The Psalms

Mon June 17 - Merciful Redeemer whose hand is on me
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Psalm 139:5-6
The fateful day when Adam and Eve listened to Satan and chose to disobey God did not end as usual, walking with him through the garden of Eden. Instead, they hid from him. Sin does that. Isaiah 59:2 (NLT) says, ‘It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.’ Being the righteous judge over all Creation, God cannot ignore wrongdoing. The penalty for sin is death, so having turned away from God, we owed a debt we could not pay, with no way to earn his forgiveness. The ‘Passion Translation’ says, ‘You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me the harm of my past’ (v 5).
The gospel message is that God the Father’s tender unstoppable love for everything and everyone meant that he made a way to bring us home! It cost everything, as Christ laid down his majesty to come to earth and suffer to save us, bearing the sins of the whole world and opening the gates of heaven to all who believe. The One from whom we were separated refused to give up on us. He is the Shepherd searching and watching out for the lost sheep. When this knowledge dawns on us it might seem incredible. But may it become wonderfully real to our hearts!
Lord Jesus, we are eternally grateful that you went to the cross so we could be forgiven and adopted into God’s own family. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for relentlessly pursuing us in love. Amen.
Tues June 18 - Good Shepherd who follows after me
...if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:9-10
In 1890, Francis Thompson wrote ‘The Hound of Heaven’, a dramatic poem about God’s pursuit of the human soul running from him – inspired by his own experience of rebellion against a Christian upbringing, and despair that led to opium addiction. It begins, ‘I fled him, down the nights and down the days; I fled him, down the arches of the years; I fled him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears, I hid from him.’ The Lord caught up with him though! Francis was befriended by a Christian couple, also poets, who nursed him back to health, and to rediscovery of the loving Shepherd who had never stopped following after him.
Your story and mine are probably less dramatic, but looking back perhaps we see times of difficulty when God refused to let us go and brought us home again. Maybe today you feel ‘on the far side of the sea,’ crying out; “God, where are you?” People find themselves in this kind of situation for many reasons, feeling alone and disorientated, separated from those they love and no longer able to live in the way they have always done. Perhaps this is your experience?
Jesus went to the cross to bring us home. So, however you are feeling, tell him and reach out to grasp his hand, that is ready to guide and hold you fast.
Loving Saviour, please help anyone feeling far away to turn to you for rescue and restoration today. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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