Daily Devotional – May 12, 2020

Well, good afternoon, we have officially passed the half-century mark more than 50 days in this semi lockdown condition, so does that does that seem a little bit like eternity to you or Does this feel more like time has just flown by.

I wonder how you're approaching and feeling with the time Factor in this lockdown. Now. I was reading an interesting article yesterday about how we're perceiving time through this pandemic. And the title of the article was why time feels so weird right now it pointed out that March was 30 years long and April was 30 minutes long.

What gives with that was the question? Is that how you felt to that the first half of March? Just seemed to go like a long time and then Sped on by and you got into April and before you knew it you were turning the calendar page to May.

Well, you know we pastors live with a sense that Sunday is always coming wake up Monday morning and you realize huh Sunday is coming it's gonna be here before you know it, but it honestly it seemed to me in these last few weeks that It just before I know it.

I'm getting ready for that next online service on Sunday morning. Well this time warp stuff has created some rather interesting challenges for us. Hasn't it one of my friends noted, you know, some days I really amaze myself with how on top of it all I am other days I'm looking for my phone while I'm talking on it.

Have you ever done that? Well That's probably due to information load by the way one of the factors that article I was reading pointed out that contributes to this strange feeling of time is just the Overwhelming amount of information that we have to take in or that we are taking in all related to this This pandemic.

Well, there's just so much information to sort through isn't there? And in fact, I don't know about your phone, but my cell phone is so full of Information on this virus that it doesn't vibrate and it doesn't ring anymore.

It just it just coughs. Well I hope that's the only thing that coughs in my household. Well, we've been allowing the hundred and twelfth psalm these last few days to encourage us and I want to wrap up our time in this psalm looking at one more of the blessings that we can count on in spite of the Panic-demic that is we who fear the Lord and delight in his word.

Just a reminder that the the psalm was written during some kind of darkness some kind of period of crisis. We don't know what the crisis was but the psalmist speaks of light shining in the darkness and Whatever that crisis was it certainly wasn't identical to the one we're going through.

The Blessing of Illumination in Psalm 112

But the psalm nevertheless offers some pretty timely encouragement. We've already looked at two of the blessings promised to the person who fears the Lord and delights in his word. One of them was Illumination.

As I mentioned verse 4 says light dawns in darkness for the upright. So in the midst of all the darkness that's going on in our world right now. There is a promise of light for those who fear the Lord.

I suggested there are three rays of light that can help us as we make try to make sense of what's going on in our world and try to navigate through the Panic-demic. One of those rays is that evil people exist at all levels of society.

We're seeing this in the political arena right now, aren't we with? Who knows where all of this? Investigation into the the Russia spy gate thing is going to take take us. I have no idea but I but what's clear in it is That it doesn't matter what level of society you look at evil people are there and and that may end up proving to be true.

Before all is said and done in this pandemic the second ray of light is that God rules Everything there's nothing outside of his control and the third ray of light is that ultimately? Truth is going to prevail and God wins.

Stability, Legacy, and a Firm Heart

So that was the first ray of light illumination the second ray of light or the second blessing for those who fear the Lord the upright is Stability and legacy. We read of this in verse 6. Verse 6 says for the righteous will never be moved.

He will be remembered forever. So by God's grace in a crisis like this You're not you're not moved off of your life's foundation. What you know and hold to be true now there's a lot that can jostle you there's a lot that can try to shake you but Verses 7 and 8 go on to say he is not afraid of bad news.

His heart is firm trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady. He will not be afraid. I Trust that's your Experience right now that as you're trusting in the Lord you find that your heart is firm. It's established.

It's steadfast. Well, that's the stability half of the blessing. The other half comes later. I mean, maybe even after your lifetime you'll leave behind a legacy. Verse 6 says he will be remembered forever.

Verse 9 says his righteousness endures forever. His horn is exalted in honor. Now by the way, I read just this morning about the legacy of some ministers in Washington DC in the context of the Spanish flu epidemic that broke out a hundred years ago in our country and at that time just like in our time Churches had been closed.

They'd been closed for four weeks. And finally after that month-long closure during the epidemic Churches were allowed to reopen again and the first Sunday back the this article profiled three different pastors an Episcopal minister a Baptist minister and a Presbyterian minister.

That almost sounds like one of those jokes, right? You know these three. Yeah anyway. So on the first Sunday back the Episcopal minister in his sermon Railed on the government for treating churches as non-essential just railed on him.

He had a harsh and angry tone. The Baptist minister had the same criticism, but he just wasn't quite so harsh and Then the Presbyterian minister now again we're talking about the legacy the and the article gave the names of these pastors and their churches and and You could look back and this is the legacy they left behind from that experience the Presbyterian minister.

He actually spoke pretty favorably of the the cautious Judicious approach to closing all public gatherings in order to mitigate the spread, but then he said this. He said God knows what he is doing. His work is not going to suffer.

It will rather be a help to it in the end out of it I believe great good is coming all the churches as well as the community at large are going to be Stronger and better for this season of distress through which we have been passing.

I find that I find that a very Very encouraging response to that. I mean here a hundred years later. We can say the same thing. How could he say such a thing his theology informed him his faith? Informed his response and because of his faith that gave him that response He was able to make such a statement that actually proved to be quite true.

What a legacy to leave behind anyway. So the blessings the blessing of illumination the blessing of stability and legacy and then lastly the blessing of ultimate victory. Listen to these couple of verses from Psalm 112 verse 8 says his heart is steady.

He will not be afraid now get this part until he looks in triumph On his adversaries. And then verse 10 says the wicked man sees it. That is the exaltation of the righteous. Spoken of in verse 9 the wicked man sees that exaltation of the righteous and is angry.

He gnashes his teeth and melts away. The desire of the wicked will perish. Okay, so here's the thing even though there are evil people at all levels of society and Even though this Panic-demic may be rooted may may be rooted in evil intent from somewhere, you know from communist China from some secret group of people, you know, whatever even though this pandemic may be rooted in evil intent and Even though the wicked one Satan wants to use this crisis and the various responses to it to further his cause conquering and dividing and conquering people and Even though he may want to cause harm to Christ Church and his people listen.

The righteous will ultimately look in triumph on his adversaries the desire of the wicked will perish. All right. So listen take some encouragement from Psalm 112 written during a time of crisis a time of darkness and Glean from this song these three blessings and I trust that you'll find them to be yours to illumination stability and legacy and ultimate ultimate victory well as we Carry on through this time and just wait for Wait for things to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Let's keep our faith strong and firm let's keep our heart established on our God and his truth and Ultimately, we'll find he prevails. He will and so will the righteous. So our Father in our God we thank you today for the encouragement of Psalm 112, I pray that this would in this would strengthen us and give us the courage and confidence to move forward with faith and strength and Stability in this world in these days this we pray in Jesus name.

Amen. All right. Well, you have a good rest of your Tuesday beautiful day outside again Let me encourage you get that vitamin D. Enjoy some sunshine today. And look forward to seeing you seeing you this time tomorrow.

Have a good day. God bless.