Devotion - Wed, Jan 30

At night, I have been reading Khled Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Author of The Kite Runner, Hosseini is once again telling the story of life in Afghanistan during the years of Russian domination, the rise of the Taliban, and the eventual arrival of US military. It is a wonderfully written book; it is a painful depiction of despair and hardship. And yet, the characters go on. They find happiness. They find opportunity for joy.

For the past three mornings, I have been reading Psalm 27:7-14. It speaks of deliverance, of God's deliverance.

It is the concluding verse which links my readings together:

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

The Psalmist offers a prayer in which he locates his reasons for trust in God not only in eventual, eternal salvation - but in a deliverance which comes "in the land of the living."

The invitation (and promise) from our God is that we will find our lives redeemed. We will discover ourselves being lifted up. We will see the goodness of our Lord. And we will experience these things in our lives, now.

There will remain hardship; there will be suffering; there will be heartbreak. But the presence of these things in our lives now, should not prevent us from looking for the blessings of God's hand, on this side of the resurrection.

God is with us. God is for us. God will care for us and lift us up, removing our sorry and wiping away our tears.

Pastor Chris