email : Webview : Duane Brooks - Every Day with Jesus

September 25, 2017

Psalm 27:13-14

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

New International Version (NIV)

Don’t you love this Psalm? It has seen me through so many dark times. A few years ago I memorized it at Niagara Falls on a trip with Melanie and good friends. When I read the scriptures I see the faces of people who shared these truths with me. I remember Loy Brown who had the gift of giving. As I write I see on my shelf the volumes of Alford’s Greek Testament, a gift she gave me in 1981, my first year as her pastor. She gave another pastor friend a cassette-radio for his Chevette, because he had no radio. When he hesitated at her gift she told him he needed to learn how to receive.

When Loy was about my age, she was diagnosed with brain cancer. I visited her in her hospital room and read these very words to her: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” As her young pastor, I wanted to assure her that the Lord could heal her and that even in this life she would see God’s goodness. Not long later, she died. As I reflected on the text, I realized I had told her the truth. She does see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. It turns out we live in the land of the dying, but she went to be with the Lord in the land of the living.

As usual, Loy comforted us in those days reminding us that Paul said, “absent from the body, present with the Lord.” So we wait for the Lord. We are strong and we take heart. We wait for the Lord because he promises in Isaiah 40:31 to renew our strength so that we soar like eagles, run without becoming weary and walk without becoming faint. This is our hope.

Pray with me:

Father, we thank you for the good promises of your glorious word. We confess that we are homesick for the land of the living as we cling desperately to the land of the dying. What are we waiting for Lord? We wait for you. Give us your strength and help us to take heart, no matter what we face. Remind us again that your hope will sustain us, come what may. In Jesus, who is our hope, we pray. Amen.

I want to invite you to join me in memorizing 52 passages this year from the 2017 set of Fighter Verses. You can find the Fighter Verses App at the App Store on your phones or via this link http://fighterverses.com/the-verses/fighter-verses/. As we study the Bible this year, let's look at each text and learn what it says about God.

Joyfully,

Duane

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