Episode 35: 3/27/09

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Readings:

Psalm 107:1-32
Jeremiah 23:1-8
Romans 8:28-39
John 6:52-59

Sermon:

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. ”
Psalm 62:1-6

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

It is on a solid rock that we, in our faith, must find our foundation, knowing that there we will find our strength and our salvation, that, as the waters of this world rise and the tides beat against us, we may know that we will have our refuge, protected by the love, grace, and mercy of our Lord through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Let’s face it, the world around us, it’s never been a simple place, nor has it been easy for us to abide in, dwelling amidst its stumbling blocks, finding its constant barrage of temptations, seeing the iniquity of our sins and knowing that, though we try, each of us, each and every one of us, we miss the mark and fall short of the glory of God. It can be overwhelming, hard and harsh, full of trials and tribulations that weigh on our very soul, seeking to rob us of our peace and comfort, hoping that we do not endure the race.

It’s a tale as old as time itself…

Consider the story of Adam and Eve and that fall from Paradise as the temptations placed in front of them seemed so overwhelming that they abandoned their trust in God, searching not for His enlightenment or wisdom but rather the knowledge of this world and all the possibilities that they believed it held. Finding it easy to stumble and fall even when all that they needed was right there in front of them, provided to them by the Lord, they would trade His peace and His comfort somehow believing that there could be more out there for them, even when the truth was that all it did was cause them a world of hurt and pain.

Yet, even there, even amidst that first disobedience, God would offer unto them a foundation, a rock that they might anchor their souls to, showing that His grace and His mercy endures forever. Though His judgment through the law condemns, His justice is based in compassion and love, giving a path unto salvation to all who have fallen, never abandoning them, even when they, through their own acts, deserve nothing but the full sentence of His wrath.

Absolution and redemption are never far off within the love that the Lord has for all of us.

It would be a trust that Job would settle his soul amidst even as the turmoil of evil waged unrestricted war against his spirit. Nothing… nothing… whether in life or in death… could rob him of that salvation that he knew he would gain in the precious love of His Heavenly Father and the Redeemer, that Messiah prophesied of even at the time of the fall, who was to come. Come what may, come what must, that man from Uz would refuse to let himself be robbed of His salvation, of his redemption, knowing that though his body could be bruised and broken, though they might be able to take his goods, his possessions, his family, though they may be able to take all he had in this world, they would never be able to rob him of the love that God had for him.

And how much more should we see His miracles, His love, His mercy, His salvation in our own lives. After all, these are our days, not the far distant days of those saints who had come before; those prophets and apostles, those saints and men of God who would rise up in the stories we read of in the bible, according to His will and His design.

Yet, the simple truth of the matter is that we are always the last to see it. We look at our lives and we look at our condition thinking to ourselves this isn’t what I had planned or this isn’t the way that I thought things were going to be. We look around when things don’t seem to go right or when they don’t go the way we had hoped, and we say to ourselves where’s God in all of this? At times we even think He’s not there, either He was never there or He abandoned us to the world and all of the troubles of it.

It is then, in those moments though, that we, as the Psalmist once did, have to cling to the salvation we are given in the Lord through His Son Christ Jesus, it is then that we have to lay hold of the faith we called to in the Spirit with greater strength and vigor, drawing it closer to us as we struggle, knowing we have an ever faithful God who will always be our sure foundation, regardless of what may happen, regardless of what the world may throw at us and the troubles we may find ourselves amidst. That must always be our refuge, that must always be our shelter through the storm.

Just because we say God isn’t there or just because we may struggle doesn’t mean He loves us any less or that He’s not actually there for us. He never fails, nor does He forsake. So wait, holding fast to your faith in all that you are and all that you do, trusting in Him, knowing that He is always going to be there for you, and that when the road is at its worst, when the challenges seem to mount up, when the flood seems to be upon you, ready to wash you away, He is right there beside you to lift you up, to carry you along and to heal the wounded, broken places in your spirit and in your soul.

That, dear brothers and sisters, is our God, a Heavenly Father who loves each of His children, giving unto them the strength they need in their lives as that rock of ages that never erodes and never washes away. We are His and He is ours, and His mercy for us endures forever.

Now, may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.