I am “her that halteth.” I want to run with diligence but am so easily distracted, deterred, so weak, and full of fear. I praise God for his promise to “save her that halteth” (Zeph. 3:19, KJV). I praise God for the gospel. I praise God that His ways are not my ways, that His ways are so far higher than my ways. I would never willingly lay down my life for an enemy. Jesus did. We were all His enemies at one time. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Col. 1:21-22, NIV). There is no greater love.
I praise God for Paul and for Elijah and for Timothy. I thank Him for showing us so clearly who they all were apart from the Spirit of God. This gives me great hope. This helps me see that Jesus is my only hope. This gives me gratitude and humility for the gift of the Holy Spirit for apart from Christ I can do nothing. I praise God that when Psalm 73:21-22 is so true of me (“When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you“) that Psalm 73:23-26 comes right after in deliverance – “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
There is no greater gift than the gift of faith, the gift of our salvation. There is no one good, no not one. We all deserved to be eternally condemned to destruction. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…” (Ehp. 2:4-5). This is the reason we must fan into flame the gift of God which is in us. We must put our faith in Christ alone. There is no soundness in our flesh. It is a lie that we control anything. God alone is the Sovereign Lord. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all thing were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17).
Holy Father, grant us repentance from our fear and cowardice, from our ridiculous thinking that if we try harder it will get better, from our pride and unbelief. Grant us the faith to believe that we too can be like Paul, that the Spirit of God dwells in us, that we have been given a very great and precious promise — the promise of everlasting life. Grant us true humility to come up under your word, believing by faith it is true so we can fan into flame the great gift you have given us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
By Susan Sampson
