Immediate Help

I admit it. Sometimes I just plod along in life with small faith in God. I go about my day and do my work. I go to bed at night and get up the next day to do the same thing. Get up, Go to work, Come Home, Go to bed. Repeat. I can forget the care and power of God when it seems like life is routine. But there’s at least three things I must remember when life is routine.

First millions of people would love to have a routine life. They would love to have a job or a home or be able to sleep at night. They would love to get up in the morning without hearing gun fire or fearing a visit from the authorities or facing the gnawing anxiety about where they will get their next meal. A routine day is an extraordinary blessing from God.

Second, if God never did another thing for me in my life, He would be worth serving forever with whole life commitment. Jesus purchased my salvation through His own death. When I received Christ, I was forgiven for my sin, adopted into God’s family, declared not guilty forever before God, given eternal life in God’s presence, assured of life on the new heavens and earth when Christ returns, given the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Christ, joined to Christ, loved by God, blessed by One who works all things together for good. So I have all these blessings on every routine day I live.

Third God sometimes brings dramatic and immediate help to our situation. There was a man full of leprosy who started his day like any other. Then he came upon Jesus. The man fell on his face and begged to be made clean. Jesus agreed. And immediately the leprosy left him.(Luke 5:13). That routine day turned into the day that his life changed forever. Another man lived with paralysis. One day, his friends who heard about Jesus, decided to bring him to Jesus. The man had to endure all the looks and stares from people who walked by on the street. Then his friends decided to lower him down in front of Jesus in a crowded room. That would be like someone rolling a patient on a stretcher in front of a world leader giving a press conference. Imagine this man’s fear and maybe embarrassment.

Yet Jesus looks at the man with compassion and pronounces his sins forgiven. The religious leaders quietly criticize this as blasphemy. No one can forgive sins except God. Imagine the man’s anxiety over this debate in front of everyone while he lies there! Yet Jesus says to the religious leaders ’So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . .’ Then he turns to the man ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ And immediately, he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying God.(Luke 5:25). Jesus did that. God can do that. God sometimes does that in our lives.

So if you have small faith for an ordinary day today remember the gift of routine days; recapture the joy of your salvation; watch for God’s immediate help when He knows you need it.

Lord God, I confess the times I plod along with little confidence in you and lack enthusiasm in my faith. Yet there is always something to be enthusiastic about when remembering You and Your great work in my life and the world. Help me live with such faith in whatever today brings. Thank you Lord.