Rev. Don Campbell
Psalms 131, 138-139, 143-145
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, May 26, 2019
“OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN”
David asks, “O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow’ (Psalm 144:3-4). He had asked the same question in Psalm 8:4, but with an added thought: ‘When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” When David considered God’s greatness, he could not but think of man’s smallness.
David is even more amazed when he considers God’s mercy: “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (145:9). David is convinced that although he is but a passing shadow in a grand universe, God has a purpose for David which God will fulfill (Psalm 138:8).
While it is good to meditate on God’s greatness and our smallness, we must be sure that we do not get caught up in troubling questions which are better left to God in heaven. David says, “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:1-2). When a mother is a godly mother, a young child will have absolute confidence in her. The child does not worry about the next meal, the security of the doors and windows, fire, storm, or any of the other things which often trouble adults.
Jesus invites us: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-33).
This great God who made the worlds and all that is in them is a God in which all live and move and have their being (Acts 17:28). His more than a great God of all mankind, he is the Father of those who are brothers to Jesus (Matt 12:49-50).
CONNECTIONS
1. When Job pushed God for the answers to some questions which troubled him, God did not give him the answers, but a fuller understanding of God’s greatness. How did he express this? (Job 42: 1-6).
2 “What difference will it make a hundred years from now?” is a question we might want to ask ourselves when seeking answers to questions “beyond our pay grade.” There is one question which will matter not only a hundred years from now but has eternal significance: Where will I spend eternity? John 6:39-40 will help you answer that question.
