September 23
Good morning Father, Good morning Son, Good morning Holy Spirit. Father, we are grateful for another opportunity in Your presence to fellowship with You this day, we are confident that it is well with our soul. Thank you for the miracles of the yesteryears, we are full of expectation that whatsoever be it that we come with before you in this remaining part of the month is done. Glory be to You Lord.
The psalmist said, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Ps 8:3-9 (KJV)
Beloved, what are you that God delight’s so much in you? Does it not touch your heart that the Almighty stoop to have discuss with mere mortal like you? In fact, you are His delight, am so excited, I don’t know about you? I guess you are, glory be to Him! That is not all, He also promised to us good:
“I will rejoice over them to do them good.” Jeremiah 32:41
How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in His saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities than admire our graces.
But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that God delighteth in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars, but we do read that He delighteth in the habitable parts of the earth, and that His delights are with the sons of men.
We do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight; nor doth He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, “Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in thee”; but He does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by His grace.
In what strong language He expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, “He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, “It is very good”; but when He beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer, but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy.
Should not we utter our grateful response to such a marvellous declaration of His love, and sing, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation?” Someone saying that already, praise God.
There at times we feel that all is not going as we desired, let us do what our brother David did. He prayed, consider further:
“Gather not my soul with sinners.” Psalm 26:9
Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin.
Even the pardoned man will enquire, “What if at the end my sins should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?” He recollects his present unfruitfulness—so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, “Gather not my soul with sinners.”
Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had—the outward walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ’s sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope?
If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” If, then, thou art like God’s people, thou shalt be with God’s people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought.
Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are His for ever, and where He is, there must His people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!
Peradventure, you are afraid of the above, the Lord is Faithful and the righteous will not perish with sinners, in our message last week, the Lord addressed us as “Much Beloved”, do you think that, same God will leave you and I to be destroyed by Satan and its agents. Not at all, He is committed to watch over you, all you need do is simple “Trust Him”.
His divine protection is assured, tap into it and don’t be scared about what the enemy is doing around you, it will only bark but not bite.
I pray this week; God will take us to another height in our walk with Him. God will be bless you both material and spiritual. He will surely remember you this week in Jesus name. Whatever is your area of needs; God will visit and honour you.
Remain blessed in the Lord
Evang. Ifeoma Ohondu
