Daily readings and Thought for August 4th. “SALVATION IS NEARER TO US NOW”
What a challenging mixture of chapters we read today. First we read David’s remarkable ‘song’ to the LORD; his 50 verses of praise to him because “the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies …” [2 Sam. 22 v.1] He began by declaring, ” “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge…”
The many highlights in his life proved that to be true: you and I, especially those of us who have served our Lord for many years, sometimes in distant lands, should be able to echo, to at least some degree, many of the points he makes of the reality of his (our) relationship with his (our) LORD. David went through times of crisis in his life – as did Jeremiah (as we are seeing in our readings from that book) and, of course, Paul’s dramatic and difficult journies.
No one knows when the end of their mortal journey will come – but the whole world is on a journey – and we can echo the words of Paul we read today, “the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” [Romans 13 v.11] Paul implores the believers in Rome to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime … and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”[v.12-14] How close now before “the hour has come” that God has appointed?
Our 25th chapter of Jeremiah, his last before the words of God to him become personal about his own increasingly difficult situation made total faith the top priority in his life. This is an example for us. The vision God gives him in today’s chapter of the ultimate future, the situation we appear to be so close to now, is awesome is this vision!
Jeremiah is told “The LORD will roar from on high … against all the inhabitants of the earth … the LORD has an indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh … Behold, disaster is going forth from nation to nation … a great tempest is stirring …” [v.30-32]
As we see the world in 2023 in increasing uncertainty with the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, the weakness of NATO and Europe along with the increasing financial instabilities we increasingly sense that “salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”
