Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article All that remains Saturday, December 16, 2006 Psalm 80:5-7 You have fed your people with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. Restore us, O God Almighty, make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. Today there will be about nine hours of daylight. We are fast approaching the shortest day of the year. Darkness comes early and stays long. Bears are hibernating; I need to sleep more, too. I grow quiet in the darkness of these winter evenings. Waiting becomes me. Waiting for snow, waiting for sunshine, waiting for Jesus. Words seem less important, they just get in the way of the waiting. Reading this psalm I am acutely aware that Jesus has come and restored us, made his face shine upon us, that we are saved. I only need to accept that salvation. Of course we are still fed the bread of affliction, because we stay blinded to our freedom. But regardless of how I live my life, I am free. On these dark nights I know that very well. Knowing that Jesus has come, is coming, and will come, I am no longer afraid. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, "These three things remain: faith, hope and love." After all the machinations of evil, all the manipulations of Satan, all my own foolishness, what stands is God's faith, God's hope, God's love. I only need to say "yes" for each of these to become my own. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. "; Add      Edit    Delete