Daily Word of Grace # 24 (April 17, 2020)
When you walk with a young child across the street or along a treacherous section of a hiking trail, you take their hand into yours, and you don’t let go. If they slip or stumble, they will be fine because you are still holding their hand. The Lord does this very same thing for you, always—as the psalmist wrote, “As often as I said, ‘My foot has slipped,’ your love, O Lord, upheld me. When many cares fills my mind, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalm 94:18-19). When you cannot hold yourself up, God’s love will hold you up. When your foot slips, God’s love will steady you. When many cares fill your mind, God will console you and cheer your soul, and remind you that no matter what God is with you and loves you. On Good Friday as Jesus trudged down the road weighed down by his cross, he no doubt slipped and stumbled on his bloody feet, but there was no one there to uphold him. And on the cross it was not the nails that upheld Jesus; it was his love for you. It is not a matter of how deliberately or intentionally you hold your Savior’s hand; it is a matter of how deliberately and intentionally God holds your hand. God’s love will uphold you the rest of your earthly journey, and even when you can no longer walk, even when your foot slips and you stumble into the grave, God’s love will still uphold you in that moment, and then throughout eternity.
Love and Prayers,
Dave