July 28, 2013

Center

. . . and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame

 (1 Peter 2:6).

God will never disappoint us. God is the only secure, unchanging center around which we can order our lives, and in which we can ground our peace. God is an infallible point of reference.

To say that God will never disappoint us is not to say that we will never be disappointed. We may sometimes be disappointed that God does not do as we wish. But this is not because of any objective failure of faithfulness on God’s part. It comes rather from a subjective failure on our part to understand God’s wisdom, God’s methods, and even God’s love.

God is often described in the Scriptures in terms of things that are solid and immovable. One figure is that of a rock. David, for example, said, “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:1,2).

But another interesting figure is that of an anchor. In the New Testament, Christians with a wavering faith were urged to hold on to their hope: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19). And they were reminded that God’s promise is backed up by God’s oath, “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17,18).

Our frequent frustrations in life, more often than not, result from having an unstable center. In selecting our end‑all‑and‑be‑all, we select some pretty shaky things, often with tragic results. And even when we suppose that God is our center, our faith often turns out to be not in God, but in certain temporal blessings that God has allowed us to have. But like Job, we need to love God for God’s own sake, even when God’s wisdom withdraws particular blessings from us. And like Paul, we need to be grounded in God and able to say, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Change and decay in all around I see;

O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

...Henry F. Lyte