God's Grace

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

SEEN IT ALL
 
I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.  Psalm 119:174

When a young saint sits down with an old saint, the difference in their reactions to the stuff of life is apparent.  The young one can be all spun up about some injustice, railing about how unfair it is.  The old saint listens, nods with understanding, but is not rocked off his axis with shock or surprise.  He has lived long enough to see it all.

David has lived through childhood.  He has known the favor of heaven's anointing at twelve years of age.  He learned early the savage jealousy of a king who was threatened by David's blessing.  He experienced betrayal and ran for his life.  He assumed the throne and enjoyed prosperity but also the pitfalls of heightened temptation.  He has seen it all as well.  At the end, he longs for the salvation of God when, beyond the curtain of death, sin and suffering are no more.

In 1997, after the greatest betrayal of my life in ministry, I was standing backstage with Evelyn Christensen, the incredible lady who is known for her writings on prayer.  We were both about to speak to a group in Minneapolis.  I was hurting badly and she had heard my story.  Before walking out, she took me by the shoulders and proclaimed words that have proven to be true, though at the time I couldn't conceive such wisdom.  She said, "Years down the road, when all is said and done, this betrayal will prove just to be a tiny glitch in a story of God's glory."  Already, I can see that she was right.

What arrests us today into painful inertia is survivable with God's grace, and is even praise worthy years down the road.  Ministries are built on the healings of our deepest wounds.  And though we heal, with scars, we long for the day when God's salvation appears on the horizon and takes all of His children out of this sin-riddled world into the perfection of the kingdom.

I long for your salvation.  I praise You for every taste of it now.  Amen