MAY 28, 2014
Anchors
In The Storm
Read: Micah
7:8-9,18-20
He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. —Micah 7:9
For years after the
Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investors’ confidence.
Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock
holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for
portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990,
Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for
their theory.
Like those jittery
investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a
“crash” in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We
might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a “Markowitz moment,” when one
big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure.
We forget that Jesus
has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free
to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose
from the dead, when we “fall,” we can “arise” with Him, for “He delights in
mercy” (Micah 7:8,18).
The moment we find
Jesus, our eternity with Him begins. He walks alongside us so He can change us
into the people we long to be and were created to be.
Father, my actions
aren’t adequate to fix my
failures. Thank You
for doing that through
Your Son Jesus who
gave Himself for us.
Help me to look up and
walk with You.
Look up from your
failure, and you’ll find God standing ready to receive you.
Insight
Today’s reading
contains a song of victory. Israel, who has been judged for a cold heart and
acts of disobedience, will one day respond gladly with obedience to God. The
nation will find light in the Lord’s presence. Interestingly, the passage
shares a similar spirit to Moses’ Song of the Sea: “Who is like You, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).
Micah underscores that
God detests those leaders who unscrupulously use their position of power to
fleece the helpless and to corrupt courts of justice. But the message of hope
is clear to all who repent with heartfelt sincerity and wish to return to a
place of genuine obedience.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
