Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – August 25, 2016
By Tripp Prince
For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Psalm 56:13
The beauty of poetic language is that, in just a few short words, an entire world of vivid imagery opens up before the reader. In the Psalms, so often we are presented with contrasting but related themes. Today, in just one verse, we are given a potent picture that captures in many ways the whole of our life before God and with one another. Likewise, it is a passage that invites intentional self-reflection and contemplation: is my life in free fall or are my feet grounded on the path of life?
The psalmist here accurately and acutely diagnoses the universal human condition. Due to the sin and rebellion of our first parents, brokenness entered into the world, creating a break in the perfect relationship of love that we once knew with our creator. In a sense, you could say sin pulled the rug out from under our feet! It left us off balance, disoriented, and ultimately free falling away from the love of God and towards a life of separation and isolation.
This is the world into which every person is born. Though our lungs may fill with air and give life to our bodies, apart from the goodness and love of God our souls remain in a free fall towards death. Yet thanks be to God, in his goodness, mercy, and love, he sent his Son to set our feet back on solid ground, teaching us once again how to love and how to live in the light of his life.
I find this central point of our Christian life is so often overlooked and underemphasized. When we speak of salvation, often it is reduced to our salvation from death and separation from God. However, we are never simply saved from death, but we are also saved for new life! As it says elsewhere in the Psalms, God has “set our feet upon a rock.” (Ps. 40:2) Yet the Christian life is never a mere progression from a free fall to safe and secure inactivity. As the very next words of Psalm 40 remind us, the Lord “makes our steps secure.” Our feet are firmly set upon the ground so that we can walk!
God saves us from death, but more gloriously and wonderfully invites us to learn what it means to journey with him, behold him in his beauty, and become more and more like him each and every day.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for saving us from the free fall of sin and death, and ask that you would fill us with your Spirit each day that we might learn what it means to follow you and live in the light of your love.Application
Are there parts of your journey with Christ that have stalled that you can commit afresh to the Lord?Related Reading
Isaiah 2:5; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 John 1:7Post/Tweet today
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