✙ Ps 97:11 ✙
Psalm 97:11 is a beautiful verse, and one that, when it stands alone, can bring reassurance: Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. But what happens when I put that verse in context? I've just been led (yesterday's devotion) through what appears to be a wildfire during an outbreak of night lightning. What could be more terrifying or unpredictable? The message that human beings cannot control the holiness of God has been received loud and clear.
But in the midst of this terror in the dark, God's children realize that there is goodness. There is a light dawning in the distance—consistency and predictability at last! If I depend on my own righteousness, I know the dawn will be but a false glimmer of hope. But if I depend upon the righteousness of Christ, then the light shall rise in the darkness And if I act on it, then my gloom will be like the noonday [see Isa. 58:10].
But in the midst of this terror in the dark, God's children realize that there is goodness. There is a light dawning in the distance—consistency and predictability at last! If I depend on my own righteousness, I know the dawn will be but a false glimmer of hope. But if I depend upon the righteousness of Christ, then the light shall rise in the darkness And if I act on it, then my gloom will be like the noonday [see Isa. 58:10].
✙ Holy One, protect me from the storm by covering my sin with the righteousness of Christ. I pray in his Name as he taught me...
