Old Testament

The following devotional by Clive Bowsher is for Friends of Union. To learn more about becoming a Friend of Union, visit www.uniontheology.org/friends-of-union

“O storm-tossed and not comforted” your God comes. Suddenly, and all at once. Your God comes himself to comfort you. Again and again. He has not forgotten, nor has he forsaken. He has come to be your ever-present and everlasting comfort.  So, step out of the bitter winds, and into the fires of his love. Come, feel the glow. Come collapse in his strong, everlasting arms. For a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick, he will never snuff out. 

Dear friends, if you’re struggling and suffering this morning, if you feel you’re running out of options, there is somewhere left to turn. There is a hiding place and a safe refuge with Jesus as He gathers around him all of us who are in need. We’re not meant to be the assembly of the shiny, the sorted and the successful. And we’re not impressing God with our brilliance and our strength. No we are together. The bruised reeds, the smothering wicks huddled together around our King Jesus.

If the Old Testament were teaching a way of salvation based on our own merit, would it be useful reading when I want to grow in Christ—the one whose yoke is easy? If the God I meet in the Old Testament were a different God from the one whom I meet in Christ, could I build others up in Christ by reading the two Testaments together? If the God who saves me through the work of Jesus now “saved” quite differently back then, could I delight in the God I meet in the pages of the Old Covenant?

We need generation that is stronger than ever. Not born bull headed or temperamentally steady, but with true strength which is s a gift and freely available, untapped to every believer.

The Christian and even the secular media contain many sad stories of Christian leaders being accused of all sorts of things. Bullying, sexual immorality, and financial irregularities. On a smaller scale, within congregations people find themselves accused. It is a minefield to make sure that injured parties are heard whilst innocent accused are protected.

We read four chapters later, this same Moabite woman is holding a baby. A baby not in the line of destruction but in the line of deliverance. Daring differently changed her destiny.

Like Esther, we stand outside the door wondering what he will do, or what he will say. Will he listen? Is he a God of life or of death? Unlike Esther, we are not saved, nor do we save others, because we knock on the door and walk in. We are saved because someone like Esther did.

Where does her help come from? You, Lord, are her Kinsman Redeemer, her Savior, and her King. There is no one else that help comes from. You turned bitterness into wine and included an excluded nation in your genealogy. You woo and pursue to reconcile and restore. You, Lord, are where our help comes from.