Let Your Light Shine Day 11
In danger I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free...I shall not die but live and declare the deeds of the LORD.” Psalm 118: 5 & 17
I have been a fan of Joel Osteen for many years now. I discovered him at Newark Airport in January 2010, while waiting to catch a plane to London. I hate flying! So his book, Your Best Life Now, kept me occupied for most of the night. He was just so happy! One of the stories he told in the book was of his own mother’s miraculous healing from cancer. Apparently, as an act of faith, she declared biblical promises of healing to herself for months on end, until God actually healed her. This Psalm, “I shall not die but live and declare the deeds of the Lord,” is one of the verses that Joel frequently mentions in regard to his mother’s healing. It is so appropriate for the times we are living in now!
Joel retells his mother’s story of healing in a recent article on his website. I love this quote, “That is what faith is all about. The world says you need to see it to believe it, but God says you must believe and then you’ll see it. You must speak it by faith.” We see this in the Psalm today. David did not wait to see freedom from the danger first, and then call upon God. No. It was the other way around. First, when he was in danger, David called upon the Lord. Then, because of David’s faith, “the Lord answered me and set me free.” Faith first, miracles second.
That is so hard to do! Modern people are literally raised, indoctrinated into a Newtonian, “Watchmaker God” theory of how life works. We only believe what we see and experience in the material world. However, that is not really the reality of God. Physicist and Philosopher Stephan Barr states in his book, The Believing Scientist: Essays on Science and Religion:
“Materialism regards itself as scientific, and indeed is often called “scientific materialism,” even by its opponents, but it has no legitimate claim to be part of science. It is, rather, a school of philosophy, one defined by the belief that nothing exists except matter…”
Faith does not ask us to forgo science, but it does ask us to believe that maybe there is more to reality than the limited material world that we see.
It makes sense to me personally that God would want to do miracles in my life. As the Psalm states, when people experience a miracle, most of the time they “declare the deeds of the Lord.” In Webster’s dictionary, the noun “deed” can refer to a special exploit or feat done by a hero. In the Psalm today, we certainly see God as a hero: He saved David from danger and sets him free. God also enabled David to “live,” and as a result David declared the saving deeds of the Lord in writing for thousands of years of other people to believe and follow. The bible states that God loves us first so that we love Him. The bible also states that God bestows lavish grace on his people, and only asks for praise in return. Psalm 22: 28 explains, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD; All the families of nations will bow low before him.” God loves us and wants a relationship with us. The bible shows that He is happy to be our hero through miracles in order to call us to Himself.
I am willing to believe in miracles. I am willing to have faith that I will live through this coronavirus pandemic in good health, as will all the people I love. I hope that you will join me in this prayer today,
“Holy Spirit, I call on You, and I know you will answer me and set me free from danger. ‘I will live and not die, and declare the deeds of the Lord.’ Thank you for loving me and all of the people around me. Thank you for your continuous salvation in my life, so that I can praise Your name to all the ends of the earth. Amen.”