Distance Devotions        –        April 6, 2020

Psalm 147:4, 5                –        Great Is Our Lord

Psalm 147:4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.  5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

These last five chapters in the book of Psalms are very uplifting.  As we listen to the news media recount the latest death toll and the number of new cases of infection with the coronavirus, we need something to encourage us.  Remember this, dear Christian, our source of comfort is never going to be the news reports, the stock market booms (we hope), nor any other external source of information.  Our comfort is going to come from our God.  As we face a world-wide pandemic of a scary virus, we need an anchor and that anchor is Christ.  When we hear that 10,000 people have died from this virus, it is a frightening thing.  Put this in context.  Even one death is horrible and the families of those who have lost loved ones deserve our sympathy and prayers.  Don’t let the numbers overwhelm you as you try to make some sense out of all this as most of us are daunted by the sheer totals instead of considering it in the light of the entire population.

The devil uses a similar tactic to overwhelm us if he can.  We get covered up in the swamp of human sinfulness and depravity if all we do is read murder mysteries and watch television.  Evil is not the match for the goodness of God.  Satan is not as powerful as the Triune God we worship.  Look to Him in these troubling times.  And, we have good reason to do so.  Science has no idea how many stars exist.  Our God does!  Moreover, He has named every one of them.  I am not sure that there enough words in human language to name all the stars, but God can!  We are having trouble understanding what is happening around us, but our God is of infinite understanding.  We have no reason to fear the darkness and the gloom that may swallow up some.  God is still on His throne and He will take care of His own!  His promise is true; He will not forget you.  God is still on His throne!

Pastor F. J. Weems III