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May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You! May those who love Your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70:4-5)
There is a sharp contrast in these psalm verses between who God is and who we are. “God is great!” He is our Creator and Redeemer, the eternal Lord in whom we rejoice and from whom we receive salvation. Yet with that acknowledgement of God’s greatness comes our humble admission, “I am poor and needy.” We may think that description better fits other people, perhaps those who live in poverty or those who have lost their homes or struggle with serious illness. They are people we try to help, perhaps imagining that we were never as poor and needy as they are.
Yet we were in desperate need and ours was a poverty of spirit for which there was no earthly help. No donations or charitable organization could heal our poverty or help us in our need. Apart from Christ, we were so lost and helpless in sin that Scripture described us as “dead in our trespasses” (Ephesians 2:5b). The dead can do nothing to help and save themselves. If a person’s heart stops, emergency medical intervention may restore the heartbeat and save a life, but in the spiritual death brought about by sin, earthly medicine is of no help. Only the Holy Spirit, at work in the truth of God’s Word, can reveal our need and move us to confess, “I am poor and needy.” We cry out for the only help that can heal our need: “Hasten to me, O God!”
It is a cry for help heard throughout Scripture, a plea for God to come and save His people: “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1a). “Stir up Your might and come to save us” (Psalm 80:2b). At the right time God came to earth in the Person of His Son. Jesus came to be our helper and our deliverer. He took onto Himself the death-dealing poverty of our sin. He died the death that should have been ours, but then God raised His Son to life in triumph over sin and death. Each day by faith we walk with our Lord, rejoicing in His greatness and, at the same time, remaining aware of our need for His forgiveness and sustaining strength. Jesus nourishes us with His Word and feeds us in our poverty with His body and blood in Holy Communion. Soon we will be celebrating Jesus’ First Advent, His birth in Bethlehem, and looking forward to His Second Advent, His return on the Last Day. Trusting in Jesus, we await His return and pray as saints have prayed for generations: “You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!”
WE PRAY: Jesus, You help me in every need. Do not delay, but come quickly, Lord. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
- Poverty comes in many forms, not the least of which is poverty of the soul. How can we be rich in this world but still bankrupt when it comes to our eternal welfare?
- How has the Heavenly Father given us riches beyond measure in the Lord Jesus Christ?
- When you are anxious about your life, remember the hope you have in Jesus (see Philippians 4:6-7).
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