I will praise Thee for Thou hast heard me, and art become my Salvation. Psalm 118:21
A young girl who was living with cruel and unloving relatives longed to escape from her miserable plight. She hated the beatings, the verbal abuse, and the constant demands for her to work long hours with little food. One day, she came across a newspaper that her uncle had tossed aside. In that paper, she saw a picture of a wealthy woman who she thought had a kindly face. The girl acted on an impulse to write a letter to the woman, asking if she had some spare clothing and some food she could send. For weeks, she heard nothing, and sadly dismissed her appeal as having failed. Unknown to her, the woman had received the letter, and had been deeply touched. She sent a trusted servant to investigate. His investigation led to criminal charges against the cruel relatives, and the permanent placement of the girl in the home of the wealthy woman. The girl’s happiness was like that of the psalmist in today’s text.
No sincere prayer has ever been uttered by anyone in human history that our God has not heard and heeded. That included the prayer of ‘Lord save me’ that we expressed when we realized our lost and helpless condition. Never deserving any attention from God, we were thrilled when He reached and saved us. Even today, our hearts thrill to realize that God actually heard us; among the world’s billions he had time and compassion for us. As long as we live, our remembrance of salvation’s day will be sweet, and will bring forth from our hearts praise to God. Nothing greater has ever happened in our lives, so our remembrances of that great day must be often, and our praise frequent.
An exciting aspect of our salvation is that it occurs each day. Although our souls were saved forever when we first trusted Christ, our spirits are saved daily as the Holy Spirit works in our experience, applying the Word of God to our lives. We are preserved from evil, provoked to good works, and provided with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. We live in the good of all that God has done for us, and in the opportunities to serve our Lord. We also rejoice in the knowledge, like the psalmist noted, that our salvation is a Person. The Lord Jesus is not just the author of our salvation, He IS our salvation!
Praise will mark the Lord’s people today as we remember His great plan of salvation, and how He has brought us into the good of it every day and for eternity. -Jim MacIntosh