April 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The people of God live under the cross until they are translated to glory. That was already the case in the Old Testament. But the Old Testament saints did not take their beatings lying down. They refused to accept a situation in which the wicked flourish and the righteous get kicked in the teeth.

There were always some sanctimonious preachers among them who would say, "You suffer because you have secretly sinned." When Job's friends said that, he denied it. The singers of Psalm 44 did not accept that explanation either. "We had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant" (v. 17).

No, they said, we have not sinned. God is sleeping! "Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!"

We live in different times, because we live in the New Testament. When we read about people who thought that their Lord was sleeping, our thoughts go to the disciples on the lake in the storm. The Lord was sleeping, and the disciples panicked: "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" (Luke 8:24). Christ did sleep, but it was not because of any lack of interest in the disciples. He was giving them an opportunity to exercise their faith.

We know that the Lord is present and that he "neither slumbers nor sleeps." We also know a little better than did our Old Testament brothers and sisters why God's people are now under the cross. We must suffer with Christ if we are to be glorified with him. And although we use their very words for our present situation ("we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered"), we add, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Rom. 8:36-37).

God is never absent, and the Lord never sleeps. The cross must be carried, but we have already won—"through him who loved us."

God forbid that we lose the holy impatience of the old saints. We should cry long and loud for God's final action: Maranatha! Maranatha!

REFLECTIONS

When have you felt the impatience described in verses 20-26 of Psalm 44? Have you expressed these kinds of feelings to God? Should you?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.