April 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

What thrilling word pictures the Bible uses to describe the grace of God! God's grace is as great as the heavens are high; sin is removed as far as the east is from the west; God's compassions are tender as a father's love for an erring child. After God's grace is revealed in Jesus and his love in his own Son, we are instructed again to measure "how wide and long and high and deep" is the love of God in Christ Jesus. None of us will understand its magnitude by ourselves. We must make, an effort to grasp "together with all the Lord's people" the extent and the character of the love of Christ that "surpasses knowledge" (Eph. 3:18-19).

After the psalmist has spoken of the grace of God for sinful people, the picture changes. People are not only sinful, they are also weak. "Their days are like grass." To be sure, there may be beauty and excellence in human life, but it is short-lived—"like a flower of the field." A person's life is soon gone and forgotten. Human life is not only sinful but also very fragile. And it is so short.

However, in this grass-like, flower-like existence, we have come to know the grace of God's covenant, his "everlasting love." Our short and unsteady lives are overarched by the rainbow of God's mercy. This arch spans "from everlasting to everlasting."

God has made a covenant with us and with our children. It is this relationship to the everlasting God, the covenant of grace, that makes life meaningful. Without it, life is grass and flowers. Here today, gone tomorrow. Without covenant life, there is no meaning in human history.

Therefore, if we are to experience real life, we must keep God's covenant. And if there is one thing all of us must remember, it is "obey his precepts."

REFLECTIONS

Try saying what being in God's covenant means to you. Then give thanks.

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.