August 20 Daily Devotional

My God Since Birth

Charles and Norma Ellis

Bible Reading:

Psalms 22:1-10

¹My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
²O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
³But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
⁴Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
⁵They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
⁶But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
⁷All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
⁸He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
⁹But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
¹⁰I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

Devotional:

David dispels the notion that there must be a dramatic experience of conversion to which a Christian can point as the beginning of his walk with God. God gave David faith when he was a babe in his mother's arms! In fact, the God who brought him from his mother's womb was his God from that time on.

Or before? David indicates that he existed as a person within the womb. God drew him out, a person on whom God's love was already fastened. 'From my mother's womb you have been my God' he says (22:10, NIV).

This is grace! This is the sovereignty of God in action in the realm of salvation. The teaching of sovereign grace did not originate with Paul! Here it is in the Book of Psalms many centuries before Paul.

How thankful we mus be that our salvation is not something that depends upon us—our thoughts, our faith, our righteousness! It is all of Him! And sovereignly He reaches down, sometimes at birth, sometimes during youth, sometimes at the door of death. There is no pattern that we can discern. Sovereignly H e acts. And how thankful we should be that He chose us!

We are happy to have obtained permission to post as our current daily devotional Heirs Together of Life: Daily Bible Reading for Husbands and Wives, published by The Banner of Truth Trust. Don't be misled by the subtitle. As the book's "Preface" indicates (see below), although Heirs Together of Life is "especially prepared for couples,"the authors declare, "Since the basis for this guide is God's Word, we believe it would have value for any reader."

Charles and Norma Ellis are husband and wife and the authors not only of Heirs Together of Life (which was first published in 1980 and continues in print today), but also of Wells of Salvation (first published in 1985, and likewise still in print today). The latter contains a series of short studies covering the entire book of Isaiah, while the former contains a series of almost 200 short studies covering the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Both books by the Ellises can be ordered from the publisher, The Banner of Truth Trust. We trust that these daily Bible readings, posted daily on our site, will be helpful to you in your Christian walk before God. Whether married or not, all of us are members of families and members of the family of God.

Charles Ellis was educated at Wheaton College and Westminster Theological Seminary. Upon graduation from Westminster (where he earned not only a Th.B. but also a Th.M.), he was ordained to the ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and pastored a number of OPC churches, including Immanuel OPC in West Collingswood, New Jersey; First OPC in Cincinnati, Ohio; Covenant OPC in East Orange, New Jersey; Knox OPC in Silver Spring, Maryland; and Lakeview OPC in Rockport, Maine. Less biographical information is available about his wife, but it is known that they served as parents of seven children. After retiring from the ministry, Charles Ellis went to be with the Lord in 2003, but he and his wife left us with a beautiful legacy in the two books they have given to the world, and we are proud to share the daily Bible readings from Heirs Together of Life here with you.