Compelling Love

In the 1986 World Series, the New York Mets were one pitch away from losing to the Boston Red Sox, and somehow pulled out the game.  Later, in the seventh inning of the seventh game, Ray Knight of the Mets hit a line drive over the centerfield fence sparking a rally that led his team to victory.  Later when asked what he was thinking when he stepped up to the plate, he replied, “I was feeling physically exhausted.  I prayed that God would give me strength to do my very best, and He did!  I give all the glory to Him.”

This is an attitude marking all true champions, and God keeps His promise in Psalm 91 to deliver those who are lovingly devoted to Him.  He answers when they call out to Him and He gives them honor:

¹⁴ Because he is lovingly devoted to Me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him because he knows My name.
¹⁵ When he calls out to Me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.  I will rescue him and give him honor.

In the Psalms, David continually gives glory to God for saving and sustaining him, and leading him to victory.  Also, in Psalm 18, he describes how God repaid him according to his righteousness:

²³ I was blameless toward Him and kept myself from sinning.
²⁴ So the Lord repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

Darlene Zschech comments on these verses, “A life lived under the light of truth will bring rewards— just as God intended—but we must always remember where our help comes from and give the Lord all the glory due to His great name.”  (From the book, “Revealing Jesus”, devotion for March 2).

Psalm 84 describes how the Lord gives grace and power to live with integrity, and He rewards those who so live, trusting in Him:

¹⁰ Better a day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else.  I would rather be at the door of the house of my God than to live in the tents of wicked people. ¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield.  The Lord gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity. ¹² Happy is the person who trusts in You, Lord of Hosts!

John 3:16 describes God’s gift of eternal life that we receive by faith:

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Hebrews 11:6 states, “he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are His creation.  His grace empowers us to walk with God as He prepared ahead of time, as Paul declares in Ephesians 2:

⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

In John 8:12 Jesus (Yeshua) spoke about following him and walking in the light that he gives:

Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s faithful love to all who believe.  The testimony of Scripture, and of believers who walk in the light, is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin:  “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:7)

Creation and Scripture are witnesses to the reality and faithfulness of God.  David writes of these two witnesses in Psalm 19:

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
² Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.
⁷ The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life;
the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad;
the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up.

Paul writes that because of the witness of Creation, those who refuse to acknowledge God, and give Him all the glory, are without excuse:

 For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.  (Romans 1:20)

We do well to follow the example of David who praised God even in the cave when he was fleeing from Saul.  God is revealed through His faithfulness to those who live in a covenant of love with Him:

Psalm 57
⁹ I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
¹⁰ For Your faithful love is as high as the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
¹¹ God, be exalted above the heavens;
let Your glory be over the whole earth.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/
(Bible Quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.)