FRIDAY 6th
Psalm 69
NIV (vv1-2, 14-15) – ‘Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me . . . Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.’
ESV (vv1-2, 14-15) – ‘Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me . . . Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.’
Yesterday I used a hymn in the devotion and again another hymn easily comes to mind with these words:
I was sinking deep in sin,
Sinking to rise no more,
Overwhelm’d by guilt and sin,
Mercy I did implore,
Then the Master of the sea,
Heard my despairing cry,
Christ my Saviour lifted me,
Now safe am I.
Just reading the words of this hymn brings back memories growing up in a Church where the hymns were sung with such passion and with meaning, getting to the chorus part:
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When no one but Christ could help,
Love lifted me!
And such was the experience of everyone of us who have been born again by the Spirit of God, we were deep in sin, we were sinking in the sin, we were overwhelmed by guilt as we sought to fight against the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, but God’s love for us won through and by his grace we were saved, lifted up out of the sin and despair and our feet were set upon a solid rock, the Rock Christ Jesus. The one who calmed the storm on the sea of Galilee, stepped into our lives and calmed the storm that was brewing as we fought against the guilt and conviction of sin. But the same one who saved us, also continues to be with us, the Master of the sea becomes the Master of our lives, and as we fully trust in him he is with us as we go through all the various storms that life will throw at us, it may be the storm of sickness, the storm of bereavement and loss, the storm of a marriage break down, the storm of a job loss, we could add so much more to the list, but the Master is with us to take us through safely to the other side.
It could be that today as you are reading this devotion you are feeling overwhelmed with something, perhaps you are still overwhelmed in your sin, as you have never trusted in Jesus as your Saviour, you are still a sinner who needs to be saved by his grace, perhaps there are addictions overwhelming you, call out to the Master of the sea, call out sinner to the one who can save you. Maybe for someone today you have committed your life to Jesus in the past, but at present you are not fully trusting him as you ought, and as a result you are becoming overwhelmed with issues, call out and begin to trust fully again, maybe someone is reading this today and you have a situation that seems at present to be overwhelming you, call out to the Master of your life to come to your rescue, to bring you through, whatever the situation, whatever the depths you feel you are being overwhelmed in, the Master is ready to stand in your life and to speak out ‘peace be still.’
For eight years I was involved in recovery as an accident recovery driver, getting called out at all times of the day or night, to respond should an individual or the police call to say an accident had occurred and a vehicle or vehicles needed to be recovered. It always seemed to be just as I had got to bed and was dropping off, the phone would ring – and up I would have to get and go to do the recovery. The Master of recovery is also available 24 hours, it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night that we may feel that we are being overwhelmed with a matter, we can bring it to the master, he is available, and he is willing to come to our aid, he the Master of the sea, is also the Master of everything, so call out to him, any time, whether day or night and he will respond. Remember the song we have used recently, if it matters to you, it matters to the Master.