“Let Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” Psalm 90:16,17
Devotional Thought For The Day
It is rather astonishing, especially to the unbelieving, that human beings are able to be involved in anything that is of enduring and eternal value. All too often we believe the lies of the devil and of others around us, who assert that we have no enduring value, that we are little better than ants or gnats in the universe, that we will perish and return to dust never to be heard from again. This is precisely the futility that Solomon wrote about in Ecclesiastes – the conclusion that unbelieving human reason comes to about human life. It is also a denial of the many assurances of God’s Word in regard to the value that He places upon us in His great love for us, and the promises that He has made regarding the eternal life which we have through faith in Christ Jesus. The hope that God will “establish” the work of our hands has been part of true and genuine faith in the LORD, the only True and Living God, from the very beginning. In the last book of the Bible we read His assurance: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from now on; yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” [Rev. 14:13] So also Jesus indicates that on the Last Day our good works will be referenced, those good works of believers; that in spite of the fact that our “righteousnesses are as filthy rags” [Is. 64:6] they have been cleansed from all impurity in His blood and are truly good works that follow us, that remain established upon us. [Matt. 25:34-36]
This is not because we are great, or because we have the power to establish anything or do any good thing on our own. Rather, Moses prays that God would make us aware of His work and His glorious power – and this should be our life’s ambition, to grow each day in knowing His work and His glorious power, which is in fact growing in our knowledge of God and His love. We should pray that God would grant this to us, for again, it is not within the power of sinful human beings to learn these things on our own or to attain to such wisdom by ourselves [John 6:29]. Rather, God must grant and work such blessedness in us – through His Word [John 8:31,32] and by the power of His Holy Spirit [1 Cor. 12:3]. In this way we remain His “workmanship” in Christ Jesus [Eph. 2:10], for “we love because He first loved us” [1 John 4:19]. This is the way good works are wrought in us and through us, works which God Himself establishes and which follow us forever. And if we should ever come to recognize that such good works are being done by us, we humbly understand that these too are truly God’s works, accomplished by His glorious power – so that we marvel in His goodness, power, and love, and give all praise, thanks, honor, and glory to Him. It is all truly miraculous and marvelous.
We pray these blessings first for ourselves, and also for our children. We have no deeper yearning or desire than that others might also come to know the wonders of God’s love, His great works of gracious love and salvation, and the reality of His glorious power – for then they too have become His workmanship and will participate with us in the eternal glory of God’s love. There is no greater blessedness and goodness; indeed, this is what we were created for in the first place, and this is God’s blessed desire to actualize in our lives by His glorious love and power. This is what “church” is all about – to teach and demonstrate God’s work and glorious power. It is also what our daily lives are about – that through us God’s work and glorious power might be seen by others. Obviously we are imperfect in our love, still growing, and so just like Moses we pray for this blessing and continue to grow in it until the day we die. But God’s greatest ongoing work is cleansing away all of our sin and imperfection in the blood of His Son, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ – holding His work before us and inculcating His love and His glorious power in us through repentance and faith.
By His own gracious, glorious, and powerful work – through His Word and His Spirit – God grants this our humble and heartfelt prayer. Eternal thanks and praise be to Him!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, we pray with Moses and all Your dear children this humble prayer – that all blessedness would come to us by Your work and Your glorious power, and that we would grow in awareness of Your grace, mercy, and love each day. We pray this for ourselves, and also for our dear children and grandchildren, and for all people everywhere. May Your great desire for the salvation of all people come to great fruitfulness. Thank You, eternally, for making us part of Your wondrous work. Amen.