This morning I was looking at these verses and they just seemed to come alive in a whole new way…
Paul is quoting David, from the Old Testament. And David is speaking prophetically about Jesus, who would come through his bloodline one day…
Acts 2:25-28 – “I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. There my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.”
Every little bit of these verses spoke to me this morning. This was the reality that Jesus recognized when the agony of the anticipation of the cross tore at His heart. He knew that God was with Him. He knew that because of God’s presence in His life, He could face whatever lay ahead. Because of His fierce hope in His Father’s faithfulness and love, His heart, his soul and his body were able to rejoice in the middle of the most dire circumstances. He knew that not even death could keep Him away from His Father and that it would not have the last word. Life would reign because of His Father’s love. And whether he was on earth or in heaven, He could experience joy, regardless of His situation because of the very real presence of God. He knew it with everything in Him. He lived it with everything in Him.
And the news gets even better and more personal. Because Jesus came to earth to be one of us, because He died for us and came back to life for us, the things that He experienced on earth with His Father can be our experience here, too! Everything in those verses is ours to claim!
If we have a relationship with God, if He is our Father, we can look all around us see Him always there. And because He is right there, we have the strength we need to face anything. We will “not be shaken”. And for that reason alone, “my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope.” Our hearts, our souls and our bodies can rest in the fact that we are in the presence, in the hand, of God Himself. Even death shouldn’t be a threat or a fear, because we are not “abandon(ed) to the grave”. He has given us life that goes beyond what little time we spend here on earth. He has given us eternity! So whether we are here or in heaven with Him, we can experience the reality of His presence. And that, if we really grasp it, can’t help but give us joy.
I want to go into this day, fully grabbing hold of that truth and reveling in it. Rolling around and bathing in it. Fully immersed in that fact. Sounds to me like a wonderful place of peace and rest….
Acts 2:25-28 – “I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. There my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.”
Romans 14:8 – If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
