August 1

May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children. — Ps 90:16 BSB

“Let your work appear to your servants.” There’s no mention here of our own works, for they have long been cut down. What put them to death? What drove the dagger into their heart? “Days of affliction and years of trouble” brought them to an end. These experiences killed our self-righteousness and drained the life from any confidence in human merit. So there is no petition saying, “Let our works appear!” No, those works are buried in the grave of corruption, swallowed up by “days of affliction and years of trouble.” Instead, the cry is, “Let your work appear”—the finished work of the Son of God, the obedience of Jesus to the law, the atoning blood he shed on Calvary. It’s his work, which he took on, fulfilled, and completed. This is what the man of God pleads for in earnest prayer (and our hearts, if taught by the same Spirit, will echo this): “Let your work appear to your servants!”

But can’t we see this work in the word of God? Isn’t that enough? Can’t we hear this work proclaimed by faithful ministers? Isn’t that sufficient? Can’t we read about it in books written by those skilled in the word? For some, those who haven’t experienced “days of affliction and years of trouble,” it may be enough. But for God’s afflicted children, it isn’t. They know the darkness of their minds, the power of unbelief, and their own helplessness. They understand that nothing short of the light of God’s countenance, the manifestation of his mercy, and the teaching and witness of the Holy Spirit can make the work of Jesus shine in all its beauty, suitability, and glory. Therefore, they cry out,

“Let your work appear to your servants. Lord, give me a living faith to see the atonement of Jesus. Show me your glory; reveal in my heart the finished work of Christ. Sprinkle my conscience with his atoning blood. Show me Jesus, and give me a sweet manifestation of his person, love, blood, and complete salvation. Let it appear before my eyes and in my heart, and seal it upon my conscience with divine power.”