February 9

Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. — Isa 45:22 BSB

How often we feel like we have no real faith or enjoy no real comfort! How often are our spiritual evidences clouded and obscured, and our minds filled with darkness! How often does the Lord seem to hide Himself from us, so that we cannot find Him or draw near to Him! And how often does the ground beneath us seem to fall away, leaving us without a firm standing! What a painful path this is to walk, but how profitable!

When we are reduced to spiritual poverty, we learn to value Christ’s riches. The worse we view our own hearts, the more deceitful and wicked we see them to be, the more we trust in His faithfulness. The more sinful we see ourselves, the more beautiful and lovely Christ appears to us. As we sink lower, Christ rises higher. As we grow weaker, He shows His strength. When we fall into danger, He brings deliverance. When we are tempted, He breaks the snare. When we are shut up in darkness, He makes the light of His countenance shine upon us. It is through this difficult path that we come to know who Jesus truly is and to feel how precious He is to our souls.

We are needy, but Christ has all riches in Himself. We are hungry, but He is the bread of life. We are thirsty, but He says, “If anyone thirsts, let them come to Me and drink.” We are naked, but He clothes us. We are fools, but He gives wisdom. We are lost, and He says, “Look to Me and be saved.” So, instead of our misery keeping us from God’s mercy, it is the very thing that brings us to it. Instead of our guilt excluding His pardon, it makes us need it. Instead of our helplessness ruining us, it prepares us to experience His power in our weakness. We can’t heal our own wounds, and that’s exactly why He stretches out His hand to heal. Because salvation can’t come from us or from anyone else, He says, “Look to Me, for I am God, and there is no other.”