by Rev Donald Schatz

He Holds Us Fast

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
Psalm 139:9-10, New International Version

The far side of the sea can mean the Bering Sea in winter.  Even with three walruses visible, it is a barren and forbidding-looking place.  The sunset makes it picturesque, but it is still a cold and forbidding place.  However, the Lord is present.

Eyes of faith see the Lord in the picture anyway.  With the beauty of the sun’s color reflected in the sky and a spot of water, the textures of the sea ice, the walrus spotting the ice-scape, and the severed ice pack showing a ribbon of dark water…faith sees the Lord’s hand.

Even if it were not so, even if faith was not present to see, the Lord is present.  Even if faith was present, but a barren moment in life prevented faith from seeing, the Lord is present.  So it is in the Bering Sea.  So it is for each of us, wherever the present moment in time finds us.

We can be in a barren place inside our own heads, hearts, and souls.  The Psalmist’s words would cry “Even there your hand will guide me.”  The Lord isn’t just present, He is guiding us into the way of peace, hope, joy, life, and laughter at His presence.

“Even there,” wherever there may be, “even there your right hand will hold me fast.”  The right hand in Scripture is a metaphor for strength, in this case God’s strength.  His strong right hand, both His hands of glory and power, promise to hold you fast.

Nowhere you can go, whether in the world or in your own head, heart, and soul, is a place where God is not.  Good news!  Immanuel, God with Us, is always with us.  He awaits us in fact in the next moment, the next movement of life, and the next breath.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO