February 20, Day 51 – God Is Always With Us
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Feb 20
- 4 min read
Today’s readings contain several important biblical principles that we need to apply to our hearts and lives. In Exodus 25-26, we see God instructing Moses in a variety of worship issues that will become a special part of the Israelites’ lives from this point forward. The Israelites are to bring offerings to God as their “hearts prompt them to give” (Exodus 25:2). Properly, we all owe God our very existence, thus, our hearts ought to prompt us often to give and to share with the Lord in His work. Here, in chapter 25, these offerings will be used for the construction of the ark, the table, and the lampstand – all of which point to Israel’s future Messiah and will be placed within the tabernacle. We also see at least four “I will” statements that confirm God’s presence and His comfort to the Israelites: “I will … dwell [among you] (verse 8); I will … show you (verse 9); I will … give you (verse 16); I will … meet with you ... ” (verse 22). Sometimes, our daily lives may seem routine and mundane, but God is always here with us. He always wants to “dwell with us, show us, meet with us, and give to us.” In chapter 26, we see the highly detailed instructions from God to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle and its environs. Everything about the tabernacle – the materials, dimensions, colors, symmetry, location, etc., – all serve the purpose of establishing (under the law) where and how the Israelites were to meet with God. As such, the tabernacle is also a picture of Christ – Who is our Atonement. An atonement is a “covering,” and this word appears four times in Exodus 26 (cf., verses 13, 14, and 34). Christ’s sacrifice on the cross covers over our sins (cf., Psalm 32:1; Romans 4:7).
Psalm 23, of David, informs us that the Lord is always with us – even as we go through the darkest days of our lives – and it affirms the truth of His divine presence and comfort. I am deeply thankful that, “even though I walk through the darkest valley,” God “is with me” (verse 4). This theme is further reiterated for us today in our Mark 4 reading, too. During the storm, Jesus was with his disciples, and though He was asleep “on a cushion” (verse 38), He was nevertheless in full control. The disciples did not die, and they had no reason to fear. How often we are like that – fearful, but without reason – for God “is with us,” and He has everything under His control. Indeed, our lives can often range from the stormy to the unexciting. As humans, we tend to cherish “the good old days” – forgetting that most of our days were pretty ordinary. Nevertheless, God is always with us – through our tranquility and through our storms. On this earth, we need to remember that we are still under the curse of sin. We cannot even comprehend its effects – reaching deep into our daily lives. However, we can be encouraged, knowing that God is always with us and knowing that heaven will be wondrously better than life on earth.
Today’s passage from Mark 4:30–5:20 begins with the parable of the mustard seed – a picture of God’s kingdom. This parable follows yesterday’s parable of the growing seed. In the same way that the farmer did not actually know how his seed grew, we also do not know how the kingdom of God grows. Jesus says that “it is like a mustard seed – the smallest seed” (verses 30-31). This seed is the Word of God – the Gospel – into which God has designed a mysterious and inherent, spiritual law. This law defies human understanding. Only God knows how it works. This law operates when the Scriptures are shared and applied (i.e., planted) in the hearts of men and women, and like the mustard seed, it produces a massive increase. In this chapter, Jesus also healed a demon-possessed man. We note that Jesus has no fear of him, and the man seeks Jesus out despite his legion of demons. Knowing Christ’s actual power and authority, the demons request that He send them into a herd of pigs – “about two thousand in number” (verse 13). This suggests a very large number of evil spirits that possessed and tormented this one man. These spirits were so evil and so wild that they drove the pigs uncontrollably down “the steep bank into the lake” (verse 13). This man’s testimony was important; Jesus told him to go back and report to his family and the people of the Decapolis “how much the Lord had done for him" (verse 19). All of our readings today constitute a unit that reflects God’s central power and authority. May we be faithful to praise Him always, for God is always with us!
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