January 16th

How Far Is Heaven?

Thus says the LORD: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?…But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ Isaiah 66:1-2

God is just a crutch for people who can’t make it on their own. Have you ever heard that before? I hear it all the time and you know how I respond? I tell the person that they’re right.

They’re right. I’m not good enough. I can’t make it alone. But the truth is that none of us can. None of us can fix ourselves; we’re all bankrupt when it comes to that. We need a Savior! God wants all of us to learn this truth for ourselves, and in our verse today, He gives a promise for all who do. He says that He will look upon those who are contrite in spirit. The Hebrew word there that’s translated contrite is only used two other times in the Old Testament. Both times refer to the same person-Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan whom David took into his own home.

Crippled. That’s what this word contrite means. Do you feel crippled in your spirit? Are you convinced of your inability to walk anywhere without God? Are you ready, like the lame man in Acts 3, to receive better than silver and gold, and beyond that to receive strength in the legs of your life so that you can walk freely in abundant life?

This is what God wants to do for us and it’s what David did for Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth thought David was going to kill him because he was the only living relative of King Saul, but David did the opposite. He searched him out to carry him into the palace, to let him eat from the king’s table, to have all of his needs met from the king’s bounty for the rest of his life.

God will do all this for us if we will just let Him, recognizing our inability to do it on our own. He is looking for those who will choose to humble themselves and become contrite in spirit.

Is God my crutch? You bet. I couldn’t walk without Him.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for looking on those who know they need You, because I really need You! Please come and carry me in my life. Let me lean on Your strength and live off the things You have for me, not on the little things I can find for myself!

Amen