Matins Devotion: October 1, 2024

Matthew 6:16-34

Earlier this morning, I saw a photograph on social media. It was taken by a woman in Asheville, North Carolina as she, her parents, and her young son were on top of their roof waiting to be rescued. Shortly after she took the picture, the roof collapsed. She survived. Her mother, her father, and her seven year old boy drowned. 

So what do we do with Jesus’s words from Matthew 6 in response to a tragedy like that? How can you see yourself as more precious to God than the lilies of the field when everything that was precious to you has been violently ripped away? How could you possibly find any comfort in these words?

But in the end, we must see all things through the cross of Christ. all joys and all sorrows. When it’s easy to see yourself as more valuable than a lily or a sparrow, when everything is peaceful and calm, look to the cross and you’ll see why you have that value. It’s not because you earned it. Not because you made yourself into something worthy of God’s love. It’s because your Father in heaven gave you that value, clothed you in it through the blood of Christ. That’s the price He paid to make you worthy of His love and His kingdom.

And when unfathomable sorrow surrounds you, when you can’t even cry out in agony because the pain is too great, look to the cross and see what that cross shows you. We don’t know why some perish in floods and others don’t. We don’t know why some die of cancer and some are healed. But we do know this: when this fallen world was teeming with sin and warfare, floods and earthquakes, disease and death, the Son of God came into this world and bled for you upon the cross. He knew you at Calvary, loved you at Calvary, and swore that He would not abandon you even when everything you see and hear and feel tells you otherwise. Don’t believe what your sorrow tells you. Believe the promises of the One who conquered your sorrows eternally with His death and resurrection. Cling to Him and He will one day show you His eternal love for you and all who knew Him through faith.