Day 38  -  March 26

Octavia Young

Reassurance ~ Psalm 18:1–7

Like most children, my mother and I played lots of games together when I was growing up, but there was one that my mother made up that has always stuck with me.  The “rules” were fairly simple, I would go to the steps in our home, stand on the second one, jump off and she’d catch me, each time climbing higher and higher until we reached the 7th step.  This was usually fun for me until I got to the 4th step.  I was a cautious child, so just the thought of something bad happening terrified me.  Knowing this, my mother would hold my hands and tell me not to worry because she was there to catch me.  I knew my mother would catch me, but she understood that I needed some reassurance.

As I look at the verses in Psalm 18, I’m reminded of that game and the past year of my life.  Like many people, 2020 was time of uncertainty for me.  Between the state of the world and my own health struggles there were many times where I felt nothing but fear and anxiety.  The institutions that were supposed to help keep us safe failed and what I desired most was reassurance that there was still hope.  This is what I found in the psalm.  Reassurance that our hope is not in human elements, but in a God who does not fail.  We will be assailed by life’s difficulties and they may leave us trembling, almost at the point of despair, yet our God is only a prayer away for those of faith.  God is a God of hope to all generations who believe and trust in him.