RECOVERY

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

Recovery

Read:  Jeremiah 33:1-9

I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance

of peace and truth.  Jeremiah 33:6

Over thirty-five years ago, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in one of the greatest natural disasters of modern times.  The top of the mountain was blown into the atmosphere and became a dark plume of pulverized rock eleven miles high.  At the same time, avalanches of rock, mud, and ice swept down the mountain-destroying everything in their path, clogging rivers, and stopping ships.

During the past few decades, the U.S. government has spent over one billion dollars on Mount St. Helen’s recovery and long-term improvements of the area.  Much of the engineering and construction work done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is unseen because “it takes the form of floods that will not happen, homes and communities that will not be destroyed, [and] river traffic that will flow smoothly.”

In this process of recovery, I see a picture of God’s forgiveness and healing for the disastrous results of our disobedience.  When God allowed His people to be taken captive by the Chaldeans, He promised:  “I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth” (Jeremiah 33:6).

True spiritual recovery often takes time.  But as we allow the Lord to clean up our lives, He can safeguard us against future failures.   DCM

Events may sometimes touch our lives

With change and dire destruction,

But God by grace can heal, restore,

And bring us reconstruction. -Hess

Christ’s cleansing power can remove 

the most stubborn stain of sin.