Day By Day

'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord Your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.' Isaiah 43:2-3a

How many of us live as though we entirely depend on God, Day by Day? When you are a cancer patient or suffering from a severe illness, you will learn the meaning behind the phrase 'Living Day by Day in the Palm of God's Hand.' You live with uncertainty, the fluctuations of your blood counts, the up and downs of your energy levels, the vulnerability to infections, with fevers coming and going. You brace yourself for periods of recovery, remission and relapses

During these uncertain times, you will learn to rely on the grace of God, day by day; His mercy and protection. You are encouraged by friends and families praying for you daily; for that you are ever grateful.  

 

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.' Psalms 50:15

Living Day by Day dependent on the grace and mercy of God is experienced by the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt where they wandered for 40 years in the desert and wilderness. Throughout that period God provided them with manna from heaven but always just sufficient for the day. 

'Then the Lord said to Moses, "I'm going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day.' Exodus 16:4a  

God provides our Physical Needs day by day

Andrew Murray wrote, "Many a soul is disquieted with the thought as to how it will be able to gather and to keep the manna needed for all its years of travel through such a barren wilderness. It has never learnt what unspeakable comfort there is in the word: The day's portion for its day.  Manna, as your food and strength, is given only by the day; faithfully to fill the present is your only security for the future. Accept, and enjoy, and fulfil with your whole heart the part you have this day to perform. His presence and grace enjoyed today will remove all doubt whether you can entrust the morrow to Him too."

Christians who live hand to mouth eking their daily living understand God's provision for our physical needs on a daily basis. Similarly those who are ill and recovering understand how God sustain their bodies on a daily basis. 

God provides our Spiritual Needs day by day

When Jesus taught us to pray the Lord's prayer and one of the petitions is

'Give us today our daily bread.'  Matthew 6:9

Although this phrase can also be taken to mean our daily physical subsistence, it is most likely that Jesus meant spiritual nourishment; our daily sustenance of our soul and spirit. And this is usually provided by the daily inspiration of God's Word. Jesus said 

'It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.' Matthew 4:4

Andrew Murray wrote, "As the lesson of the value and the work of the single day is being taken to heart, the learner is all unconsciously being led on to get the secret of day by day continually."

Day by day, God fulfills our spiritual needs, the bread that satisfies our spiritual needs.

God provides us our Spiritual Blessings day by day

Andrew Murray wrote, "We are so easily led to look at life as a great whole, and to neglect the little to-day, to forget that the single days do indeed make up the whole, and that the value of each single day depends on its influence on the whole. Each day of faithfulness brings a blessing for the next; and so the Christian life grows: as we give our whole heart to the work of each day." 

We live day by day, one step at a time, exercising simple faith that God will provide just what we need, when we need it. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, 

'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?' Matthew 6:25 

'And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was not dressed like one of these.' Matthew 6:28-29

Living 'Day by Day' in the palm of God's hand gives all living with cancer and illnesses daily blessings.

'So do not worry, saying,"What shall we eat?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after these things, and you heavenly Father knows that you need them.' Matthew 6:32

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best,

Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

Jesus said,

'So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.' Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Be assured that God has you in the palm of His hand. Timothy Keller, who this year succumbed to pancreatic cancer, wrote, “The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.” 

Lionel