Saturday, March 22, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: James 5, 1 Peter 1
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 34
Devotional Thought
James closes his letter with a thunderclap against the rich who have hoarded wealth while defrauding their laborers. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and James tells these oppressors to weep and howl for the miseries coming upon them. Their gold and silver are cankered, their garments moth-eaten. Yet in the same breath, James turns tenderly to the suffering saints: be patient unto the coming of the Lord. He points to the husbandman waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, to the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, to Job’s endurance and the end of the Lord. He calls the afflicted to pray, the sick to call for the elders, the erring to be restored. Elijah, a man subject to like passions as we are, prayed and the heavens obeyed. Then Peter opens his first epistle to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia—elect according to the foreknowledge of God, begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven. The trial of their faith, more precious than gold that perisheth, is being refined though now for a season they are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
Psalm 34 sings the same melody from another age. David, likely fleeing Saul or standing in the aftermath of danger, blesses the LORD at all times. He invites the humble to magnify the LORD with him, testifies that the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and declares that the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
These three portions meet us in late March, as winter loosens its grip and the first green appears. The farmer watching his fields is James’s husbandman. The gold tried in the fire is Peter’s faith. The broken heart made whole is David’s song. We are not promised a life without affliction, but we are promised a Redeemer who keeps every bone, a Father who hears every cry, and an inheritance that cannot decay. Whether we are the laborer crying out for justice, the stranger scattered far from home, or the poor man who cried and was saved out of all his troubles, the call is the same: trust, wait, pray, and bless the LORD at all times.
Reflection
- James condemns the rich for withholding wages while Peter comforts the scattered with an incorruptible inheritance—where in your own life might you be trusting in cankered gold rather than the living hope of the resurrection?
- Psalm 34 says the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; when did you last bring your brokenness to Him instead of hiding it, and what did you find there?
Prayer
O Lord, who hearest the cry of the righteous and art nigh unto the brokenhearted, we come as the poor man who cried and was saved out of all his troubles. Forgive us for hoarding what cannot last and for trusting gold that perisheth rather than the lively hope of the risen Christ. Teach us to be patient as the husbandman, waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, and to pray with the faith of Elijah. Refine our faith as gold tried in the fire, that we may bless Thee at all times and magnify Thy name together with the humble. Keep us, O God, for none that trust in Thee shall be desolate. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 34:1 — “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”