September 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Numbers 27:1-5

Devotional

The daughters of Zelophehad had a “holy boldness” as they stood before Moses and Eleazar. They pleaded for a divine inheritance although they had no rights whatsoever.

Christ Himself also told of the widow who dared to keep on pleading with the judge who had no regard for any man but who nevertheless finally granted her request because she was always at his door. Think also of the woman with the issue of blood. With a wasted body and an empty purse, she touched the hem of Christ’s garment. She also broke the law of Moses, for the law of Moses forbade people with this kind of sickness to associate with others. She was unclean. Nevertheless she touched the pure Christ. She was willing to simply die at His feet. That is what happens when you are in real spiritual distress.

What a comfort this is for such persistent ones. No one has ever perished because he asked too much of the Lord; people perish because they asked too little. Certainly, that is not to say that the Lord gives everything that is asked for at the throne of His grace. Even the request of Moses was rejected when he pleaded to be permitted to enter Canaan. And Paul’s thorn was not taken out of his flesh, though he had prayed three times for this.

But there is a prayer which the Lord has never rejected. That is the petition of a sinner who acknowledges he has everything against him, but who yet has become anxious to receive an inheritance from the Lord. He yearns for His communion. To be outside of His communion is for him the worst thing imaginable. For then there will be darkness, distress, grief, and perdition.

Have you ever felt, like the daughters of Zelophehad, that salvation is possible for others, but not for you? Have you ever felt like you were excluded? Matters can be so dark that you cannot see anything, and the longer this darkness lasts, the more it seems that all things are against you. Perhaps you plead and sigh and weep.

But perhaps you no longer dare or are able to plead. Do not lose courage. Go with the daughters of Zelophehad. They also went along a path of impossibilities. At first they could see nothing. Go with them, even though according to God’s law you can expect nothing, even though you think that all of God’s promises have been given to others, and even if you see a land of threats instead of a land of promise. Others have received it freely. In God’s inheritance there is no one who reaps what he himself has sown. They are all products of free grace. Therefore it is still possible for the least of the least.

Are you so badly in need of a place with God, even if it is only the place of a servant? The Lord sees your tears. He hears your prayers. He numbers your sighs. Even though your supplications may not yet be answered, they are heard.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.