A New Day

 By: Pastor Johnie Akers 

Psalm 31:2, “Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me.”  The following comes from Our Daily Bread, a familiar devotional published by Radio Bible Class:  In late January 1956, during the tense days of the Montgomery Boycott, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could not sleep. A threatening phone call had terrified him. So, he prayed, “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now, I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. Now, I am afraid. . . . The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. . . . I can’t face it alone.”  Dr. King later wrote, “At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying, ‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.’ Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”  The rest is history. Dr. King wanted to see people of all colors free of the damage done by racism and prejudice.  If we face opposition when we’re trying to do what’s right, we too must, like Dr. King, be dependent upon the strength that only comes from the Lord.  He alone is our “rock of refuge, a fortress of defense.” He is our reliable source of strength and protection.  So, what are you facing today?  Most likely it is nowhere near the daunting task that Dr. King and his associates faced during the Civil Rights Movement.  Perhaps you are facing a medical prognosis that is not favorable; or financial issues that seem as if they will never end; or children who have drifted from the principled moorings you established in their lives when they were young.  What ever you are facing today, remember the prayer Dr. King prayed decades ago, “I am at the end of my powers . . . I can’t face it alone.”  And as he experienced, you too will receive newfound strength from a God who will never fail you, with each new day.