Perfecting What Concerns You

Centuries after David, Paul wrote a sentence about God finishing the good work He has begun in a person. When people quote this psalm, that is usually the sentence they really mean.

So be careful what you take from David here. His verse is smaller than people often make it, and stronger than they notice. It never promises that the half-painted wall gets painted. It does not promise that your projects get done, or that your course gets finished, or that the friendship you meant to mend in March will mend itself. It gives no timetable at all. And it is not a general rule about unfinished things. The phrase is "that which concerneth me," which means what God has taken on for David, in his own life and calling.

Then look at what David rests the promise on, because he does not leave it standing alone: "thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever." That is the half that holds the weight. Why does God not abandon a work halfway? The work does not keep rolling on by itself. God stays with it because His patience never runs out. A God who quit would be a God whose mercy had an end date.

And here is the detail that keeps the verse honest. Read on to the end of it, which is also the end of the psalm. David finishes by asking, "forsake not the works of thine own hands." He states the promise, and then he prays it anyway. He does not treat it as automatic, and neither should anyone who quotes it.

So the schedule is not what is settled. What is settled is that the One who began the work is still at it, and there is no point where His mercy runs out and lets Him put it down. That is why you can pray David's prayer today with confidence.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 286 is The Third and Fourth (Exodus 34:6-7).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna