Daily Manna · Day 4 · January 4
The Same Hands
“The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.”
The objection is fair. A line about strength and peace, read by somebody whose grip has been slipping quietly for months while the surface stays flat, sounds like a slogan printed on a wall.
So read what the psalm sets in front of that line, because it is a list and it is all one voice. The voice of the LORD is upon the waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful. The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars. The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness. The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests. Seven times, and the storm walks from the sea across Lebanon and down into the desert, and everything in its path is either broken open or laid bare.
Verse 11 is the eighth thing that voice does. Same voice, different work: strength given, peace pronounced. And note the wording, because it is covenant wording and not a general remark about weather and nerves. Unto his people. His people twice.
That is the truth to carry into an ordinary Tuesday. The power that unmakes a forest is not a lesser or different power when it reaches you. It has simply been aimed differently.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 4 is My God, My God (Psalm 22:1).