Daily Devotions
“A smoldering wick He will not snuff out.” Isaiah 42:3
Recently a man who was guilty of a sinful habit and was terribly tortured by a guilty conscience wrote for help: “I don’t want to stop doing it,” he said “but I want to want to!”
Perhaps we should read that last sentence again. Behind it may lie the smoldering wick of which Isaiah speaks above. The picture is that of a sputtering oil wick. It is burning so low and uncertainly that we expect it to go out any moment. But no says our gracious God. “I will stand by it. I will nurse it. I will enable it to shine more brightly.”
Event the smallest faith is a gift of God’s Holy Spirit, and even the weakest faith can lay hold on His greatest promises. We are not saved by the greatness of our faith; we are saved by despairing of our personal worthiness and by leaning wholly on Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Even a flickering faith is a saving faith. Sometimes even “wanting to want to” is evidence of a moving of the Spirit. Each of us has days when the lamp of faith burns low. Thank God that we have a Savior who will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp, but who will stand by us and nurse our wavering faith to health.
PRAYER: Lord, I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. Let my faith, frail though it may be, always look up to You, O Lamb of Calvary! Amen.
(Taken from “Words of Promise,” copyright 1996 (out of print), Concordia Publishing House. For information on other devotional materials, call 1-800-325-3040)