Luke 9:37–50

Be Still: And know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Ps 46:10)

Read: Luke 9:37–50

But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. (vv. 42-43)

Encounter: Yesterday I saw a little Instagram movie that made me laugh. Someone had painted, onto a perfectly safe pavement, a completely convincing image of a very deep hole. Some people spotted it and simply avoided it, though of course they didn’t need to. Others, engaged on their phones, stepped onto it, saw the 'hole' beneath them, and promptly panicked and fell over, rather like the cartoon character who runs off the cliff before realising the drop beneath them. The painted drop wasn’t real, but the fear of falling, of descending, is. We capture this fear in expressions like 'down in the dumps', 'feeling low', 'going downhill' or 'having a sinking feeling' to express the most difficult and least happy times in our lives.

Coming down from a height. Down into the valley. Leaving the mountaintop experience behind. That must have been how Peter, James and John felt as they left the glories of Mount Tabor and walked straight into a failure situation. But…

…BUT Jesus was still with them. He healed the sick child. He continued to teach them. And they came to realise that he was just as much with them there in the valley as he had been when shining in glory on the mountaintop. 

Apply: That’s the thing. Jesus is just as much with us in the valley as he was on the mountaintop. We go up, we go down, we succeed, we fail, we’re exalted, we’re depressed – but in the words of the old chorus: 'Yesterday, today, for ever, Jesus is the same!' (Hebrews 13:8)

Devote: Thank you, Lord, for your constant presence. Keep me aware of it, and thankful for it, in all I do and say today.