• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Contact
  • Staff Portal
  • Search

Lutheran Education Victoria, Tasmania & New South Wales

Inspired students for life

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Team
    • Strategic Plan
    • History
    • Our Statement on Mission and Ministry
    • Who We Are
  • Learning
    • Valuing Safe Communities
    • Christian Studies
    • Spiritual Development
    • Parenting and schools: A learning partnership
    • Learning in a Lutheran School
    • What is a Lutheran Education?
  • Find a School/ELC
    • School/ELC website links
    • Find a School/ELC by Name or Location
  • News
  • Careers
    • Enterprise Agreements
    • Current Vacancies
    • Working in Lutheran Schools/ELCs
  • Policies
  • Contact

Devotion: Certainty in our Uncertainty

2022-02-10

Psalm 138

The school year has begun, again surrounded with uncertainty and change – fear and anxiety around the spread of the virus, the possible impact on staffing, new routines and procedures, RA tests, masks, and air purifiers. Even the things designed to alleviate uncertainty bring uncertainty of their own.

It’s not completely bad when things challenge our order, certainty, and sense of self-sufficiency. Psalm 138 can help us find perspective, even as circumstances challenge us.

King David, the author of the Psalm, does not go to people (even other ‘gods’) who may seem to offer security. He directs his praise to the one person who really can, saying, “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart” (v.1). He then names two of the Lord’s qualities that bring certainty, his ‘unfailing love’ and his ‘faithfulness’ (v.2).

David finds certainty as he recollects God’s past answers to prayer, “When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.” The things God ‘decrees’ in answer to prayer are greater than any earthly king can decree (v.3).

Even more amazing is the fact that “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly; though lofty, he sees from afar” (v.6). Despite his glory, the Lord is not far removed from us or our greatest challenges.

Drawing on these reasons for certainty, David concludes with a prayer that intermingles his confidence in the Lord with a desperate plea for help.

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life,

You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;

with your right hand, you save me.

The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever –

do not abandon the works of your hands” (v.7, 8).

Our ‘foes’ at the beginning of this school year are not people, as it appears King David’s were. They are those circumstances that challenge our order, certainty, and sense of self-sufficiency. However, David’s confidence and his prayers ring equally true for us.

We can be sure, as we pray, that “though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly” (v.6). His love “endures forever” and will “preserve” us. He will “not abandon” us and our areas of service, which are also very much “the works of his hands” (v.8).

Pastor Lester Priebbenow

District Bishop, Victoria and Tasmania

Find a Lutheran School or Early Learning Centre near you

Search now

Footer

HEAD OFFICE

Level 1 755 Station Street
Box Hill VIC 3128
T (03) 9236 1250
E schools@levnt.edu.au

About LEVNT

  • Who We Are
  • History
  • Strategic Plan
  • Our Team

Learning

  • What is a Lutheran Education?
  • Learning in a Lutheran School
  • Parenting and schools: A learning partnership
  • Spiritual Development
  • Christian Studies
  • Valuing Safe Communities

Find A School

  • Find a School/ELC by Name or Location
  • School/ELC website links

News

  • Latest News

Careers

  • Working in Lutheran Schools/ELCs
  • Current Vacancies
  • Enterprise Agreements

Policies

  • Policies

Contact

  • General Enquiries

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Home
  • About
    ▼
    • Who We Are
    • History
    • Strategic Plan
    • Our Team
  • Learning
    ▼
    • What is a Lutheran Education?
    • Learning in a Lutheran School
    • Parenting and schools: A learning partnership
    • Spiritual Development
    • Christian Studies
    • Valuing Safe Communities
  • Find A School/ELC
    ▼
    • Find a School/ELC by Name or Location
    • School/ELC website links
  • Latest News
  • Careers
    ▼
    • Working in Lutheran Schools/ELCs
    • Current Vacancies
    • Enterprise Agreements
  • Policies
  • Contact