October 6

READ Psalm 107:1–9. 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

THEY HAD NO CITY. Here are people who are lost (verse 4), hungry (verse 5), exhausted (verse 5), and isolated because they did not live in a city (verses 5 and 7). At one level this shows that cities can be good places for human thriving. At the deepest level it means we need Jesus—to heal our spiritual lostness, remove our spiritual hunger, give rest for our spiritual exhaustion, and through his Body end our loneliness.112 So believers work to make our cities good places for everyone to live (Jeremiah 29:7) and also call all to become citizens of the heavenly city (Revelation 21–22; Hebrews 12:22–24) through faith in God.

Prayer: Lord, save me from being so caught up in my own pursuits that I’m not a great neighbor to others in my city. But also save me from being seduced too much by the glitz and excitement of my earthly city. Let my heart rest in its citizenship of your heavenly one. Amen.