A WORK IN PROGRESS
Aug 14, 2025
A WORK IN PROGRESS
Psalm 138:8
“The Lord will fulfil His purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”
We are encouraged to find our purpose in life, to fulfil our passion. Good advice, as long as we recognise that we are not the master of our destiny. King David, the author of the psalm, urges us to look to the Lord, the master craftsman whose hands will fashion us to become the best version of ourselves. David should know, when on many occasions, his life could have been forfeited, ruined or even extinguished.
So he makes this heartfelt cry, “Do not forsake the work of your hands.” David’s life is a work in progress, and he desires the Lord to keep working on him. God is not done with him yet, neither is David satisfied with himself as he is. God’s steadfast love means he is infinitely patient with us. As a song puts it, “It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars/ The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars/ O how loving and patient He must be/ He’s still working on me.”
Yes, only six days to finish the work of creation, but a lifetime to complete the work on one human life. David lived a chequered life. On occasions, in bad times and good, he took life into his own hands. He lied to the priest Abimelech to save his own skin (I Sam 21.1-9). He took Bathsheba’s body and his husband’s life for his own pleasure (2 Sam 11.1-17). He nursed an anger against his son Absalom and refused to see him until it was too late (2 Sam 14.23-25; 18.33).
But the Lord worked on David till he lived up to the inscription given to his name: “a man after God’s own heart” (I Sam 13.14; Acts 13.22). God does not give up on us, neither should we give up on ourselves. But for the Lord to work, we must allow him access and give him permission. He will not force himself on us, but stand near, knocking at the door, to be let in (Rev 3.20). When we place everything in his hands, we will see his hands in everything. His work will be a masterpiece.
He's still working on me.
