Focus: Tokens Of God

Text: Ps.65:8

"They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice."

The book of psalms is the book of spiritual experiences with God, and from those experiences of God's people we encounter for ourselves deep revelations of God. Here in this text we get to understand that our God provides tokens for us to gladly follow Him.

The word for 'tokens' here is 'ôth'. It speaks of appearances, signals, a kind of flag or beacon, monuments, evidence, marks or miracles. The word is differently translated in the King James Version, but we can see so far the different shades of meaning. Our God has tokens for us. Our faith in Christ connects us to the divine tokens. These tokens are manifestations of His love. 

Christ always brings us into His banqueting hall, and His banner over us is love. We experience His love on a daily basis.

We experience tokens of His presence. The children of Israel had the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day, following them as tokens of His presence. Before He ascended into heaven after His resurrection, Christ promised to be with us till the end of the world, and every day we see the tokens of His divine presence.

We experience tokens of assurance - the assurance of our faith in Christ. The Spirit lives in us, granting us assurances of God who is at work in our lives. He works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. The Spirit strengthens and sustains us all the time. He even prays in us and for us.

We experience tokens of grace. God's grace is sufficient for us. We lack nothing that His grace can't supply. The grace of God keeps us going amid life's tough times.

We experience tokens of divine hope - manifestations of God that inspire hope in us. Evidences of God that reassure our hearts and urge us on. Miracles of God in our lives that ignite our hope and boost our spirits.

We experience tokens of the new covenant. The Communion Table presents us the opportunity to experience the reality of the cross of Christ and His resurrection from the dead, and our faith is strengthened by it.

We experience tokens of God's faithfulness. Jeremiah tells us that the faithfulness of God is new every morning and His compassion never fails. Every day we experience God's faithfulness anew. Every day God opens to us a new page of His faithfulness. God never fails His people. He never reneges on His promises. He stands by His word to bring it to pass. He's trustworthy.

We see tokens of divine judgment. The psalmist says, "Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants" (Ps.135:9). All that God did in Egypt was a token of His power, a token His sovereignty and supremacy, and a token of His ownership of the world and all the kingdoms in it. He proved to Pharaoh that He was the God of gods and Lord of lords - the maker and master of the universe. God sent these tokens of divine judgment upon Egypt for the sake of His own covenant people. They are proves of how far God would go in saving and securing His own people.

Pray for God to grant you tokens of His grace, of His presence, of His love, and tokens of covenant. You need to experience divine prodigies, signals, marks and flags of God's goodness. It's indeed my prayer that you encounter the realities of God for yourself and enjoy the tokens of His love.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter