Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 43:1-6
Ps 43:1-6
1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
1 Peter 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
In Philippians 4:5b-6, Paul says: The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
That is about anything and in everything. Paul tells us that because the Lord is near, we can rejoice and find the peace of God by turning everything over to him in prayer. No matter what we face in life, we can just open up and talk to God, we can pour our hearts out to him and he will listen. In fact, he wants us to do this on a regular basis. He is saying here to give him our complaints about life, tell him our sorrows, pains and hurts, talk to him about what is tempting us and ask him for his help. There is nothing off limits when we are talking to our Father.
We can open our hearts to our best friend, to our spouse or to our parents and they will probably listen very patiently and sympathetically, but they are unable to do anything about our situation. While this can and does help our feelings, it does nothing to actually change what we are facing. When we talk to God and tell him what is on our hearts, he can and will do something to either change what we are facing or give us strength to handle it. We may not see his answer because at times the smallest circumstance changed, makes a huge difference in our lives. In his providence, everything seems “normal” but he is working for our good.
Thank you, O Lord, for your providential care in my life. I know that just because I don’t see you working, doesn’t mean you are not changing or moving things in my life. Give me greater faith to always trust you so I will have your wonderful peace on a daily basis. Help me rejoice in you always. To you is all glory and honor as you are in control of all things. I see at times a small glimpse of your power and then I realize just how great you are. The beauty of the sunrise, sunset, trees and flowers gives me hint of your majesty. In the name of Jesus, I come to you.
Robert
