Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 71:9-13
Ps 71:9-13
Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone. For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together. They say, "God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him." Be not far from me, O God; come quickly, O my God, to help me. May my accusers perish in shame; may those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
James 4:5-8
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
We get busy and we forget to finish what we started, or we let something slip from our minds and never do something we intended to get done. We plan to fix something, or we intend to ask someone, but with all that is going on in our lives, we never get around to doing it. We get distracted and sidetracked.
God does not do this. He does not forget the things we have done. He does not overlook us, and he never fails to carry through with his intentions or his promises. Unlike the idols who do nothing but are made of stone and wood, our God hears us, and he responds to our prayers and answers our needs. He is near.
God gives grace according to our needs. When Paul prayed repeatedly for the Lord to remove his “thorn”, it was not taken away, but he was promised that there would be grace to live with it and to handle it. In doing this, God gave him added strength in proportion to his increased faith. Paul learned that the more he gave up on himself and then put his trust in God, the stronger he became and the more he could endure. As we depend on him and not on ourselves, we find that he will never let us down, he will never forsake us. He just gives more and more grace. His grace is always sufficient for our needs.
O Lord God, thank you for your love and for your grace that you give daily. Thank you for your strength. I do need you every hour to be near to me and to be with me as I face the daily routines. Help me do what needs to be done and give me wisdom to make the right choices. As I look into your perfect law of liberty and examine myself each day, help me be honest and make any corrections that need to be made. Use me to be an encouragement to others. Be with your people so that we will share the gospel with others. I pray in Jesus’ name.
Robert
