Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 27:7-10
Ps 27:7-10
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
James 4:7-10
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Seek God. Draw near to God. Never forsake the Lord. This is our goal in life and as we attempt to make it happen, we find that he draws closer to us, and we learn that he never abandons us. This is why Paul tells us not to worry about anything, but to pray about everything because the Lord is near. He has invested his only Son in our well-being so he will not forget us or leave us now.
According to a concordance that I checked, the word “if” is used over five hundred times in the Bible. Many of these are tied to promises and blessings of the Lord. He will help us if we serve him. He will deliver us if we trust him. He will bless us if we obey him. He will draw near to us if we draw near to him. He will forgive us if we come to Jesus and by faith we are baptized into him.
But there are about an equal number of times that the word “if” is tied to the opposite and we are being warned that if we do not serve him, he will not help us or if we do not obey him, he will punish us instead of blessing us. If we do not draw near to him, he will not come to meet us. It is easy for us to forget that the just punishment from God is just as much a part of his nature as is his love.
For those who are devoted to him and seeking his face, and drawing nearer to him each day, and those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, and the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin. If we turn away from sin and turn back to God (this is called repentance), then he will forgive us.
O Lord God, holy and true, majestic and loving, I thank you for all the times you have provided for me, for the times you have delivered me from trials, the times you have opened doors of opportunity for me, the times you have changed the circumstances in my life for my good and given me peace in the midst of turmoil and pain. You have never forsaken me or left me, and I thank you for this. Help me be as faithful to you as you are to me. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert