Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 7:1-5
Ps 7:1-5
O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
2 Cor 1:8-10
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Paul and David both faced situations in life when their problems were beyond their ability to bear in their own strength. We like to quote that Paul said we will never be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. This is true if taken in context but too often it is not. In the context of the verse, it is true when we allow God to show us the way out and we rely on his strength, not our own.
There are, and will be, plenty of times that we face things we cannot handle on our own, because we need the strength of God to get us through it. This is why Paul said he could do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthened him. God will put more on you than you can bear so that you will turn to him and trust him instead of trusting in yourself and your own strength. This is a hard lesson for us to learn but it is necessary for our spiritual growth and building our faith.
Someone advised me to be careful about praying for humility because the only way to learn it is by being knocked down in life. There are lessons of faith and of humility that only come from the proverbial “University of Hard Knocks”, and these are never easy nor are they any fun. It is through these that we learn to rely on God who raises the dead. He raised Jesus and now our time will come.
O Lord God, life is hard and at times, it seems impossible. I need your intervention and your strength to get through it. Increase my faith so that I trust you instead of trusting myself and my own strength. At times life is good and it is easy, so help me enjoy these times and to always be grateful to you for giving them to me. Even in the hard times, I see others who face even more than I face, so help me see the good in every day that I live. Use me to help others in their afflictions, to encourage them and to supply their needs when possible. In Jesus name.
Robert
