Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 102:18-22
Psalms 102:18-22
18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD: 19 "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death." 21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.
James tells us that when we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. When we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Paul says that we must not be deceived because we will reap what we sow. Over and over again God warned his people through Moses and then Joshua that if they would serve him and be faithful to keep his commands, they would be blessed beyond their dreams. However, if they did not follow him but turned aside to other gods, they would be punished beyond what they could imagine.
What many people want is to live for themselves, fulfilling all their own desires with no regard for God, his word or his ways but they want the protection and blessings of the faithful. They thus fool themselves into thinking that their way is God’s way and that God did not really mean what he says in his word.
One of the many problems with this way of thinking and living is that the more we ignore God, the farther away we get from him until finally he gives up on us and lets us live how we want. While James does not say it, when we drift from God, the farther away he gets and when we draw closer to the devil the closer he gets to us. When we allow Satan a “foot in the door” it becomes difficult to shut the door without letting him in our hearts and lives.
So we each need to determine (and then follow through) to read and study the word of God more with the view of living it. We need to spend more time talking to God with a view of letting him lead us in our thinking and our lives. It is only with this kind of open communication with God that we can grow spiritually and become what he would have us be.
O Lord, thank you for revealing your word to us. Give me a heart that is always in tune with your heart so that my will can become your will being done in my life. I want to let Jesus live in me daily so others will see him and see you through me and then will want to serve you. Forgive me when I fail to live up to all you want me to be. Help me today to say a kind word to someone who is discouraged. Use me to lift someone who has fallen. Fill me with your Spirit so I can be loving, kind, compassionate and forgiving, even as you have forgiven me in Jesus. Be with those who are recovering from surgery. I pray in the name of Jesus.
--Robert
