Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 123:1-4
Psalms 123:1-4
1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. 2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. 3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. 4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.
No matter what we face in life, we can depend on God. He is our strong helper and gives us strength to endure the trials we face. Whether it is ridicule, slander, gossip or back biting we can deal with it because we know we have God on our side. When we face temptations that seem so strong, we have a God that is stronger and will empower us to overcome. He has promised he will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. But we are also told to be strong in the Lord and stand in his might.
The fact is that we are totally dependent on God no matter what we face in life or what we accomplish. We may have studied really hard to get a good education but it is God who gave us the opportunity and the intelligence to accomplish this task. We may be talented in some sport or other activity but it is God who gave us this ability. So Paul asked the Corinthians: what do you have that you were not given? All we have and all we are is by the grace of God.
This takes away any room for pride on our part. God has designed his plan of redemption for us so that we have no room for boasting. This means we cannot boast of our knowledge of his word or our understanding of it. We have no room for bragging about how good we keep his commands or how righteous we are. It is God who has provided all of this for us and given to each one according to his desire. We simply use what he has given.
Paul says our salvation is not by our works of righteousness but rather we are created in Christ Jesus as a new person to do good works which God has prepared for us. It is the grace of God that teaches us to deny worldly lusts and ungodliness and then to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for revealing your way of salvation to me in your word. I thank you for the many men and women who have done so much to help me understand your will for my life. Thank you for giving me a godly wife to help me be faithful in my service to you. Give me strength and courage to share your word with others and tell them of your love for them. Help me live for you to the best of my ability and then recognize how far I am from your glory and your perfection. Be with those who are struggling to serve you. In Jesus name.
--Robert
