Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 42:9-11
Ps 42:9-11
9 I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Rom 8:35-37
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
The Psalmist is writing about physical problems and his need for God to overcome them. Paul is writing of the spiritual problem of sin and the consequence of death for that sin. The solution is the same and that is putting our faith and our trust in God and allowing him to solve our problems. Whatever we face in life, we find the answer in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
One of the things that makes it difficult to trust God is that we don’t always like his answer to our plight. We consider all suffering as bad with the ultimate evil that can happen as death. But God sees our suffering as discipline, training and as testing of our faith. Death for the Christian is not the worst that can happen but is actually the culmination of our journey as we join the Lord in that great reunion in eternity. It is just a new beginning for us in a much better state and place.
From a spiritual point of view, serving God and trusting Christ means we have to give up the momentary pleasures of sin. It means we put serving God ahead of all the pleasures and things of this world. He is to be more important to us than our job or career. He is above all the sports activities (or the long list of other things we could mention) that we enjoy. It doesn’t mean we are not to ever enjoy these or be active in them but it is a shift in our priorities so that God is first.
O Lord, my Lord, holy and reverend is your name in all the earth. You alone are God and you are above all else. You gave me life and I ask you to give me wisdom to use my life for you and your glory. Give me motivation to do what I need to do and empower me to become what I must be. Forgive me when I fail to live up to you and the example of Jesus. Thank you for all you have done for me and that you continue to do every day. Help me keep my priorities in the right order so you are first in my life in all I do and say. Use me to see the needs of others and take advantage of the opportunities to help them. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
