Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 44:9-16
Ps 44:9-16
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. 10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale. 13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 15 My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame 16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
James 1:2-4
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
As with the Psalmist, we will face times in our lives that it seems to us that God is not with us and we don’t understand why it is happening. We trace and retrace our steps and examine our lives but still we do not see why God would not be with us and defend us from what we are facing. And thus arises the old question of why bad things happen to good people?
There are more answers than could be given in a book so we could not cover nearly all of them in a short article, even if we knew them all. One of the answers that underlies all others is that we do not know or see things as God sees them and thus we cannot truly measure what is good or bad at the time we face it.
One example is the idea of death. It is the worst thing Satan can throw us. But since Jesus overcame death in his resurrection, those who are in Christ face death but not as an enemy but as the final victory against sin. For God this is just calling his child home to be with him in eternity. Death is thus good and not bad.
O Lord God, giver of all good and life itself, I thank you for your infinite wisdom and your goodness. Too often I think I know what is best and what I need or want in my life but you give me what is really good. Open my eyes to see it your way and give me faith to trust you when I don’t understand. Lord, one of the things I do not understand is how and why you allow so much evil in our nation and so many things you define as sin have been made legal. Help me show respect for those you have put in office and at the same time stand for what you say is right and against what you say is sin. Please be with those who are suffering, taking treatments and facing surgeries. Use me to help them. I pray in Jesus name.
Robert
