Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 71:22-24
Ps 71:22-24
22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy one of Israel. 23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you--I, whom you have redeemed. 24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.
Phil 1:9-11
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.
If we, like the Psalmist, have been redeemed, then the God of the universe, the Holy One who is above all things is our God. You and I need to be thankful that he is not just “a” god or even “the” God but he is my God and he is your God. This is a part of the assurance that he is with me no matter what I face in life.
Many of the psalms focus on the problems and trials faced in life because the one who wrote them had to deal with these things just as you and I do today. But in the midst of all the hardships and mistreatments, he found joy in the Lord. He was always thankful for the presence of God in his life and the knowledge that God was ever with him. He often did not understand how or why things were as they were but he always trusted God, his ways and his timing. When God seemed to not be there or when all he could feel was loneliness and darkness surrounded him, he still knew that God was at work with him and through him.
As a child of God today, we can rejoice and praise our God because he is with us and is ever watching over us. We can give him thanks even when we don’t know why things are as they are because we know that he is using it to mold us into his image. Even when we seem to be alone, Jesus is our friend who is ever holding our hand and leading us along. What a joy to be in Christ and to know the war against sin and death has already been won for us by our Savior! Hallelujah!
O Lord God, my God, I thank you for your wonderful love shown to me in giving your Son to come to this world to live as one of us and then to die for my sin so I can be counted righteous and live with you in eternity. I am thankful for every opportunity to serve you and ask you to open my eyes to see and respond to each one. Help me remember that even the smallest act of kindness brings honor to your name and is service to you. Give me wisdom to understand your word better and strength and self-control to put it into practice in my life. Be with those in Haiti who are still rebuilding and struggling to serve you. Be with your children who serve you in spite of persecutions. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
