Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 79:1-5
Ps 79:1-5
O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. 2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. 4 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. 5 How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
Rev 3:19-20
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
What a joy to be able to trust the Lord, even when we don’t understand and when we don’t like what is happening to us or those we love! This assurance is ours whether we are talking about us personally, our families, our church or our nation. We see so much wickedness, so much violence and so many who have no regard for God or what is right. Sin is mocked and God is derided but he is still in control of all things. God knows and has his own timing for his will. It in is this assurance of his love, his care and his constant presence that we can go to bed at night and rest or get up in the morning and face a new day. God is faithful.
Can you imagine being in a dungeon with your feet and hands chained and writing a letter to other Christians to tell them to “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice?” It was in the midst of persecutions that both Peter and James tells us to rejoice when we face trials, temptations and hardships in our lives. They go on to explain that as we overcome these trials we are allowed to grow into spiritual maturity. The more we use our faith, the stronger it becomes.
We will face trials. Being a Christian does not keep us from getting sick, having an accident nor does it shield those we love from dying. It does give us reason to keep going in life because of the hope of eternal life with our Lord. We have his Spirit living in us to give us strength, comfort and peace in our hearts.
O Lord God in heaven, I am so thankful that you allow me to be your child. Thank you for your faithfulness in all things and especially in the promises you have made to be with me, to help me and to give me your wisdom to carry on, even when things seem to have fallen apart. I am thankful that you have blessed me in so many ways. Thank you for allowing me to help others as they face some of the same things I faced in earlier years. Give me a heart of compassion and a constant willingness to love and forgive. I pray in the name of Jesus, my Lord.
Robert
