Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 109:1-5
Ps 109:1-5
1 O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, 2 for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. 3 With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. 4 In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. 5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.
Acts 8:30-35
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
When Jesus was on earth, he made it his will to do the will of the Father. David lived his life much the same way by having a mind and heart that was set on doing the will of God in every way. Also like Jesus and because of this attitude, David suffered at the hands of those who did not share his faith. It was the religious leaders who led the opposition to Jesus and it was the king of Israel whom God had appointed that pursued David. They both suffered for doing right.
Both Jesus and David had opportunities to physically retaliate against their enemies but neither of them did so. Jesus could have simply spoken the word and all of his detractors would have been destroyed. He told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world but that he could call 10,000 angels if he had chosen to do so; but he quietly refused and took the afflictions on himself. David could have killed Saul on more than one occasion but refused to touch the Lord’s anointed one, choosing to live in caves as a fugitive, even though wrongly accused.
O Lord God, give me a heart like David and like Jesus. Help me make your will my own in all I do and say. Create in me a pure heart based on my love for you. Use me to show your love to others and to always be forgiving toward those who have sought to do me wrong. I am so thankful for your constant care in my life and I ask you to make me a better person with each trial I face and each temptation I am able to overcome. Thank you for this country in which I live. Be with all of us as a nation and be with our leaders. I pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
