Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 119:81-88
Ps 119:81-88 Kaph
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. 82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?" 83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees. 84 How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? 85 The arrogant dig pitfalls for me, contrary to your law. 86 All your commands are trustworthy; help me, for men persecute me without cause. 87 They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. 88 Preserve my life according to your love, and I will obey the statutes of your mouth.
Phil 3:10-14
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
God knows best. That is hard for us to understand when things are not going the way we think they should go; when we face sickness, death, financial losses, the breakup in relationships and a host of other things. When our friends turn against us and we are maligned and falsely accused we have no explanation and cannot help but wonder why God allows it to happen. So we ask questions such as “how long?” or “why me” or we exclaim that this is not fair.
What happened to David was not fair. We remember Joseph and all that he had to endure and for him at the time there was no reasonable explanation. How could this lad of about 17 understand why his brothers had just sold him as a slave? In fact, it was near the end of his life that he finally said that others meant it for harm to him but God had used it to save his family and make a great nation. God knows best and was using him. He will do the same for us today.
Lord God, thank you for using all things in my life for my good. Help me not feel the need to always understand but to just accept your will and use whatever it is to be stronger in faith and to be more determined to follow your word. Help me love, study, know and obey your statues. Thank you for the freedoms I have in this country. Please be with so many in other nations that do not have freedom to worship you openly. Give them strength to be faithful. I ask a special blessing for those who are battling cancer today. I pray in the name of Jesus my Savior.
Robert
