Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 44:17-22
Ps 44:17-22
17 All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. 18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. 19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? 22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
The apostle Paul uses this last verse from the Psalms in Romans 8:35-39, where he says: 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Good people suffer. Good people are tempted, and even sin. Good people make bad choices at times and endure the consequences. But whatever you and I face in our lives will not and cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Even though we may not understand why we are going through what we are enduring, God is still with us, he still loves us and is still helping us.
God never promised to tell us all his secrets. Why he chooses to allow some things to happen and why he denies others may be only known to him. As we live longer, we may be able to look back and see why some tragedies happen and the lessons we learned from them or the opportunities they afforded that we would not have known otherwise. Some remain a mystery in our minds forever.
What God does tell us is that we can trust him. Our lack of understanding or lack of faith does not change God or his promises. In many ways, serving God is not easy and is not intended to be. But in the end, it gives peace and rest with Jesus.
Lord God, thank you for your promises to always be with me, to love me and to protect me. Help me see all you want me to see but to trust you in all things. Use me to do your will in my life. Thank you for my mother and all the things she has taught me and done for me. May my life honor her and my dad as I live to honor your holy name. Help me as a father, father-in-law and grandfather to be what you want me to be. Give me wisdom to teach and preach your truth, but most of all, to live it in my daily life. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
