Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 88:1-7
Ps. 88:1-7
1 O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you. 2 May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength. 5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. 6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. 7 Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah
2 Cor. 5:7-10
7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Most of us have at some time in our lives faced the distress felt by the psalmist. We feel that God has forgotten us and is nowhere to be found when we think we need him the most. Just when we think things have reached the bottom, some other tragedy befalls us. Why has he forsaken us? Why does he not hear us?
Put yourself in the place of Job. Things got bad, then worse and then everything fell apart in his life. He lost his possessions, his family and then his health. With all of this to deal with, his “friends” came to him and accused him of doing wrong and blamed his troubles on his sinful life. Job knew this was not true but could not explain why all of this was happening to him. What he did know was that he had done his best to serve God in every way and that he could trust God.
In all of this, he fell on the ground and worshipped God. He said “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” He reasoned (without understanding) that we receive good from the hand of the Lord, should we not also accept the bad? He never knew why all this happened to him but he learned that God alone is God and that he can always be trusted to take care of his own.
Heavenly Father, giver of all blessings, I confess that often I do not understand why things happen to me and to others who are seeking to serve you. Keep me (and them) from doubting your goodness and your faithfulness. Help me realize that my understanding is so shallow compared to yours and increase my faith in times of grief, sorrow, depression and also in times of joy. I want to show my love to you in the way I live and in helping others who are in need. Open my eyes to every opportunity and keep me from being greedy or proud. Continue to forgive me when I fail to be all you want me to be. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
