Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 89:46-52
Ps 89:46-52
46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men! 48 What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? Selah 49 O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations, 51 the taunts with which your enemies have mocked, O LORD, with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one. 52 Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.
John 14:26-27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Do you remember when your parents told you (or you told your kids) that the punishment being given hurt the one giving it more than the one getting it? As a child that is impossible to believe or understand. As a parent we realize what it means (and as a grandparent we wish punishment was not even necessary). How can a loving God allow his children to suffer? At times it is because we need to learn lessons that only suffering can teach us. While that may not always be the case, the fact is that we can use all our suffering to make us more like Jesus.
God does not want you or me to hurt, suffer or be filled with grief any more than we as grandparents want to see our young ones suffer. Every pain we feel, every moment of grief we endure, every sickness or even death we face, Jesus knows how we feel and what we are facing and he feels is with us and for us. But pain and suffering, sickness and death are all a part of this life.
The wonderful news is that it is only for a short while and it will be over. We will one day leave this world that has been cursed because of sin and go to live with the Lord in a new heaven and a new earth that will no longer have this curse and will have no pain, no sickness, no sorrow, death or dying. We will have new and glorified eternal bodies where we will live with Jesus and our Father forever!
Lord God, what a glorious day that will be when I come home to you and I am able to see you in all your glory! What a joy to anticipate being able to walk and talk with Jesus face to face! Help me endure the suffering of this present world and to use it to make me more like you. Help me also use my trials to encourage others who are facing trials of their own. Keep me faithful in your will so I can be an example for others as they seek to trust you more. Please do not let me ever forget that all I have is from you by your grace. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
