Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 102:1-7
Ps 102:1-7
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come to you. 2 Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. 3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. 4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. 5 Because of my loud groaning I am reduced to skin and bones. 6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. 7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.
James 1:2-5
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
There are times in our lives when it seems that the whole world has crashed in on us. It comes in many different forms. It may be that our best friend has turned against us and tried to harm us. We face the death of our loved ones or we are told we have some terminal disease. There are all kinds of financial disasters that come upon us. Some of greatest trials come when we make a foolish judgment and get involved in some sin that we know we should have avoided. And the list goes on and on but we all have trials and we face pain and maybe even doubt.
As a child of God we have a loving Father who cares about us and wants to take away our pain. He could prevent it from happening because he is all powerful but for reasons unknown, he allows it to come upon us. Our concern should not be so much why this happened but what are we going to do with it and how are we going to let it affect us. It is here we must trust God completely.
We can choose to become bitter toward God and in so doing we will turn bitter and hateful toward those around us. When we are not right with God, we cannot be right with ourselves or others. The other choice is that we trust God in our trials and in so doing we become stronger in our faith. Faith (trust) lived makes our faith grow even more. This process also helps heal our wounds so that we can be more loving, compassionate and helpful to others in their trials.
O Lord my God and my Father, I am so thankful that you really do care for me when I am faced with trials. While pain in my life is never joyful, the outcome of trusting you and seeing your working in my heart and my life brings me joy that cannot be taken from me. Help me use the comfort you give and to share it with others who are hurting. I ask a special prayer for your people all over the world. I know there are some who are serving you in the face of persecutions and dangers and they need your special strength to endure. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
