Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 66:8-15
Ps 66:8-15
8 Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; 9 he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. 10 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. 13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you--14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. 15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah
1 Peter 1:6-7
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
It is difficult to praise God in the middle difficult trials. When everything is falling apart in our lives or we are faced with health issues or when we feel we have been betrayed by someone we had trusted or whatever we face, it is hard to react with praises to God. But Paul said we are to rejoice in all things and we are to pray always with thanksgiving. We do this because of our faith as we look forward to what lies ahead, knowing that God will use it for our good.
It is in trials and testing that our faith is made stronger. We never learn to swim unless we get in the deep water and we never learn to trust God until we are placed in a situation over our heads and we either sink or by faith, we swim. God knows just how much we can bear at any point in our lives and he never allows us to be tempted beyond that point. With each trial, he provides our way out.
What a joy to serve a God that loves us and wants only what is best for us! What a blessing to know that he will never leave us alone and will always be with us and hold our hand as we got through life. As if this were not enough, when we do fall, he will always be there to forgive us and pick us up to try again. It is this mercy and forgiveness in Christ that makes our lives worth living and our joy complete.
Heavenly Father I am so glad that you are my God and that you are my Father. It is so easy to love you when I know of your love for me. As I face each day with the trials of life, help me stay focused on Jesus and open my eyes to see your way of escape from sin so you will be honored in all I do. Use me to do what you want me to do and give me the faith to trust you for strength to accomplish what you want done. Give your peace to those who are hurting and those struggling with things in their lives. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
