Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 13:1-6
Ps 13:1-6
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.
Phil 4:8-9
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Jesus said that as we think, so are we. From the heart comes the manner of life we live. The more we think on good things, the happier we will be. When we dwell on the things of this world, the abuses, the profanity, the immorality, the hurt and the pain, the more difficult it is not to be depressed. In addition to this, the more we dwell on the dark side of life, the more we tend to see only that side of things and fail to see the beauty and the goodness that surrounds us.
We can wear rose colored glasses and only see the flowers and never see the thorns. This is not reality. Evil abounds. There is child abuse, spouse abuse, and there is sickness, diseases, accidents, and misfortunes. But we do not have to put our focus on these and these alone. We must temper our minds with the beauty of the earth and all of God’s creation. We must see the good in people around us.
We must use what God has given us to help others. This may be our abilities to write or speak against evil or to extol the virtues of goodness and God. It may be that we encourage those who are down or at times it means we give financially to help someone. But in all of life, we are to keep our eyes on Jesus and on the things above, where he is seated at the right hand of God. So we Praise the Lord!
O Lord God, I do praise you for you alone are God, you are Sovereign. I give praise to Jesus who has given himself for my sin and who reigns in heaven, and over all the earth. Lord, all too often it seems that the devil is in total control because this world abounds with sin, corruption at every level, violence, abuse, and every kind of evil. But God, I know that you have given all authority to your Son and that all things are under his control. Help me see the opportunities you give me and to take advantage of each one to do good and honor you. In Jesus name.
Robert
