Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 44:15-22
Ps 44:15-22
My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge. All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Rom 8:31-34
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
I am told that if there were no storms and strong winds, the oak tree would never have the root system that sustains it. But as the tree grows from a sapling, every storm it endures, makes it stronger as its roots grow deeper. So it is with our faith. It is only when we face the storms of life that we can truly grow in faith. At the time, none of these are pleasant, but they are for our long-term good.
No matter what we have to face, there is never a storm that can uproot us. There is nothing in the spiritual world or the physical world that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That separation can only happen if we turn from him. He sustains us so that each storm makes our faith stronger.
When we despair, even of life itself, we can trust God to take care of us. Should all the world turn against us, he will never leave us or forsake us. His plan for you and me is that we are made ready for a life with him in eternity. This world and this life is just a proving ground to prepare us for what is truly life indeed.
O Lord God, it is such a joy and relief to know that no matter what I face in life that you will be with me and walk beside me. There are times that it seems the whole world is falling in on me and I get tired and want to give up. But when I turn to you, you are always there and you always deliver me. But not only deliver me, each trial gives me even more reason to trust you and to know that my salvation is sure in Christ Jesus. I ask you to be with those who are hurting today, and those who are struggling to hold onto their faith. In the name of Jesus I pray.
Robert
