Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 3:5-8
Ps 3:5-8
I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
James 4:13-16
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
We take so much in life for granted. We go to bed at night, we sleep, we get up and we go about our business, just as we planned it. In fact, it often becomes such a routine that we get tired of it and wish things would change. And then suddenly, someone in our family is in a car crash and everything changes! We have a heart attack, or our loved one is diagnosed with cancer, or one of our parents dies, and our normal is destroyed! When this happens, we turn to God for strength.
James is saying that we should recognize that Jesus sustains us and is in control, so we need to acknowledge this and trust him on a daily basis. This does not mean that none of the bad things will happen, but we live with the understanding that we do not control our lives or what will happen in our circumstances. The Old Testament is replete with examples of people who made plans for themselves, only to see them upended by God. He does the same thing in our lives today.
Make plans for the future? Sure, we all do this. But like the apostle Paul, who often said that “if the Lord is willing” he planned to visit someone, we need to recognize that our plans are subject to the Lord and his plans for us. Don’t take anything for granted in our lives. Enjoy the blessings of today. Slow down and see the beauty of God’s creation all around us. Talk to your loved ones, especially if you have aging parents. Visit, send a card or call someone who is shut in.
O Lord God, giver of life and all blessings, I come to you today humbly knowing that you are in control of everything in my life. Thank you for giving me such a loving family, and so many wonderful friends. Thank you for providing me with more material things than I dreamed possible. Keep me from being selfish or proud but use me and all that you have given me to honor you and help others who are in need. Forgive me when I fail you. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
