Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 4:1-4
Ps 4:1-4
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
Eph 4:25-28
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
The Lord hears when I call to him. What a blessing for us in times of distress or when we are all alone in life to know that he hears us, he listens to what we say, and he answers our plea. What makes this even better is that he always knows what is best for us, in every situation, in every circumstance, he knows what we need and provides it for us. The hard part for us is waiting on his time or hearing him say “no” to what we think we need. But he always gives us what is best.
As we patiently wait on the Lord, we must control our hearts. We are being renewed in the spirit of our minds into his likeness and this takes time. We get angry at times, but we must not sin in the process. There is no harm in anger for the right reasons, but if we are not careful, we let the anger control us, what we say and what we do so we sin in the process. (Spell-check tries to change the word sin to sing but sin is still sin, even in our modern age.)
Jesus became angry on several occasions, but it was always because people refused to listen to God or they maligned the name of God or they failed to show compassion to those who were down, never because of his own personal feelings or what they said or did to him. Sin should anger us. Taking the name of God or Jesus in vain should anger us. Seeing people mistreated should anger us.
Hear me O God, my righteousness, and give me a heart of love, compassion, and fill me with your grace toward others. Guard my lips so that all I say will bring honor to you and your holy name. Thank you for your grace and forgiveness for all the things I have done against you. Give me a pure heart, a heart of patience that seeks to be at peace with everyone. Help me abhor sin. Lord, be with our nation and with our leaders as we transition to a new administration so that we can live in peace and in all godliness. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
