Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to see a video of Steve Green singing a song I very often use to illustrate the thoughts I have in my quiet times with God … the song is Find Us Faithful, which, as my thoughts go this morning, can be so very difficult at times when the circumstances of our lives oppress us and when God seems far away in our prayers for His mercy and grace. … But onward, in faith, we go!!
Highlight Passage: Psalm 13: 1 [NKJV} … Sometimes God seems so far away …
1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Psalms 13 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … A personal and poignant plea from young David, likely when he was trying to escape the wrath of Saul …
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Reference Passage #1: Psalm 33: 20-22 … [NKJV] … Waiting can be the toughest at times …
20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.
Reference Passage #2: Proverbs 3: 5-6 … [NKJV] … Holding on to the trust is where the battle in life often centers…
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understudying.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Marion Stroud, wrote about a reality which sometimes shouts at us in the oppression of evil or the doubts of life when God seems far away in our prayers. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Maybe you’re there now, … praying and praying for God’s mercies to lift some shroud of trial or tribulation from your life. But He doesn’t seem to answer; and Satan pours gas on our flames of doubt.
Yes, we want to be a faithful waiters on God, don’t we? We want to be the Christian, which Steve Green sings about in the song which I so often link readers here. We want to be found faithful, trusting in God to lead us - as is expressed in Proverbs 3: 5-6. … However, sometimes under lift’s oppression, … as days turn to weeks; and weeks turn to months; and months to years in our prayers for God to hear us in times of trouble, our faith is sorely tested, isn’t it? … Yes, we’ve all likely been there, felt that, and have a T-shirt we’d rather not wear, which reads ...
“Sorrowful … Waiting on God !!”
The young, anointed King to be, David, was like that at times in his life. Certainly when he penned the highlight passage from ODB today- PSALM 13, Davod was like that. Dr. Jack Hyles, in his piece, The Story Behind The Psalms ... [GO TO THIS LINK], writes of the origin of of this song, which was sung later by God’s people in times of trial. In Hyles description, David was being chased and his life threatened by King Saul. At the outset of the Psalm, David expresses exasperation at his plight [see verse 1]; but later, at the end of the song [see verses 5-6], we read of David choosing to trust God and to rejoice in His salvation.
Yes, there are going to be times when our faith is challenged by the oppressive of stress-filled circumstances in life; but it’s in those times when we must hold on and - in faith - CHOOSE to know that God’s timing is ALWAYS the best timing. I pray that we all can be found, as Steve Green sings, FAITHFUL in waiting on God’s mercy and grace to express itself in our lives.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, help me (us) hold on and be faithful in the fires of life. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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