Devotional Song: ... Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of the lyrics of the poignant, old hymn, sung by Christopher Rice, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, … we meditate on the great truth of Lamentations 3: 22-23, … that we know of God as compassionate and merciful - EVERY DAY!!!
Blogger Note: Yesterday I made a “mistake” in posting the Our Daily Bread devotional for 1/14 on 1/13; but I did so, even realizing my “mistake” before the posting. BUT … God doesn’t make mistakes; so today’s posting - from the 1/13 ODB entry - was apparently needed for me or someone else in this order. … God, for sure, knows!
Highlight Passage #1 Psalm 77: 1-2, 13-14 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK - Asaph crying out to God in dismay or despair, [see verses 1-2] … yet in verses 13-14, he expresses His faith in our GREAT GOD!!
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Highlight Context - Psalm 77 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK … Asaph, the worship leader for King David, wrote this great song when he was in the midst of a faith challenging set of circumstances
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Reference Passage #1 - Lamentations 3: 22-23 [NKJV] …
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, … Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; … Great is Your faithfulness.
... Here the weeping Prophet, Jeremiah, expresses his great hope and faith in the God of all mercy and compassion.
Reference Passage #2 - Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
... Paul showing unwavering faith in God’s sanctifying grace.
Reference Passage #3 - Hebrews 13: 8 [NKJV] …
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
... TRUTH - Our God never changes!!
My Journal for Today: Today’s [or actually tomorrow’s - see my note below] Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Dave Branon, took his ODB readers (me) back to a song written by King David’s worship leader, Asaph, … apparently at a time of much personal distress. And at the outset of Psalm 77, one can read how broken the song-writer was. And, as he sang of his dismay, one feels the distress of this man (see verses 1-9 of Psalm 77); but then in the remainder of the song, Asaph somehow remembers how God had delivered the sons of Jacob and Joseph - Asaph’s ancestors - and how the Lord had led them out of bondage through Moses and Aaron; and Asaph praises His ever faithful God.
As any reader here takes in my musings, the song sung by Chris Rice (linked above), and God’s word in the Scriptures linked/copied above, the question comes up:
… Do we really believe that our God is truly merciful EVERY DAY?!!
… Do we REALLY believe in the truths of Romans 8: 28 and Hebrews 13: 8?!
Because if we do, like Asaph, even when we’re down and out because of the circumstances of life, we’ll be thankful that our ever faithful, unchanging, God is leading us, as David wrote in Psalm 23, through the valley of the shadow of death into life everlasting with our Lord (see John 3: 16).
And that’s the hope which I hold onto today.
My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … You are the same today as yesterday … and forever!!! Great is Your faithfulness!!! … 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, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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