January 4, 2016: Are You There, Lord?!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 4  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a video of the lyrics from Twila Paris singing … God Is All Around Us, expressing the reality and truth that our God is ALWAYS there, even when He seems distant.

Highlight Passage:   Matthew 27:46 [NKJV] …  
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” [Psalm 22:1] 
… Dying on the cross, Jesus cries out from Psalm 22:1 …
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Highlight Context – Matthew 26:39-42; 27:45-46 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK  …    … God will never forsake me … but The Father did forsake the Son; … for me!
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Reference Passage #1 Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] …  
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. 
… Way true! … But way hard to accept at times.

Reference Passage #2 Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… So often we don’t want to hear this; but it’s true … GO KNOWS BEST!!!

Reference Passage #3 Hebrews 13:5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… Repeating from Deut. 31: 6 and Ps. 118:6, the Author of Hebrews exhorts our confidence in a God we sometimes just don’t understand.

My Journal for Today:  Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Dave Branon, asks one of life’s most perplexing questions for the Christian. In the title for today’s devotional, Branon asks, … Is HE Listening? And then further he asks, What are we to think when we repeatedly ask God for something good—something that could easily glorify Him—but the answer doesn’t come? Is He listening or not? 

Yeah, I know, …. “Been there myself!!” It’s hard not to ask the big “WHY” question when you go to God over and over and over with a prayer which, in our minds, would seem to be well within God’s will; but … silence! And it’s so tempting to think, “Is He listening?”

 But, … for all of us who are truly in Christ, the answer, as Twila Paris sings in the loving children’s song (linked above), is “YES,” … God IS listening; … and He knows what is best!” Unfortunately, at times we just can’t understand what our faith tells us … echoed in the truths linked and copied above from God’s word.

 And the question always comes down to … “Do I trust Him?” Do I really believe He knows best and will never forsake me? Well, if you’re in that place today; and you’re feeling “WHY, Lord?” Know that He hears you; and will always do what is best for you. The only One God, the Father, ever forsook was His own Son (see Matthew 26 & 27) on the cross; and He did that so that He would never have to forsake me [or you].

 So, today, … in my faith …, I will choose to believe that my God hears and knows best.

My Prayer Today:  Heavenly Father, … Thank You for hearing and always being there for me. 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.