Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in YouTube song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing two songs … Be Still and Know … poignantly singing of how we Christians must often wait obediently and faithfully on the Lord to release us of the pains of life … and His Strength Is Perfect - WITH THIS LINK - showing us that God’s grace will give us the strength to cover our weaknesses.
Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 42:11 [NLT] … 11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? … I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again — my Savior and my God!
… Patiently waiting for our God in spite of the pain or privation.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 42:1-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Psalmist painfully waits for God to move.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
… Oh so hard to trust our God when we can’t the “WHY” in life.
Reference Passage : … Romans 8:28 [NLT] … 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
… Really, God!!! … Yes, really … ALL THINGS, … even the painful things.
Reference Passage : … 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… In heaven we’ll have NEW bodies … free of pain and worry …
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT] … 9 Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
… Jesus, promises His grace to give us the strength to deal with life’s pain or privation.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Monica Brands, uses a reference to his dog to show us the kind of faith we need in God. The ODB author writes … My father’s life was one of longing. He longed for wholeness, even as Parkinson’s disease gradually crippled more and more of his mind and body. He longed for peace, but was tormented by the deep pain of depression. He longed to feel loved and cherished, but often felt utterly alone.
He found himself less alone when he read the words of Psalm 42, his favorite psalm.
My dad was much like the ODB author’s father in his later years, suffering with multiple maladies and pain. And my dad’s favorite Bible passage, one he would ask me to read to him every time I visited him in the nursing care facility where he resided his last years, was from 1st Cor. 15 (see above), where God promises us a new body in heaven. He so wanted to hear that soon he would not have to deal with all the pain; … that all the privation he was enduring was worth it. And now, in heaven, he knows it was.
Perhaps today, there are readers here with me, who are trying to deal with chronic pain or trying to find the purpose of privation, as was the Psalmist who wrote the highlight passage in Psalm 42.
In the midst of the pain, it’s so easy to ask “Why!” … isn’t it? … But I am praying today that we know - and believe - the truth of Rom. 8:28 and 2Cor. 12:9 … that God is allowing our pain for our good and for His glory; and it’s WAY WORTHY seeking His empowering grace and to wait on Him as Steven Curtis Chapman sings in the linked songs.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your enabling, empowering grace to deal with life’s pain.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me - at least today - to patiently wait for God to give us His strength to cover our weakness. … 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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