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Daily Devotionals for May 2-6
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|  | As we prepare for the second message in our new series, Present Help in Present Trouble, we invite you to turn with us once again to the Psalms. We thank Cindy Spivey, a member of the Foundation Builders Adult Class who serves on the WBC Shepherding Team, for preparing this week's devotional thoughts |
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MONDAY, MAY 2
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| | This week we are focusing on Psalm 142. The text below is taken from the NIVŠ2011, but feel free to use the Bible translation of your choosing:
1I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. 4Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5I cry to you, LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
Psalm 142 was written by David while he was hiding from Saul and his army in a cave. David was paralyzed with fear and desperate for God's intervention in his life.
We may not fear for our physical lives as David did, but all of us have been deep into the mess of life. We have all suffered -- and wanted to hide away. Perhaps even today, you are in the middle of great pain and suffering.
Another psalm offers a key to responding to our difficult circumstances. In Psalm 121:1 we read, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains -- where does my help come from?" Do I look to the mountains for help? No. My help comes from the Lord. The gloom of the cave hangs over David as he writes Psalm 142, and yet he sees a glimmer of a bright light just beyond. God is the One who made the mountains and He made the heavens too. Spend time in prayer with Him. Praise the One who made the mountains. Look up! Praise is the key.
A useful tool to focus prayer time uses the acronym ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Even in the "dark place" where David wrote this Psalm, he praised God. Reread Psalm 142 and note the elements of praise and adoration in David's words.
When we start with adoration, praising and adoring our Lord, the focus is shifted off of our problems onto giving glory and praise to our Creator.
Father,
I praise Your holy name because You are the One Who forgives my sin. You are the One Who heals my disease. You are the One Who redeems my life from the pit. When life gets hard and I get weary, help me Lord to remember to sing praises to You. You alone are worthy to be praised.
Amen
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TUESDAY, MAY 3
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| Today we are reading Psalm 142 in the New International VersionŠ2011:
1I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. 4Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5I cry to you, LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
Thank You God that when we cry out to You, as David did, You hear our pleas for mercy. In Psalm 63:1, we read, "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water."
Are we, like that psalmist, really desperate for God? Or are we seeking God as just a solution to our current problem? Are we approaching the Bible as an "owner's manual" to quickly fix whatever area of our life is currently broken? God is so much bigger! He wants to transform us starting with our hearts.
When was the last time we got on our knees and cried out to a holy God to have His way with us -- bringing before Him any part of our lives that we have not surrendered to Him?
Keep in mind that we do not cry out to the Lord so that He will see our trouble. God never closes His eyes. We cry out so that we may see Him.
In a difficult time -- like what David was experiencing as he wrote Psalm 142 -- try praying Psalm 63:1 back to God. That verse reads, "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." God longs to rescue us in our times of trouble so that we may know Him and give Him all of the glory.
Remembering the acronym ACTS, spend time praising and adoring God, then, move on to confession. Be reminded of Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Father,
My body longs for You and my soul thirsts for You in this dry and weary land where there is no water. Thank You Lord that I can cry out to You and You hear my cries for help. Thank You that no matter how hard life gets, I can trust completely in You to do a good work me.
Amen
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 4
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| | Today we are reading in the New International VersionŠ2011:
1I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. 4Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5I cry to you, LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
The story is told of a man who went for a walk in his garden. He noticed a butterfly just starting to break out of its chrysalis. He ran home and got a pair of scissors. He returned and very carefully and tenderly snipped the cocoon so the butterfly would be free. However, the butterfly
could not fly. You see, it needed the struggle of freeing itself to strengthen its wings. God knows that we too need to struggle to strengthen our wings for flight.
Thank God that He loves us enough to not leave us as we are. In verse 7, David says, "then the righteous will gather about me, because of your goodness to me." In spite of his terrifying circumstances, David knows that God is still good. Do we believe that God is still good when life gets hard?
In Isaiah 43:1-3, the Lord says that He is with us when (not if) we pass through the raging water and when we walk through the fire. His goal is to transform us into His image, but he never abandons us. God allowed the loneliness of a dark cave and feelings of abandonment and fear in David's life so that He could work on transforming David to His image.
James 1:2-4 reflects a whole new perspective on our difficulties. "Consider it pure joy," James tells us, "whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." We can consider our suffering as joy, James says, because we know that God is using it in our lives to make us more like Him.
Father,
Thank You that You don't leave me as I am. Thank You Lord that You love me so much that You will do whatever it takes to make me more like You. You alone are my rock and my fortress. With You I can never be shaken.
Amen
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THURSDAY, MAY 5
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| | Today we are reading Psalm 142 from the New Living Translation:
1I cry out to the LORD; I plead for the LORD's mercy. 2I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles. 3When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. 4I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. 5Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, "You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. 6Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. 7Bring me out of prison so I can thank you. The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me."
In this Psalm, David teaches us by example how to pray in times of distress. As we meet him in Psalm 142, he too is struggling and has reached a low point in his life. He is desperate for God's power in his life. He has reach the point of surrender -- the point where a person gets to the end of himself or herself, and allows God's power to come shining through.
The apostle Paul also knew what it was to face difficulty, and in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, we can read about Paul's experience with his "thorn in the flesh." Along with all the other adversity he encountered, he was plagued with that unnamed "thorn," which he brought to the Lord in prayer, asking the Lord three times to remove it. The Lord answered, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
How did Paul respond? He got it! "Therefore," he says, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
When we go before God with our needs, do we truly -- deep in our souls -- believe that He is able and that His grace is sufficient? Ephesians 3:20 reminds us that God is "able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine." Do we really believe that, or are we praying for His help on the side and busy spinning our wheels trying to fix it in our own strength -- just in case God doesn't come through?
Do we truly believe in our prayers? If He doesn't answer our prayer the way we think it should be answered, do we feel He has failed us? The enemy would like nothing more than for us to fix things on our own.
But note that in our Psalm, David isn't spending his time devising a plan. He is spending time in God's presence, crying out for help. He is desperate for God because he knows that God alone is his ever-present help in times of trouble. Are you desperate for God? Are you lonely, sick, anxious or plain worn out? Cry out and tell Him your troubles. Believe, as David did, that He alone is able to deliver you.
Heavenly Father,
As David longs to be freed from the paralyzing fears that his tormentors have heaped on him, I too yearn to be free from the things that weigh me down. Lord, help me to surrender to you. Remove the shackles from my feet so that I am free to dance in your name.
Amen
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FRIDAY, MAY 6
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| | Today we are reading in the New International VersionŠ2011:
1I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. 4Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5I cry to you, LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
David was losing hope. He was paralyzed with fear and depression. He was desperately alone in his cave. He did not see a way out. Notice the strong emotion, even desperation, he expresses to God in verse 6. Keep in mind that David was the guy who killed the giant with just a slingshot and a rock. David was a hero and yet his spirits still sank.
We too can feel the shadows of depression closing in on all sides -- alone in our troubles with nowhere to turn. Many of us have felt that way at times. But keep in mind what David did with his fears and his despair: He brought them to God as he cried out in prayer!
We can also be thankful that, unlike David, we are not living alone in a cave. There are believers living in community around us who would gladly help, and we, in turn, have are called to help those around us. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 challenges the church to, "encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
What would our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our church look like if we as believers all woke up and noticed the hurting people all around us? We spend so much of our time and energy focusing on self: our needs, our hurts, our wants. There are desperate, hurting people all around us. The truth is that we are all called to reach out.
Do you believe God has a purpose for you that is deeper than a nice job, raising good children, and living a comfortable life? When we wake up and notice those hurting around us and then in obedience reach out to them, we are not only helping them but we are giving purpose to our lives. It is called discipleship. By serving others we take the focus off of self and our problems do not seem as significant. Let's take what God has taught us in our struggles in "our caves" and use it to bless others.
Father,
Thank you for all of the difficult times in my life and how you have grown me. Would you put in my path people who are presently hurting and in need of someone to come along side them. Help me, Lord, to look at others through your eyes. I want to be your hands and feet to others here on earth.
Amen
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