TROUBLE IS HERE, BUT GOD IS NEAR!

READ PSALM 46

Do you fear your situations? Are you going through a season of worry?

Psalm 46:1-3

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 

How would you finish this phrase: My present trouble is…? Dear friend if you don’t have trouble today, thank the Lord, but I am sure you know someone who is having trouble. We all know that trouble is around the corner. No, it’s not a gloomy prediction; it is the reality of life.

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

Jesus prepared us. The believers, when they become children of God, do not get a pass to return in the Garden of Eden. They receive the privilege of a personal relationship with God Who will accompany them through the difficulties of life.

Are we as aware as we should that we have a sure place where to find refuge and strength?

A refuge is a place where we can go and be protected during trouble. It does not mean that the difficulty is over but that we are not to be dismayed. The omnipotent God is our refuge. The shelter we have cannot be overcome in any way. Our strength does not come by the fact that the trouble will end quickly, but by the protection we receive. We are tempted to think that we can have peace because our God will stop the difficulty, but God wants us to have peace because He is our shelter. My dear friends, we tend to look to God to have our problems ended instead of enjoying the fact that we have been driven in His arms.

I love the fact that the writer reminds us that God is a very present help. Our God does not need to be woken up, nor does He become aware of our situation only when He hears our first prayer. He is there, He has allowed the difficulty and He loves to be our shelter and, in fact, that is what He is driving us to. He is not pleased when we try to fight through the problems on our own. God desires that we live in His shelter at all times.

God the Father has planned it from eternity past, He provided our entrance in His shelter by revealing Himself to us, and sending His Son to die for us so Jesus could be the way, the door into the shelter, and He has provided the Holy Spirit, our comforter, to guide us in the shelter and to keep us secure. The triune God has planned this and is pleased to do it.

It is not a sign of weakness to run to God for shelter and strength it is indeed the only wise choice we can make. No one is turned away from God’s arms who comes humbly realizing he needs a shelter and that all other man made shelters are worthless and dangerous.

There is no problem too big for God. Even though we might feel that the world is crashing around us the shelter is the wise place to go. Yes marriages fail, families go through great trials, our health can escape us, the economy and job situation can be overwhelming, but God’s arms are always open wide.

We can stray into the wilderness of the world, create or multiply our trials through sin, but the way to the shelter is always the same. Repentance and return to Christ. There are no long rituals that must be done; only grace can solve our problems. Dear friend you have not wondered too far to come back to the wonderful protection of God.

Oh how easily I am tempted to think that I am going through the trials alone. So easily I begin to think that I am a victim of circumstances and people, God is watching and inviting me to find rest in Him. I must say that often we are very stubborn in our ways. God is patient with us.

Do you fear your situations? Are you going through a season of worry? Are you becoming bitter? Are you plain rebelling? Please recognize your sin and return to God. Find comfort in the truth you know about God. You can trust His CHARACTER, His WISDOM, His POWER, and His LOVE.

If God is perfect he cannot do anything wrong, if He is wise He cannot make any mistakes, if He is powerful He cannot be overcome, and if He is loving He will never leave you and will never stop loving you perfectly.

I AM SO GLAD THIS IS MY SHELTER! ARE YOU?

A LOVE SONG THAT SHOULD DRIVE US TO OUR KNEES!

READ PSALM 45

Psalm 45:1

My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;

I address my verses to the king;

my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 

This psalm is a love song written in honor of the king for his marriage. The author will honor the king, as he describes his kingdom and wishes for him a prosperous reign with his new bride.

Reading this psalm could leave us somewhat perplexed about its application for us today, but there are two aspects that impressed me as edifying reminders to us.

This king is anointed by God, and therefore his God-given role is to rule well with righteousness; and in this marriage, he has been given the new bride, who will support him in his endeavors.

Psalm 45:4

In your majesty ride out victoriously

for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;

let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 

Psalm 45:6-7

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;

you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 

We have no idea who this king was; very possibly he was of the Davidic line, related to the eternal King, Jesus Christ, the King who will rule forever with perfect justice and glory.

We are certainly blessed to have the Lord as our King! He does rule with justice, His kingdom is forever, and even though it seems often that our world is gone very far from the standards set by God, He is still in control. No one comes to power, if not permitted by God for His eternal purposes.

We do have a responsibility to pray for our authorities. Our prayers should be that we may live in an environment conducive to the progress of the Gospel.

1 Timothy 2:1-6

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 

At all times, our prayers for our leaders should have eternal purposes. We should be praying earnestly that, as they rule, we would have freedom to share with other people the message that the only mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. Too often, when we remember to pray for our authorities, we are driven by our frustration and our desire to make our lives easier, and possibly to see more righteousness around us. Rather, our prayers should be driven by our desire to see more people come to know Christ, that they would be driven to trust Him alone for their eternal destiny.

God is in control, and our focus should be to reach the people around us with the Gospel. To that end, we should be in constant prayer. This kind of focus would certainly lift us out from our tendency to complain and encourage us to be faithful servants in sharing the truth of salvation.

Secondly, this psalm reminds us of the precious role a woman has, when she marries her husband.

Psalm 45:10-11

Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:

forget your people and your father's house,

11 and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him. 

Psalm 45:16

In place of your fathers shall be your sons;

you will make them princes in all the earth. 

There are obviously many aspects of marriage taught in the Scriptures that should not be neglected, but here we find the bride leaving her house and uniting with the King to form a family.

I am afraid that in so many marriages today, the joy and pleasure of having children and creating a loving home has been replaced by many other distractions.

Paul, in his inspired instructions, reminds the older women to teach the younger women to be mindful of the eternal purposes in their marriages.

Titus 2:3-5

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 

The home is certainly a place where the Word of God must be manifested and honored. It should be a place where the husband is honoring God by sacrificially loving his wife. The wife should be devoted, for the sake of the Gospel, to loving her family and making her home a place where the Gospel is lived out and proclaimed.

Many marriages begin with a focus on meeting one’s own needs and dreams, more than desiring for it to be an image of the love that Christ has for the church and the church’s desire to submit to Christ.

There is so much that could be said about our authorities and our marriages, but may this psalm drive us to prayer for our leaders and our marriages. May we be willing to submit to the Word of God and have our lives shaped by the eternal purposes of God.

WE NEED TO PRAY!

NEVER DOUBT GOD DURING DIFFICULTIES!

WE NEED GOD ALL THE TIME!

 

Psalm 44

1 O God, we have heard with our ears,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

in the days of old:

2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but them you set free;

3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

and the light of your face,

for you delighted in them.

4 You are my King, O God;

ordain salvation for Jacob!

5 Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

6 For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

7 But you have saved us from our foes

and have put to shame those who hate us.

8 In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 

Israel has not forgotten the role that God played in their lives. All that they had ever achieved was never done in their own strength, for the enemies they defeated, the land they conquered was done by the power of God. God had saved them, and He had shown favor to them.

They had given thanks and had boasted in the Lord, and in the time of prosperity, they had not forgotten Whose hand had cared for them. They had not trusted in themselves, but in God alone. But now things have changed: Israel is suffering, and they are confused both by their difficulties and by God’s inaction.

But you have rejected us and disgraced us

and have not gone out with our armies.

10 You have made us turn back from the foe,

and those who hate us have gotten spoil.

11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter

and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You have sold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and scorn of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face

16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 

They look at God as the author of the difficult time they are going through. They have been overwhelmed by the derision of their enemies. What confuses them is that they were faithful during that time.

17 All this has come upon us,

though we have not forgotten you,

and we have not been false to your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from your way;

19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals

and covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

Although they are going through this difficult time, they are not going any place else for help. They know that God is their only hope.

23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?

Rouse yourself!  Do not reject us forever!

24 Why do you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

our belly clings to the ground.

26 Rise up; come to our help!

Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

As they beg for help, they still know that their only appropriate reaction is to appeal to God because of His love - a love that is steadfast, eternal, unchanging.

Guides by this psalm, there are some principles that we should remember as we consider our own difficulties.

We never achieve anything apart from the grace of God. Anything we have done is a gift of God and we should continually guard our heart from ever taking credit for what the grace of God has accomplished in us.

Even when we are perplexed, we should never doubt God. We can wonder why God is allowing us to go through extreme difficulties, even the taunting of men, but still trust in His purposes.

Our faithfulness is not an insurance against trials. At times we can be tempted to think that God owes us peace and comfort because we are being faithful.

We must never turn to other places for our satisfaction. We live in a world that is always proposing lies and alternatives to God. God must continue to be our only focus and satisfaction.

We must continue to bring our petitions to God. Our God is not bothered by our prayers. Yet, our prayers are examined in light of our motives. God does not want us to ask merely to feed our own desires, but His plans, His eternal purposes, must drive our prayers.

We should never doubt God’s love. God is eternally holy, just, and faithful. His love has always been driven by His character and never by our ability to earn it.

WE NEED GOD, HE KNOWS THIS, AND LOVES FOR US TO DEPEND ON HIM!

DISCOURAGEMENT HAPPENS, BUT THERE IS HOPE IN GOD!

GOD IS NOT SURPRISED BY OUR MOURNING

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

against an ungodly people,

from the deceitful and unjust man

deliver me!

2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God. 

It is very possible that this psalm was part of psalm 42. Without doubt it follows the same theme. The writer has ungodly enemies who are persecuting him. These wicked people are deceitful and unjust.

The psalmist is waiting upon God to deliver him. He knows he has trusted God, yet reprieve is not coming and he feels rejected. His life is filled with sorrow and mourning because of the oppression of his enemies. Will he ever find rest? Thoughts of rejection come to his mind. He knows that his thinking is going in the wrong direction.

When we go through difficult times are we are susceptible to this false thinking: Has God forgotten us? Is God punishing us? Have we done things that have caused God to stop loving us? Do we feel that God cannot really forgive our sins? Do we think that joy cannot be part of our life anymore? When the situation is bleak, does everything seem black and cloudy, with no hope of sunshine returning?

Elijah, after a great victory against the prophets of Baal, became so dejected and desperate because of his enemies that he desired to die. Then, in 1 Kings 19, God showed kindness to him by sending an angel to care for him. How could a man of God become so discouraged after having seen God work so mightily through him? Well, all I know is that he was human, and that God came alongside him and encouraged him when he needed it.

Dear friends, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but to reach it you must feed your minds and hearts with the truth. The writer asks God to bring light and truth to him. God’s Word is the light we need. It is there we learn of the character of God, it is those inspired words that inform us of God’s sovereignty, there we find the eternal purposes of God, and there we are overwhelmed by God’s unfading love.

When the Word of God directs our thoughts, our praise and gratitude will be full and sure. God never forgets us! Every event in our life has an eternal purpose! His dealings with us are always kind. He is loving and faithful! We are never alone; no one can assail us without God’s awareness and sovereign control. Even if we die, we are ushered into eternity in the presence of God, if we know Him!

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God. 

Is there any good reason to be dejected and discouraged? No. Does it happen to us? Yes. Do we need to stay in that state? Certainly not!

Remember that the words of this psalm are inspired by God and were sung by the children of Israel. May they drive us to Christ. God is not surprised by your hardship or your reactions, but He certainly has only good purposes for you and wants you to turn to Him. You may wander away, but your return will be rewarded by peace, joy, and praise for your God.

The God of eternity, the only true and wise God is our God!

I AM OVERWHELMED! WHERE WILL I GO?

Where will we get our strength?

READ PSALM 42

Psalm 42:5

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

The writer is looking inward, recognizing the state of his soul. It almost seems that he cannot shake that sense of discouragement and unrest within him. Have you felt like that? We don’t know his particular circumstances, but we certainly are aware of ours! The situation we are navigating seems to be without hope. The difficult people that we are dealing don’t seem to show any change. Our physical state does not seem to improve. At times, even our church situation can be overwhelming. We are overwhelmed by our sinfulness and or the sinfulness of others. Is there any hope?

The writer already knows the answer to his own question: he should be hoping in God! There are reasons to praise: he has a relationship with the living God, who is his salvation. He has given his life to Him and therefore has hope. But his struggles are not over.

Psalm 42:6,7

6 My soul is cast down within me;

therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep

at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

have gone over me.

He is deeply discouraged and overwhelmed. He states that it is God’s waterfalls of trials and the waves of difficulties that He has ordained that are drowning him. Oh, how hurtful and difficult our sorrows and problems can be!

Psalm 42:8

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life. 

Yet, the writer is faithful in reminding his heart about the truths that he knows: God’s love is steadfast. His love does not waver; it is eternal. God never stopped loving him during his trials, and this love is not dependent on his faithfulness but on the faithfulness of God. At night, probably because that is the time when desperation can be deeper, he reminds himself and his heart about his God by singing and praying. He is the God of his life, so he is faithful in rehearsing these truths to himself.

Psalm 42:9-10

I say to God, my rock:

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?” 

Again, thoughts of abandonment assail him. Has God forgotten him? Why does he have to be continuously dealing with the oppression of His enemies? Will this state ever end? And to add insult to injury, the same enemies who are causing his pain taunt him, mockingly asking where his God is. He is pushed into a corner; he is struggling to remain faithful to God in a situation where God seems to have abandoned him, and has to deal, at the same time, with those who are quick to make fun of him for his faith in God.

We live in a world that is God’s enemy; our hearts are easily discouraged when prolonged difficulties assail us. It is not easy! Some trials are going to be long, and some will never end while we are on earth! Where is our hope? Where will we get our strength?

Psalm 42:10-11

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God. 

The writer, under the inspiration of God, asks the question again: why am I discouraged, why do I have so much turmoil? He needs to keep his mind and heart glued to the truth: His hope is in God, the One who has saved him, the One who deserves all his praise.

Dear friends, I wish I could say that trials will always end quickly or that they will end for sure. We often tend to think that if we are faithful, God will bring to an end our difficulties, but that is not necessarily true. God is gracious and does give us times of calm, but we cannot expect it or demand it.

Life is hard, so feed your heart and mind with the truth. Meditate upon the character of God: God is good, He is in control, He is wise, He is sovereign, and He loves us. Meditate on His purposes, which are perfect. Our lives on earth are short, and during them He is transforming us into the image of His Son, He is using us to attract others to Himself as we live and speak His Word, and He wants to use us to encourage other believers.

May your trials drive you into the arms of God, to His Word, and to the fellowship of other believers! You are not alone in your trials; many have gone through difficulties and remained faithful. Thoughts of desperation are not sinful in themselves; it is where we go with them that will either bring us into closer fellowship with our Savior or take us through seasons of sin.

May the words of this psalm drive you to God, our only Savior and hope. May our praise be driven by who He is and not by our circumstances!

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST!

My friend, your sorrow has only one purpose, drive you to God!

READ PSALM 42

Psalm 42:1-4

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food

day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

a multitude keeping festival.

What a wonderful gift, for God to place us in a condition of needing Him more that anything else. We are so easily distracted by the cares of our lives. Robert Robinson, the hymnist, penned this thought so well: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart. O take and seal it; Seal it for thy courts above”.

While the psalmist faced his difficulties, tears were his companion day and night. The temptation, as his tears filled his life, was to listen to those that were questioning the presence of God in His life.

At times, even our reactions are a gift of God. We easily state that we live in dependence on God and that we are satisfied with His sovereign hand, but it’s only during a crisis that it becomes evident what the desires of our hearts really are.

Do we desire God’s modeling work in our lives, or are we looking for His blessing, presuming that we have complete control of defining what God’s blessing should look like?

The image here is so vivid: as the deer, driven by her thirst, is panting for water, nothing else takes precedence. The need must be met and satisfaction will come only when streams of water are found.

We should always thirst for the living God. He is the creator, sustainer of all. There is none other who can be compared to Him. Spiritual thirst is real and there is only One who can satisfy. It is truly a gift, when we are driven to God’s feet.

We tend to look at our hardships as a curse, but in reality they are a blessing. God’s Word and His meticulous care are available to us constantly. Life distracts us, but our jealous God will do all it takes to create our thirst so that we are driven to Him and He finds pleasure in satisfying our need.

The woman at the well had tried to satisfy her thirst with multiple husbands, she was even aware of the religious beliefs of that time, but she found out that only Christ could give her water that would truly satisfy her.

John 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

I remember too many times when I have tried to find satisfaction with human resources, and God has lovingly driven me to Him. In fact, the temptation was not only to look for different solutions, but also to question God, while doing that.

The writer could not forget how he had found his joy and satisfaction in God: with the multitude he had gone to the house of God, as he praised Him.

Are you going through a hard time? Does your difficulty seem to have no end in sight? Do you feel like tears are your only refuge? Are you assailed by doubts about God? You are certainly not the first one to go through this, for many have preceded you. For some, their sorrows have driven them away from God, exposing their lack of real relationship with Him; others have been driven to God, the only fount of true and eternal satisfaction.

My friend, your sorrow has only one purpose, drive you to God. “All I have is Christ” is not the cry of a desperate person - it is the victorious hymn of those who are being drawn toward eternal satisfaction. There is a beautiful song that reminds us of this.

Verse 1
I once was lost in darkest night Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first I would refuse You still

Verse 2
But as I ran my hell-bound race Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me Now all I know is grace

Chorus
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Verse 3
Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands Could never come from me
O Father, use my ransomed life In any way You choose
And let my song forever be My only boast is You! 

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST AND I AM BLESSED!

WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS DURING DIFFICULTY?

God never stops being our loving father.

Psalm 41

1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!

In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;

2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;

he is called blessed in the land;

you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;

in his illness you restore him to full health.

4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;

heal me, for I have sinned against you!”

5 My enemies say of me in malice,

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,

while his heart gathers iniquity;

when he goes out, he tells it abroad.

7 All who hate me whisper together about me;

they imagine the worst for me.

8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;

he will not rise again from where he lies.”

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,

and raise me up, that I may repay them!

11 By this I know that you delight in me:

my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.

12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen. 

David is living the reality of being surrounded by enemies. He is ill. His enemies desire his demise. They have nothing good to say They not only speak evil, but they also suspect and invent evil; they look upon his situation with contempt.

Have you ever been in that situation? Have you ever felt overwhelmed by treatment from others that you felt was unwarranted and undeserved? If we are not going through a time like this right now, we have likely felt that even those we had served have turned against us.

Often our reaction is to lash back, wanting to defend ourselves, and in one way or the other, be vindicated. When this kind of situation is prolonged, we can become bitter and angry.

David was living this situation, but he directs our thoughts, under the inspiration of God, in a very different direction.

He begins by reminding us that God looks with favor upon those who care for the poor, for those who go through difficult times. God desires that those who follow Him would not become part of the scoffers, but part of the encouragers.

We must ask ourselves if we ever allow others to suck us into their complaints and criticism of others. Are we easily attracted by information about the difficulties or the sin of others, with no intention of being part of the solution, but only part of unloving group? We might not be the ones who spread the information, but are we giving a willing ear to those that are? God is displeased with both!

The writer goes on to remind us of God’s actions during these difficult moments: God protects, sustains, shows grace, forgives, heals, find pleasure in His own, upholds, and is close. Yes, there are enemies, and yes, they desire evil, but God is not immobile in His responses. He actively loves us through those moments.

David knows that even close friends who have been cared for can turn against us. Dear friends, the question are is: where will you and I focus our attention during those times? Are we going to focus on the offending enemy, or upon our loving God? Are we going to react to the accusing people, or to the gracious and forgiving Lord?

In the worst of our situations, God never stops being our loving father. In fact, during those times He is actively loving us and shaping us into the image of His eternally beloved Son! God does not desire evil for us; He actively loves us.

Way too often, my total attention is taken by the actions of man, rather than the eternal purposes of God. The kinds of reactions and attitudes I have expose where my focus is. Have you become bitter or disillusioned? Do you feel like you need to defend yourself?

David does not forget that he is a sinner saved by grace. He knows that God has shown mercy to him and is blessed to have a relationship with the Eternal Holy God.

It is so easy to become self-focused during our difficult times, when God is pleased if we focus on caring for others, instead.

God’s awareness is complete, His attention is undivided, His care is meticulous, His purposes are eternal, His love is unfading, His grace is astounding, His protection is unmatched, and His faithfulness is eternal.

Dear friend, David ends this psalm with a heart-felt exclamation of praise! Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!

How will you start your day? Will you choose to focus on people, or God? Will your attention be given to yourself, or to your Lord? How quickly will you allow men to rob you of enjoying your wonderful Savior?

May the Lord bless you today and may you, in turn, be a blessing to others!