Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD, and He turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

The Message Bible’s translation begins the first verse as, “I waited and waited and waited for GOD.” 

Clearly, the answer did not come quickly, but when it did come, there was no doubting who had responded. God’s answers for us are always worth the wait and any pain we endure in the waiting. There is no greater fulfillment than knowing that God has done something in your life only He could do, and no one can deny His presence or His validation on your life. 

When we find ourselves in a pit of despair, we cannot lift ourselves out. We must be rescued. Our hope cannot be in another person, our family, a church, or some event to rescue us. Our hope must be in God, alone. Only He has the power to lift us from our muddy clay pits, full of sin and the residue of the world, and set our feet on a rock, high above the misery of our helpless situation. He helps us to walk in His Word and makes our steps secure as we move forward in His plan and begin to sing a song of praise for what He has done. 

This is what I want for my life, and I hope you want it for yours, too. I want God to lift me out of the desolate pits where I find myself, either as a result of my own sin or from the devastating effects of life’s inevitable storms. I want God to set me high on a rock, above the pit that consumed me, and make my steps secure in His plan for me. I want God to do something that only He could do, where He is glorified, I am blessed, and others are drawn to Him. This promise is for all of us. If He did it for David, He can do it for us, too. Wait patiently for Him today. His rescue is like none other and worth every moment it takes. To God be in glory in all of us!

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 90:15

Make us rejoice for as many days as You have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.

This is my prayer for us all today. May God grant us joy to compensate for every day of adversity we have faced. The greater the trial, the greater our joy should be when Christ is revealed in God’s purpose for it all. We serve a God who blesses, restores, and shines His favor upon us. May we experience this favor today and every day as we move forward.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 31:7-8

I will rejoice and be glad in Your faithful love because You have seen my affliction. You have known the troubles of my life, and have not handed me over to the enemy. You have set my feet in a spacious place.

God knows our afflictions, and He has not rejected us or abandoned us. We must learn to turn our cares over to Him and let Him do what we cannot do. We can literally rejoice in our hardships, knowing that He is at work and He will not hand us over to the enemy.

At times, I know I feel limited by what I perceive as restrictions. In reality, however, God has set my feet in a spacious place. I limit myself by choosing to worry and focus upon things that I cannot control. Satan knows we can accomplish much and be of great value to God when we are given plenty of open space and freedom to operate. His strategy is to make us feel restricted by distracting us and creating worry and anxiety over issues God already has under control.

Look for the wide-open space God has given you today, and rejoice in His faithful love for you. He has seen your affliction, and He knows your troubles. He will not allow you to be handed over to the enemy for destruction because you are of great value to Him. He is fighting this battle for you, and He wins every time! Get busy in your spacious place, and watch God do wonders for you.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 5:4

For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot lodge with You.

When bad things happen, people are often quick to blame God and attribute it to His judgment. Many are now calling the fall of our economy and the dire predictions of an approaching food shortage to God’s judgment upon our country.  God, however, does not delight in wickedness or in the suffering of His people. His goal has always been redemption. While He may allow it, He most certainly does not instigate it, and He will punish evil doers in His own timing. Now is the time to turn TO Him and not FROM Him with full confidence in His love, His mercy, and His justice.

God’s thoughts toward us are not evil. He is a loving Father who wants the very best for His children. When people harm us or do evil toward us, He is angered by this, too. If you see the wicked succeed in their plans, God had no part in it. Do not trust in the schemes of the wicked or the evil of the unjust. God is a righteous vindicator, and we must allow Him to do His perfect work. Our job is to be diligent in prayer and to stand in faith, believing that God’s goodness will triumph.

Verse 10 of this same Psalm depicts David’s prayer toward the wicked. “Punish them, God; let them fall by their own schemes. Drive them out because of their many crimes, for they rebel against You.” God will, indeed, take the very schemes of the rebellious and turn them back on their own heads. In this way, they have no one to blame but themselves, and they have no defense before a righteous God.

If anything wicked or evil has come against you, know that God does not delight in it. He is as angered as you are by the matter. Trust Him to vindicate you and to make all things right. Returning evil for evil only multiplies evil. God will settle the matter once and for all.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 3:7-8:

Rise up, LORD! Save me, my God! You strike all my enemies on the cheek; You break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah.

Our God is either a God who saves His people, or He doesn’t. David knew Him to be a God who saves. When his own son, Absalom, divided the kingdom against him, David knew the heartbreak of family betrayal, as well as the rebellion from the very people he fought to save. Those who should have stood with him and supported him are the very ones who tried to usurp his God-given authority.

David was not a man without error. Although he was a great and beloved king, he was a lousy father. By not addressing issues and bringing justice within his own family, Absalom sought justice for his sister by trying to steal David’s authority. David’s mistakes, however, did not disqualify him from the throne or from God’s favor. Absalom’s foolishness, pride, and complete lack of respect for authority of God’s appointed man caused his own death when his long flowing hair was caught in a tree.  While he deeply grieved the loss of his son, David’s throne was established forever, just as God promised.

At times we give the Devil access to our lives by not using our God-given authority to address the issues of our house. Like Absalom, however, illegitimate authority will hang itself. The blessing of authority lies within the anointing upon it. If God has not anointed it as an authority, it is doomed to fail.

God knew your weaknesses before He called you, yet He still called you. He knew exactly where you would fail and where you would succeed, and He orchestrated it all so you would grow in Christ and be transformed by it. You have not fallen so far that the grace and favor of the LORD cannot save you. He, alone, has the power to save, and He is faithful and just to save you – even if you have made mistakes. God’s love is greater than our sin, and He will still break the teeth of the wicked on your behalf so His purpose may be fulfilled in your life. Cry out to Him today for His great salvation. For this reason Jesus died and rose again!

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 34:19:

Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

Without doubt, Satan attacks those who seek to serve God, but God delivers His people from the Devil’s evil traps. I love the way the Message Bible states this verse, too. “Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time.” When we belong to Christ and are seeking to do the will of God, we may make mistakes and fall in our efforts, but God is there to keep us on track and get us where we need to be. In fact, God knows exactly where we will fail, yet He calls us anyway. While we can’t always trust our efforts, we can have faith that the God who called us is faithful.

Verse 22 of that Psalm explains that the LORD redeems the life of His servants, and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished. God has redeemed us through His Son, and He placed our punishment upon Him at the cross. We need not fear that we have sinned beyond His ability to forgive or that His grace is too little to cover our failures. When we turn to Him, He faithfully delivers us and rescues us from any trap the enemy has set for us. The enemy will attempt to lure you into failure and then define you by it. Our Creator God, however, has defined us by the sacrifice of His Son – loved, redeemed, forgiven, called, and blessed.

If you are like me and make mistakes quite often, this should give you great comfort. God doesn’t focus upon our failures, and neither should we. He adjusts us to accomplish His purpose. Expect the enemy to attack, and expect to make mistakes from time to time. God isn’t finished with you yet; expect Him to deliver you and set you on track to do what He has called you to do – to glorify Him.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 102:13:

You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her – the appointed time has come.

God has appointed a time for our struggles to end. While they may have come to help strengthen us or mold us, they have a time limit. He will not allow the Devil to have ultimate victory over us, and He has promised no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

At His appointed time, God will arise and have compassion on us. He will show His favor and reveal His glory in our life. Every seed we have sown in tears will come forth in harvest when God rains down His favor, displaying to all that He is our God.

If your struggle has been long and hard, realize today that it has to end. While the enemy will try to convince you that this is your destiny, keep moving forward in faith, and don’t allow the trial to become your dwelling place. God has ordained a time to show favor, and He will arise and show compassion in a way that will blow your mind! There is nothing He can’t restore, rebuild, or refresh in your life! Praise Him and proclaim your time of favor today.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 66:12

You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to abundance.

In a day and time when the economic outlook for our country looks rocky and uncertain, crime is on a rapid increase, our people are divided, and little hope can be found in the world, God’s word offers us great hope for the days to come. Jesus, Himself, told us that in this world we can expect tribulation, but to take hope because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). He also taught us that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy but that He came to give us life in abundance (John 10:10). Doesn’t it make sense that we look to Him in difficult times instead of people and things that predict only gloom and doom?

God will certainly allow us to experience storms and trials in life, and He tries us by fire. Most – if not all – of you have been through both a storm and a fire, and it is never pleasant. The difficulties can certainly break you, and you may even question God’s love for you. Once that storm or fire has passed and God has accomplished His purpose with it, however, He brings us out to great abundance!

I hope that encourages you because many of you – like me – have been through storm after storm and fire after fire, which means abundance is waiting for us. If we could only get a glimpse of the abundance on the other side of our pain ahead of time and praise God through the middle of our trial, we could endure the struggle much more gracefully. Jesus endured the cross for the prize set before Him, and that prize, dear Sister, is you and me! This verse is our promise and our glimpse of the other side of the struggle.

Praise God today because He is good and worthy of our praises. Regardless of how strong the storm or fire may feel at this moment, He will bring you out to abundance, where you will once again experience a harvest of fruitfulness and blessing.  As Psalm 67:7 promises, “God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.” He has marked us for blessing, and we will most certainly see His goodness again!

Have a blessed day!