Since You are my Rock and my Fortress,
for the sake of Your Name, lead and guide me.
Psalm 31:3
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The verse today comes from one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Psalms. Might I suggest that you read verses 1-8? Here we see David asking God for deliverance from his enemies. He is trudging along right now and life is really not going very good for him. {Can you relate?} See, back in the days of David, people were only aware of the hardships and trials that were going on right around them. But today, we get to see worldwide disasters day-by-day on TV right in our kitchens! We see so much violence and poverty and hatred that the good out there, well, it never makes the news.
So what does it do to us when we hear crisis after crisis? Does it harden our hearts? If so, don’t you think it is a defense—a wall that we have built around our hearts because of fear? We build wall upon wall to keep from feeling the hurt. But those same walls that keep things from coming in…they also keep love from coming out. What if those walls become like a prison? This is not what God wants for us. He wants us to know that He is so able to help in our time of need.
We spend a whole lot of time, though, trying to avoid every kind of pain. Including prayers begging God to deliver us or a friend or a family member from hardship that will cause them (or ourselves) hurt. Isn’t that what God wants us to do—to ask? The answer is yes. But the idea is not to live a life without any hurt and pain but rather to have God with us always…in the midst of it all…and to see His glory in all that happens around us.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.
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.
That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults,
hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT
If God can bring glory to Himself without allowing us any pain, He really will! But when He can’t, be ready for a little pain. And know this: it will be worth it !!!
Yet what we suffer now is nothing
compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.
Romans 8:18 NLT
God sent Jesus to come so that we might have life and have it abundantly. But living behind a wall of fear isn’t the life that God intended for us. The walls that we have built to keep pain away must be replaced with God. He is to be our Fortress and He alone can protect us from evil. He is the Rock that we must build our home on and not on the shifting sand of this world.
And we must not become so hard that we forget to love and are not able to feel anything for others anymore. God wants us to love and to love so much! And when there is hurt and pain then we are to have compassion, and to call on His name. He will come near—He promises. Oh, I pray that we will not let this world change us; but that we will let God break down barriers to get to us. May we remember that we will bend, but we will not break because we are His….
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Where are you today…are you living behind walls that need to come down? Jesus can do this for you. If you don’t have Him as your Savior, I hope today you will pray this simple prayer with me and cross the line to life!
Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I am so tired of hurting. I need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus is Your Son and He died for me on the Cross with my sins on Him. He is the Savior and I want Him to be Lord of my life. Come into my heart today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
