F O O T H O L D
READING
29 SUNSHINE AND CLOUD
PRAY Lord, give me a sense
of your presence as I study your word today.
READ Psalm 40:117.
THINK What encouragement do
you find in this Psalm which will help you
in your journey with God?
FOCUS WAITING PATIENTLY (15).
In an age of instant everything, most of
us find patience difficult
to learn and we need God's help. Verses
13 are the testimony of
David, who has waited for God and found
that he is reliable in times
of crisis. But God does not simply
rescue us from crisis, he
continues to be with us, leading, and
giving joy (4,5). It becomes
impossible to count all that he has
done for us.
GLAD OBEDIENCE (610).
Verses 68 make clear the delight of
serving God, a delight that
was central to the life of the Lord
Jesus. (See Hebrews 10:57
where these verses are quoted in a
slightly different form.)
Christianity will give us real pleasure
but only if we are totally
committed to serving God. Then we can
tell others, too, how good
God is (9,10).
MERCY AND RESCUE (1117).
Unaccountably, it becomes dark again: 'I
can no longer see' (12).
David's troubles now (12) are as numerous
as God's mercies had seemed
(5).
All of us experience
feelings like this form time to time. In the
face of all these troubles,
what did David do? He named them
before God, thereby getting
a clearer idea of the nature and size
of his problem. Then he
cried for help, specifying what he needed.
He could pray confidently
and we can do the same, knowing that God
is merciful, loving and
faithful.
Verses 16 and 17 move into
rejoicing. There is good reason for all
of us to rejoice: God will
not let us down either.
PRAY Talk to God now about
any situation that is troubling you.
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