“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1
Praise you, Lord God, for you bless your children with your continual presence. Today I feel far from you, without much positive emotion and for this I thank you—it is an opportunity to live by faith, believing that you are with me whether I feel it or no, to trust your Word, to live by Truth, not sight or sense.
You, O Lord, have proclaimed yourself as the God who saves us—you are there, despite all the negatives. And in the midst of our woes, you are at work, guiding, protecting, carrying and teaching. You are giving faith-opportunities to offer the sacrifice of praise—like an unwanted snowstorm–times when there is no visible reason to trust you, but giving us plenty of reasons from your Word to rejoice in you.
Thank you that our feelings are not the measure of fact, that although our view is so limited, we can know that yours is high and wide, full and complete, total and eternal. We can trust you to act in power and wisdom out of your understanding.
Lord God, as I grasp more and more of your greatness, goodness and grace, I love you more and more. You have made us as responders to your great love, which the Holy Spirit has poured out into our hearts. We are deeply thankful for your mighty, undeserved, ever-flowing love that comes out of your very essence: you are Love itself.
In the light of this truth, with your grace, Lord, I want to reject the cultural perception (and feeling) that since you are good, you will protect me from all that is uncomfortable. Instead I want to praise you for the discomfort and difficulties you allow and send. These events give us platforms to practice and demonstrate the response of faith as we give the sacrifice of thanksgiving, opening the way so you can show us the salvation of the Lord! (Ps. 50:23)
Prayer: “Help me, Lord to reject feelings of insecurity and instead to think Truth, that whatever you allow is part of your plan to bring good, to bring growth to us and glory to yourself. Help me to praise you in and for the difficulties that come. May you be glorified in my life today. Amen.”
