Today’s devotional is exactly what I need. It is now 14 days since testing positive, with very little improvement. Barbara seems to be doing a little better than I am. In addition to the early problems, now I have entered a fog, unable to make good decisions. I can’t type right, I can’t do anything with the tax and zoning issues before me, I can’t even watch a movie to relax.
This reminds me very much of when I Hepatitis A in the 80s. My brain just shut down. About 3 months into it, the lights suddenly came on again. I am hoping and praying for a similar but quicker recovery here. In the meantime I will take this devotional to heart.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5
Proverbs 3:7 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” Sometimes we find ourselves frustrated in all our plans with none of the things we’d like to see happen getting accomplished. In this I have to remind myself that my main purpose as a Christian is not productivity, but knowing and worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to be ever drawing closer to Him. We may be successful in the eyes of the world because of our accomplishments, but if we aren’t close to Him, it’s all a mirage.
The Lord has been stressing to us again and again the importance of getting closer to Him by praising, and recently gave me a new insight about this. When we praise God for each thing that comes to us, whether it seems good or bad from our perspective, we are surrendering to God at that particular moment, reaffirming our trust in Him. In such praise we are declaring His goodness and His power to all those around us. We are getting up the shield of faith and quenching the fiery darts of the devil. We are proclaiming God’s intent to bring to us only what is for our good and His glory.
Conversely, failure to praise (complaining) is resisting God’s working in our lives. It is a form of rebellion. This is declared in Psalm 106:24-26, which tells of the Israelites’ response to the report of the spies after they had seen the promised land. “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. [They failed to praise, to trust, to submit to God’s leadership] They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD. [Instead of praising, they complained, rebelling against what the Lord was giving them.] So, he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert.” [that is, the Lord did not give them the good things He had offered and waited till all those grumblers had died before bringing the Israelites into the land].
In contrast, we should more follow David’s example in Psalm 34:1-2. “I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be on my lips.” [We can always say, “Thank you, Lord God, that in every happening there is potential growth in my focus on you and a platform upon which I can demonstrate your grace to the world.”]
