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How Suffering Produces Hope
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Kings 9; 2 Chronicles 8; Psalm 136; Romans 5
Today’s Key Passage – Romans 5:1-11
I wish I were better at golf. I have played since I was a child, but despite my efforts, I have never been very good. For the most part, I can play without embarrassing myself too badly or slowing down play for everyone behind me, but I am certainly never going to win any tournaments. The problem with my golf game is really a matter of commitment. I do not spend nearly enough time practicing to ever be very good. I am sure that if I got some lessons and spent countless hours practicing the different elements of the game, I could probably improve dramatically. Who knows, with enough time and practice, I might even become quite good. The problem is that I simply do not want to expend that much time and energy on the sport, even though I know that the only way to ever get better is with extensive practice. In this regard, most things in life work a lot like golf. In most matters, if we want to improve we need to practice. If I want to be a better golfer, I need to golf more. If I want to be a better cook, I need to cook more. This concept is also true with character. If I want to become more patient, I need to endure times when my patience is tested. If I want to worry less, I need to endure times when I am tempted to worry. If I want to have more faith, I need to endure times when my faith is tested.
This concept is carried over in today’s key passage as Paul explains how suffering produces hope. He says, “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Vs. 3-4) Most people do not like to suffer, but as Paul explains, we can actually rejoice in our suffering not because we like pain, but because we know that God is using our suffering to produce hope. Imagine if you will a flow chart that begins with suffering. The suffering that we face in terms of life’s difficulties or attacks from the enemy produces perseverance in much the same way that practicing golf makes you a better golfer. The more we suffer, the more perseverance we build. This perseverance strengthens our character by building our trust and our faith in God, because the more we suffer, the more we must lean on God’s strength to get through difficult times. As our faith and trust in God builds, our hope will also build as we gain greater and greater confidence in our future. In this way, though it might sound counterintuitive, suffering produces hope.
The next time you face suffering, think of it in these terms. Instead of wondering why God is allowing you to suffer, thank Him for giving you the opportunity to build your perseverance, character, and hope. Thank Him for helping you grow and mature. Thank Him for loving you enough to give you hope.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Related articles
- Why Persevere Through Pain and Trials? Because God Perseveres with Us (chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com)
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Facing a Giant
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 17; Psalm 9; Matthew 2
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 17:1-50
In today’s key passage, we read the popular story of David and Goliath. Most of us have likely read this story before or have at least heard of it. It is the type of Bible story that we are often told as kids in Sunday school, and there are many lessons to be learned from it. Today, I would like to focus on the practical aspects of this story that we can all use as we walk through our lives. The Philistines had moved into Israel’s territory and set up camp, so King Saul put together an army to face off against them. The two armies were each perched on opposing hills with a valley in between them. At this time in history, armies wanted to avoid losing a lot of troops in a long, drawn out battle, so it was common for an army to pit their strongest soldier against the strongest soldier of the opposing army for a “winner-take-all” battle. Out of the Philistine camp came a giant named Goliath. He was big, he was powerful, he was armed with heavy weapons, and he wanted to fight one of the Israelites to settle the battle. When King Saul and the Israelites saw Goliath, they were all filled with fear. They did not know how they could possibly defeat this formidable foe. For forty days, Goliath would come out of the Philistine camp and intimidate the Israelites, challenging them to send someone to oppose him, but none of the Israelites would dare go against him. All of the Israelites, including Saul, were focused on their own self-preservation, so they were frozen in their fear and unable to move forward against their enemy.
One day David, a young shepherd who was tending his father’s flock was sent to the front lines to bring provisions and to get a report on the war. As he arrived, he saw Goliath come out of the Philistine camp for his daily taunting of the Israelites. Unlike the rest of the Israelites, David’s focus was not on his fear or on self-preservation. His focus was on the glory of God. He said, “Who is this unbeliever, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (Vs. 26) David was confident that God would defeat this enemy. He knew that this giant was no match for the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, so he decided to step up and face off against the giant. Though the other Israelites did not believe David could defeat Goliath, David still made the lonely walk to face off against the giant. David had the faith to know that while he could not defeat the giant alone, God was with him in the battle. In the end, David defeated Goliath using only a slingshot and a single stone.
As we walk through our lives, every single one of us will face off against “giants”. These “giants” might be people who oppose us. They might be habitual sins that we have trouble standing up to. They might be difficult circumstances, illnesses, or financial problems. Whatever the case may be, these “giants” will be a very real threat to us just as Goliath was a very real threat to the Israelites. When we face these giants, we have a choice to make. We can choose to be paralyzed with fear like Saul and the Israelites, afraid to move forward against the “giant”, or we can choose to have faith in God to solve our problems like David. We can choose to focus on our own self-preservation, or we can choose to focus on the glory of God. With the right faith in God, we can trust that He will deliver us from our “giants”. With the right faith in God, we can be sure that He will bring us victory in His own time. With the right faith in God, there is nothing we cannot overcome.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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- Fear Not: Your Giant WILL Fall (johnfcft.wordpress.com)
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Moving On
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 15,16; 1 Chronicles 5; Matthew 1
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Life is filled with disappointments. We will be disappointed by our own actions, circumstances, or health conditions. We will be disappointed by others. There are so many things in this life that will disappoint us, and it can be very easy to let these disappointments get us so discouraged that we stop serving the Lord. When things are not going the way we would like them to go, we can have a tendency to give up, but there is a time to accept the disappointments we have faced and move on to whatever God has planned for us next. In today’s key passage, the prophet Samuel was disappointed. He had anointed Saul as King of Israel, but because Saul chose not to follow God’s instructions, he had failed. Samuel was in deep mourning over Saul’s failure, but through his pain God teaches us four lessons about moving on after a disappointment.
The first lesson we learn is that there is a time to stop mourning. In Verse 1 we read, “The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” Even though Samuel was disappointed about Saul’s failure, God knew that his mourning would never change the situation. There is a time to stop grieving and realize that in spite of whatever disappointments we have faced, God is in control.
The second lesson we learn is that we must accept God’s will. Samuel believed that Saul was going to be a good king when he anointed him, but God rejected Saul because of his own actions. Samuel had to accept the fact that God had another plan for Israel and for him. Many times, we tend to hold on to what we think God’s will should be for our lives, when in reality God might have an entirely different plan for us. No matter what we might think at the present time, God’s plan for us is always the best plan, even if it does not fit into our current way of thinking.
The third lesson we learn is that there will come a time when we must simply move on to the next thing God is calling us to do. God’s plan was for Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint another king. Although Samuel was afraid of what Saul would do if he heard about Samuel anointing another king, he still chose to obey God and go to Bethlehem. When we finally stop mourning over a disappointment and accept God’s will for our lives, we will find we can move forward and do as God directs.
The final lesson we learn is that we have to follow God’s directions as we move forward. When Samuel first saw Jesse’s son Eliab, he immediately assumed that this would be the new king. It was not until he heard from God that he realized his mistake. He had to listen for God’s guidance and God ultimately led him to David as the new king of Israel. Following our disappointments, we need to spend time getting back in tune with God.
Moving on from disappointment can be a hard thing to do, but it is something we will all need to do in this life. Fortunately, God provides us with a road map to follow on our journey. As we read His Word daily, we can learn His tips for moving on, and we can ensure we are following Him.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Finding Strength in Our Weaknesses
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 13; 1 Chronicles 2,3; 2 Corinthians 12
Today’s Key Passage – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
There are many times in the Bible when what we read seems to contradict what our earthly minds believe to be true. Today’s key passage is a good example of this type of conflict. The apostle Paul tells us that he has been given a “thorn” in his flesh to keep him from becoming conceited. While we do not know exactly what this “thorn” was because Paul never provided details, some Biblical scholars have theorized that it might have been a disease such as malaria or epilepsy, or perhaps a problem with his vision. Whatever the case, we can be sure it was some sort of physical ailment that made Paul’s mission in life more difficult. Three times Paul pleaded with God to take this “thorn” away from him, but each time God refused, telling Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (Vs. 9) What Paul goes on to say in verse 10 is the part that seems to conflict with what we believe to be true based on our human knowledge. He says, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I love these examples when God takes our conventional earthly wisdom and turns it upside down. Jesus said that whoever is first will be last and that the meek will inherit the earth and Paul said that when he is weak, then he is strong. If you are wondering how this can be true, allow me to explain. When we are strong, we tend to start to feel pride. During our strongest moments, we feel like we can accomplish anything on our own, without any help. While that might sound like a good thing, it is actually the opposite of what God wants for us. God wants us not to try to accomplish things in our own strength, but to accomplish things through His strength. He wants to be our source. During our weakest moments, when things look dark and bleak, those are the times when we can turn to Him for strength. More importantly, God’s strength is so much more than anything we can possibly muster on our own. Therefore, when we are weak, we become strong because God gives us the strength we need to move forward. When we tap into the power of Jesus Christ living through us, we become far more powerful than we can ever be on our own. We can accomplish so much more than we could ever accomplish on our own. When you are feeling your weakest, rejoice in knowing that you can find strength. Rejoice in the knowledge that the power of Jesus Christ is available to you in your darkest hour. Rejoice in knowing that when you are weak, then you are strong.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Creating Our Own Storms
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 11,12; 1 Chronicles 1; 2 Corinthians 11
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 12:12-25
After serving Israel for years as a judge, Samuel made a farewell speech to the Israelites. In it, Samuel affirmed in the minds of the Israelites that he was trustworthy. He reminded them of their history and pointed out their wrongs against God. He also reminded them that it was their idea to appoint a king over Israel against God’s clear instructions. Once the stage was set, Samuel then said, “‘Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king.’ Then Samuel called upon the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel.” (Vs. 16-18)
To fully understand this passage, it is important to point out a few things about Israel at this time. This event took place during the wheat harvest, which was near the end of the dry season in Israel during May and June. During the dry season, rain was a rarity, so having a thunderstorm at this time was considered a miracle. Unlike most “good” miracles, however, a thunderstorm during this time of the year could have been disastrous for the Israelites. Any amount of rain during the wheat harvest could damage the crops and cause them to rot. With this historical information in place, we can now see that this thunderstorm clearly illustrated God’s anger with Israel over asking for a king. If they had never asked for a king, they would have never had to face that storm.
Sometimes the storms we face in life are created by our own actions. If we fail to work hard at our jobs, we might find ourselves unemployed. If we fail to treat our spouse the way we should, we might find ourselves with relationship problems. Understand that not all of the trials we face are caused by our own actions. Many times our periods of distress will have nothing to do with what we did and will instead be caused by the evil present in this world. It is still important to note, however, that when we go against God, He will sometimes send us storms as a way of correcting us. For this reason, anytime we face a storm it is important that our first step is to search our hearts for any unconfessed sin. If we discover sin in our lives, our natural reaction as humans might be to try to hide from God. Samuel offers a much better solution in verse 20 – “‘Do not be afraid,’ Samuel replied. ‘You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.’” When we discover that we have created our own storm, we must take that opportunity to press in closer to God instead of turning away from Him. After all, God is the only one that can save us from the storms, even if we have created them ourselves. If you have found that you are in the midst of a storm that you have created, find comfort in Samuel’s words in verse 22 when he says, “For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.” If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are one of His people. You are one of His children. He alone will not reject you. He alone will calm the storm.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Hearing God’s Voice
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 3-5; Psalm 77; 2 Corinthians 8
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 3:1-15
Awhile back, I flew into Baltimore, MD for a business trip. As I was driving to my final destination about an hour outside of Baltimore, the radio station that I was listening to kept fading in and out. As I drove through the rolling terrain, I noticed that when I was on top of hills, the signal came through loud and clear, but when my rental car descended into valleys the signal would fade and I was barely able to hear the song among the static. I did not think much of it at the time, but I vividly remembered this experience as I was reading today’s key passage. So often, hearing God’s voice works the same way as hearing that radio station. As we move through our spiritual life, we all have high points and low points. At our highs, we are reading God’s Word daily, we are spending time with Him in prayer, we are living in obedience, and we are constantly seeking Him. In those times, His voice comes in loud and clear. When we begin to slip, however, things change. As we begin to allow the business of life to distract us from His Word or from prayer, His voice becomes harder and harder to hear. If we spend enough time with our focus and obedience away from God, all we will be able to hear is static.
In today’s key passage, Samuel also faced a problem in hearing God’s voice, but his problem was a bit different. He had no trouble hearing God voice, but he had difficulty discerning the source. One night while lying in the temple, God called out to Samuel three different times. Each time, Samuel’s response was correct in that he answered, “Here I am”, but he thought it was Eli, the high priest, who was calling him. In 1 Samuel 3:7, we begin to understand the problem when we read, “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” Because Samuel did not yet know God, he was unable to realize that the voice he was hearing came from the Lord. As Samuel’s relationship with God grew, he would eventually solve this problem. Likewise, as our relationships with God grow, we will not only find it much easier to hear God’s voice, we will also be able to discern when it is His voice that is calling us. The further away from God we are, the more “static” we will hear. We will find that we have so many voices speaking to us – the voices of our sinful desires, our past hurts, and our enemy – that we will be unable to distinguish between those voices and the voice of the most-high God. Whenever you are having trouble hearing God’s voice and discerning His calling for your life, learn to press in even closer to Him. Spend more time in His Word. Spend more time in His presence. As our relationship with God grows deeper and as we shift our focus more on Jesus Christ, we will start to hear from Him loud and clear, and we will be able to answer His calling by saying, “Here I am”.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Healing Through Prayer
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 1,2; Psalm 66; 2 Corinthians 7
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 1:1-18
In today’s key passage, we read the story of a man named Elkanah who had two wives, Peninnah, who had children, and Hannah, who had no children. Three times a year, Elkanah and his wives would travel to the tabernacle in Shiloh to worship God and bring the required sacrifices to God, and each time Peninnah would insult Hannah because she was barren. Hannah would get so upset during these trips, that she would end up crying constantly and would not eat. Finally, during one of these trips, Hannah decided to pray. She made a vow to God that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to a life of service to God. The high priest Eli saw her praying and gave her encouragement. When she finished her conversation with Eli, this woman who was so upset that she would not eat, “went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” (Vs. 18) In a matter of moments, Hannah went from feeling depressed and discouraged to feeling joyful. Eventually, God blessed her with a child, and she kept her promise to God to dedicate him to a life of service. (Vss. 27-28) In addition, God would later give Hannah five more children. (Vs. 2:21)
In this story, Hannah actually received two different types of healing through her prayer. She received a physical healing when her prayer was answered and God allowed her to conceive her first child. In addition, she received emotional healing when she was finished praying. It is important for us to note that she did not need to wait for her prayer to be answered in order to feel joy. Her emotional healing came about not by God working on her behalf and making her pregnant, but through her faith in God and through the encouragement she received from Eli. When she cried out to God in her desperate time, she was able to leave her problems with Him. Moreover, she received moral support from a fellow believer that further led to her emotional healing. So often, we have a tendency to hold on to our discouragement until the time comes when God answers our prayers, but we can receive emotional healing long before that ever happens. When we pray, we can take all of our problems to God and can LEAVE THEM at the cross of Jesus Christ. We do not have to hold onto our sadness, our anger, or our bitterness. When we have faith like Hannah, we can finish our prayer knowing that God has heard us. We can finish our prayer knowing that God is working in our best interest. We can finish our prayer with emotional healing.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Trusting God’s Plan
Daily Bible Reading – Ruth 3,4; Psalms 64,65; 2 Corinthians 6
Today’s Key Passage – Ruth 4:9-22
In today’s reading, we finish the story of Ruth. Yesterday, we read about her hardships. We found out that Ruth was a widow living in poverty. To feed herself and her mother-in-law, she found a field belonging to Boaz and gleaned. Today, the story is wrapped up when Boaz and Ruth get married and have a child. The story of Ruth is a good one – one that almost sounds like it would make a great plot for a movie. Picture this – a woman loses her husband and moves to a town far away where the only person she knows is her mother-in-law. There she lives in poverty until she receives charity from a man who owns some land. He notices her and they end up falling in love and having a baby. That is a great movie right? If that was the end of the story, it would still be a good one, but the story of Ruth has so much more to offer. You see, the child they had together was named Obed (which means worship). Obed would go on to have a child named Jesse, and Jesse would go on to have a child named David who would later become known as King David. King David’s genealogy would continue through a few more generations all the way to a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem. When Ruth married Boaz and had a child, she set off a chain of events that would culminate in the birth of Jesus Christ.
When I read the story of Ruth, I think about how she must have felt when she lost her husband. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that must come with losing a spouse. On top of that, she found herself living in poverty, literally picking up scraps from a field to eat, and living in a foreign land. How easy would it have been for Ruth to start to question God? How easy would it have been for her to think God had completely left her? Throughout all of these hardships, though, Ruth remained dedicated and faithful to God. She trusted that God had a plan for her and that He would work out her situation in His time. God used her painful situation to bring about events that would lead to the greatest event in the history of mankind – the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course, Ruth could not have possibly known this at the time. All she could see was her present situation. All she could see was her pain. When we face trials, no matter how bad they are, we can rest in knowing that God has a plan for us. Sometimes the trials we face, as painful as they may be, are absolutely necessary for God’s plan. If Ruth had not lost her husband and become poor, she never would have ended up in that field meeting the man she would marry, and she never would have given birth to a genealogical line that would end with Jesus Christ. Very often, when we face difficulties or when things do not go according to our “plans”, we find it difficult to see how our pain might turn out to be a great thing for us. We can only see a tiny dot in the big picture of life. God, however, can see the whole picture. He knows where each piece fits. We can trust His plan and we can have faith that everything He does is for the greater good.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Overflowing Comfort
Daily Bible Reading – Judges 11,12; Psalm 50; 2 Corinthians 1
Today’s Key Passage – 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
In the past, I have talked a lot about how God comforts us in our times of sorrow. When we are suffering, God provides us with comfort in many ways. We are comforted by His Word and by stories of the comfort He has provided for others during times of strife. We are comforted by His promises to us of eternal protection. We are comforted by the Holy Spirit living inside of us providing us with the encouragement to move forward. There are countless ways in which He provides us with His comfort. In today’s key passage, Paul touches on something a bit different, though. Paul talks about why God comforts us. Obviously, one reason God provides us with comfort in our times of need is because of His great love for us. He does not want to see us suffer since we are His children. However, there is another reason for His comfort that I would like us to really focus on today. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, Paul says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” See, God does not just comfort us for our own sake. He comforts us for the sake of others.
As followers of Christ, we learn to love others unconditionally by focusing on the unconditional love God has for us. Likewise, we can learn to comfort others by focusing on the comfort God provides to us. One of the primary ways God comforts us is by using our brothers and sisters in Christ. Have you ever noticed that when you are really down or things are going badly, another believer comes along and says just the right thing to make you feel better? This is an example of God using His people to provide us comfort. Have you ever been stuck in a bad mood but find your spirits lifted by a song on the radio? This is another example of God using His people to provide us comfort. God does this all the time, and the fact is that He wants to use YOU to help comfort someone else. He provides you with comfort in your time of need to the point of overflowing so that the level of comfort you have received from Him can be shared with others. When a person comes along and says the perfect thing that you need to hear in your time of distress, it is partly so that you will be able to say the perfect thing that someone else needs to hear in his time of distress. Focus on the ways in which God has comforted you in the past. Focus on what He has done to help you. Then, when you see others in need of comfort, share your comfort with them.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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A Cure for Depression
Daily Bible Reading – Judges 8; Psalm 42; 1 Corinthians 15
Today’s Key Passage – Psalm 42
Today’s key passage is Psalm 42, which is written by the sons of Korah. As a refresher, Korah was a Levite who led a mutiny against Moses because he was jealous of Moses and wanted the power that came from the priesthood. Because God was with Moses, He opened up the earth beneath Korah’s feet and he was buried alive. (For the complete story, read Numbers 16). The sons of Korah (his descendants) remained faithful to God and served in the temple, and eventually they were appointed by David to serve as leaders of the choir. In Psalm 42, the psalmist was feeling depressed. He was a long way from Jerusalem and was unable to worship at the temple. He explains his feelings best by saying that his “tears have been my food day and night“. (42:3) Though he was feeling depressed and alone, he knew that his only hope to feel better was in God. He says, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (42:11)
Depression affects millions of people in the world every day, and it is a very serious ailment. It can be caused by a variety of things, including a person’s present circumstances. Sometimes when people feel depressed, they turn to things they think will help but that actually only serve to harm them – things like drugs, alcohol, or sex. Even if we are not clinically depressed, we all still face ailments and hard times that will make our present conditions seem bleak at best. Like the psalmist, our hope in these times of depression is in God. God alone can give us the strength to keep going. God alone can help us move forward even when our current circumstances seem overwhelming. God alone can bring us peace and joy. We can find this help from God through prayer, and we can find it in His Word. As I was preparing to write about this Psalm today, I thought about some of the passages in the Bible I can turn to during the darkest of hours. I thought about the passages that I can read regardless of the situation that can help lift my spirit. Of course, these can be found in many places in the Bible, and different people will find different things to be uplifting, but I decided to make a brief list of some places to turn when feeling depressed:
In our times of greatest sorrow and depression, we can choose to turn to things that might dull the pain briefly, or we can choose to turn to God. We can seek Him in His Word and cry out for Him to save us from our ailments. We can find solace in the countless illustrations He has provided for us in the Bible, and we can find joy in knowing that our present conditions will be a distant memory when we are in Paradise with Him. When you are feeling down, turn to God. Turn to His promises for you, and let His power and His grace bring you strength.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Related articles
- Sons of Korah (anakinredeemed.wordpress.com)
- Week 19 (aprilbiblein1year.wordpress.com)
