[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
Today: Psalms 103:1-12; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; 2 Chronicles 26, 27 & 28
Psalms 103
“Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His Holy Name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits–who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.” Psalm 103:1-4
David’s Psalms are my favorites. I am inspired by his worshiping heart, his passion for God. In Psalm 103, David gives his own soul a pep talk. We should follow David’s example. Our memories are short. We tend to forget how God has answered our prayers and blessed us.
God often instructed the Israelites to build holy shrines and altars to commemorate His gifts. God set up a system of holy days every year so that the Israelites would remember all His blessings.
God knows we forget. We benefit by consciously making sure to remember God’s blessings–we should do whatever it takes not to forget. For me, I keep journals. I have been keeping journals most of my life. And I still have them ALL–boxes and boxes of notebooks (sorry to whoever will be cleaning out all my belongings after I am called home to glory!). I love to go back and read them. It strengthens my faith to see how God has answered my prayers and worked things out. I am always surprised by how many of His blessings, answered prayers, and words I had forgotten.
2 Corinthians 1
“For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.” 2 Corinthians 1:5-6
None of us completely understand why God has set up the universe the way He has. But one thing is clear in the Scriptures (and simply by observing our world), in this life we all will encounter hardships. Many people grow bitter and angry at God when He doesn’t deliver them from their struggles. But God never promised to do that. In fact, He promises exactly the opposite. So getting mad at Him for doing what He already said would happen is just silly. It only makes us miserable.
God also promises that He will walk WITH us through our struggles. He promises to comfort us if we seek Him. He shares in our sufferings as well if we set our hopes on Him.
2 Chronicles 26
Why of why do we forget about God during the good times? Why do we let power pull us away from our faith? The older I get, the more I understand how stupid I am, how ridiculous and stupid we ALL are. Pride is the most ridiculous of character traits. Sometimes I wish God would afflict our arrogant wicked leaders and elites the way He afflicted King Uzziah–right in the midst of Uzziah’s sinful ranting against the priests, leprosy popped out on his forehead. Wouldn’t that be something!?
