Part four, Comforted

DEVOTION

PSALMS

COMFORTED

Ps 86

86:1 A prayer of David.

Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. 3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, or I call to you all day long. 4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. 6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. 9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. 10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.  

14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life — men without regard for you. 15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. 16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.   17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

NIV

Day four, part four, the last stanza. We have seen how poor and needy we are. We have seen it is God who brings us joy. We have seen he is forgiving and good and that he is abounding in love to us because we called to him. We have seen there is none like him, we know that for sure. We have asked to be taught by him, by the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. We have seen that we cannot, should not have a divided heart that we should worship whole-heartedly. We have seen and know that it is he who has delivered us from the grave, which means we have eternal life. Now we have to deal with the arrogant who attack us, a band of ruthless men who seek our life. There may not actually be anyone seeking to kill us, other than Satan and his band of demons. He certainly is arrogant, thinking he was greater than God. So this angel Lucifer was cast down here and he has been after anyone who turns to God. But there may also be some arrogant people who attack us as well. Those are the ones who think there is no God, or that they are greater than him. They think we have an effect on our environment and that they have the answers to fit it. How arrogant to discount God. There are those who believe it is their abilities which they are responsibility for having, their knowledge, or their skills, wealth, and fame. God is the bringer of all good things. How arrogant of them to discount God. No matter how much anyone attempts to destroy our faith, try to convince us there is no God or that he is just some supernatural entity, a force, natural, as in mother natural, or that he is non-gender and any of those arrogant philosophies of man that discount who God is, we will not waver in our faith. He is compassionate and gracious. Although they are arrogant, he is slow to anger, he would have them call on him, and his love extends to all of his creation. Jesus did not die just for a few elect people, he died for the whole world, all of mankind so they might be saved, if they but call on him. His love abounds to all men, and his is faithful to his word. If people would confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, they will be saved.

Rom 10:9-11

9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 1

NIV

So we continue to seek the Lord, his mercy on us for there are the arrogant who would do us in, especially that most arrogant Lucifer who we now know as Satan. Yet among men who discount God, we seek a sign from heaven to show them God is God. God has already given us a sign of his goodness. He has enlightened us, brought us out of the darkness and into his light. Our lives are a sign of his goodness. We live our life of goodness in the face of our adversaries, they can see our faith, our goodness, our joy, our love, peace and patience. They can see our gentleness and faithfulness as well as our self-control. They can see the fruit of the Spirit all over us and know that God is who is says he is because of his working in us, for their benefit. Although they may believe they are “good people” they can see God in us and know they are not. Because of the Spirit, they will be shown their sin and be put to shame, not to be destroyed, but in hopes they will turn, like we did, and call upon him. It is God, the Lord who has helped us, he has shown his great mercy on us and we will be thankful forever, because he has comforted us.