Devotionals
Life is hard and often painful. No surprise. The longer the journey, the more we must persevere. God know this. He knows it hurts. He has told us that he will deliver us from the many trials of life. So, how does He deliver us? Will he remove the pain, the trials, the need for perseverance? Certainly not. We all know that without those things, we would not grow. We will never become stronger without endurance. We will never recognize beauty without ugliness. The right opportunities will never present themselves if the doors to the wrong opportunities are not shut in our faces. Darkness presents a perfect background for the brilliance of light, and weakness is the lens through which God’s strength is most greatly magnified.
God delivers us by merely existing. By giving our finite minds the idea of the infinite. He overrides the evil of our flesh, by calling us to focus on the goodness of His spirit. His deliverance is found only when we look at Him. However, this look must not be a glance, but an act in which we focus on His glory with the intent desire to see more and praise what we are allowed to catch a glimpse of.
This morning, I took a jog through the forest. I stared out full of energy, my heart singing praises to the Lord as I tromped through the beauty of His creation. As my human legs covered more and more distance, my human body began to groan exceedingly louder. As the journey continued, my focus shifted away from the music in my head, and lighted firmly on my aching joints, burning muscles, and the tightening of my chest . I focused inward – on how hard the journey had become.
Finally God got my attention through a song that crept in through my headphones and seeped into the recesses of my heart. It shifted my inward focus from my pain, to His glory. The pain was still there, but I didn’t really notice it. My body still tired, but perseverance came more easily. A burst of energy came from my soul as a direct result of focusing on the glory of God rather than on the pain of the current circumstance. That is how He delivers us.
Many things in life are much more painful than a rainy-day jog through the forest, but the same truth applies:
Psalms 34:4-8
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
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