Daily Devotions

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Current Study: People Who Made a Difference         

Today’s Topic: Trusting God

Today’s Scripture:   Psalm 84:15-17   Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.

Yesterday’s devotional stimulated several responses from readers, and I would like to share one of their stories. It comes from a former member of our church who now lives in the Twin Cities. She writes,

I’ve been asking God for more faith and to help me be more faithful. He brought that to mind today as I was unexpectedly lying in an MRI machine. He showed His faithfulness to me by getting me into an open-sided machine within 2 hours of ordering the test (I didn’t have the chance to get too worked up about it). It was for my right wrist and, no, they could not put only my arm in. I asked!  After 2 tries to get me in, (I’m BIG time claustrophobic!) I was finally in for 45 minutes. I started out so panicked that I couldn’t even remember Psalms 1, which I have had memorized for years. So I just talked to God, sang songs, and quoted what scripture I could remember. By the end of the 45 minutes my left arm, that had been holding on to the outside of the machine so that I would not be dragged further in, was almost resting by my head with just my fingertips holding on. I had remembered all of Psalms 1 including my new verse in 1 Cor 2:12. I was still a little stressed but no longer panicked. God just kept reminding me that He was still there and in control and as long as I stayed focused on Him, everything was going to be OK. And it was!

The moral of the story is: God will not let me be put into a situation above what, together, He and I can handle…and keep reviewing my Scripture verses.

Marian Green

Practical applications of trust. We all experience such opportunities daily. We choose to either prod through problems feeling deprived or pass through them focused on God’s promises. Every circumstance of life is an opportunity for the practical application of trust in God.

In just a few days, 13 to be exact, our church will lose a couple of valuable people. Dudley and Inge Donaldson will be leaving for a minimum of two years for the mission field in Swaziland. God has called them to this great adventure and miraculously provided almost all of their funding in less than 8 months! Hallelujah! But they will be greatly missed and hard to replace. Inge has been our office administrator for almost three years now. We thank God that He has provided a gifted and qualified replacement. Through this entire process we have all learned to trust God and stand on His promises. We are so blessed to be their sending church, but we will miss them so much.

Just the other day Inge was having a tough day, and experiencing one of those “issues” that drags us down. Then she remembered something she had been told by a former spiritual mentor – five steps to handling tough situations. She has printed these five steps out on little yellow cards and carries them with her as a reminder to trust God. Let me share them with you.

1. Give the situation to God – turn it all over to Him and trust Him with the outcome.
2. Do the right thing – no matter how you are tempted to manipulate the situation for your own benefit, always and only do the right thing.
3. Be honest with your feelings – tell God and tell others how you really feel. Don’t cover up.
4. Tell yourself the truth – focus on what you know to be true about the situation and the people involved, and let those truths control your emotions.
5. Exercise grace – always grant the benefit of the doubt.

What great advice. I’m going to carry one of those cards in my pocket. Make one up for yourself and laminate it. Then practice the steps. Then you will experience the promises of Psalm 84, which says, Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.

Pastor John