- Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! Psalm 4:1 – As we study the psalms, what we see play out in this verse will be a repeated practice for David. We see David once again in a time of great need. Maybe he was being chased by Saul, maybe he was fighting the philistines; we don’t know what trouble David was in but it’s clear his cries are passionate to the Lord. And the practice we will see repeated in the psalms is David remembering past times when God took care of him in his troubles as reassurance to him that God would be merciful again to him. God took care of him each other time he cried out for help, so he was confident the Lord would come through in this new time of need. Let this practice of David become practice for us. When we go through the inevitable difficulties of life, let us look back on the many times the Lord has come through for us in our past. For if the Lord had been faithful to us then, He’ll be faithful to us again for He is a forever faithful God. As we look through scripture we see story after story of God’s faithful support and rescue of His people when they turned faithfully to Him. Let us see those stories and see the stories of past rescue in our life as the evidence we need that God mercy will remain present even in today’s trial. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2959
- You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Psalms 4:7 – Let’s put this in now a day terms. You know the feeling you have when everything is full? The fridge is full, the relationships in your life are going great, and you have extra funds in the bank account. We understand the joy that comes when the things in our life are full, so did the psalmist. Yet he still says that the joy God brings into our life is more than all that other stuff. We can constantly be spending our time trying to fill all the areas in our life to the full: making people happy, making more money, going grocery shopping, or we can accept that God can fill us with joy more than anything else can. You can go after those other things, but make sure you are going after God first in your life. Because you need joy, and not always will those others things give joy to you even when they are full. God though is already full and He just wants to fill you now with His joy. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac
- There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” Psalms 4:6 – This verse shows us the common struggle of our world. They are in this constant search of what is good and what can help them but never find what they need outside of God. The psalmist though knows the truth we take hold of today. That what is good and helpful in this life comes only from God. I believe God is wanting us to hear what He is saying in these past few psalms. That in Him we find what we need so our life should be about pursing Him. So today if you’re searching, search in His direction and find what you’re looking for. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 766
- You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Psalm 4:7 – Here’s a modern day adaptation. Than when the kids fully respect you and listen always. Than when the bank account is full. Than when the kids do all their homework without asking. Than when the house is cleaned for you when you get home. Than when the boss gives you a raise without you asking for it. For them when grain and wine abounded it caused joy to overflow in their life just like these things and others would cause joy to flow in our story if they happened. What’s beautiful about this verse is that the psalmist understands God puts more joy into our story than anything else can. Meaning joy can abound in our life even when things like the grain is gone and the kids fight and the bank account is low. When our source of joy is God we can have joy always. Yes, our life may be filled with joyless things but we have a God who overflows joy into us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1721
Daily DEVO 