“Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue.”        Psalm 31:2 NIV

Somehow, we have the crazy notion that if we follow and obey the Lord, He will protect us from difficult trials. But the Bible repeatedly shows that it is often because we follow the Lord that we encounter various trials. If we blend in with the world, they don’t bother us. But the fact that we follow Christ makes us the special target. Jesus explained this very plainly in John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” We need to understand that trusting in the Lord does not insulate us from the rollercoaster of emotions that hit when we face stressful situations. Some spiritual self-help books make it sound as though when you discover the secret of resting in the Lord, you will be perfectly calm even in the midst of the worst possible trials. To the extent that your emotions go up or down as with a rollercoaster, means that you must be lacking in your spiritual life. But look at David’s emotions in the psalm. Remember, he was not a spiritual novice at this point. He was a man after God’s own heart. He was obviously feeling enormous shame, as implied by his repeated prayer that he would not be ashamed (verses 1, 17). Perhaps his enemies were accusing him of being a hypocrite: “He claims to trust in God, but look at what he did with Bathsheba and her husband! Look at his family life – it’s a complete shambles! Some ‘man of God’ he is!” Coupled closely with shame was David’s own guilt, as he acknowledges his iniquity as part of his current troubles (verse 10).

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, in our emotional rollercoaster, we keep our eyes on You.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, when we are on a rollercoaster ride with our emotions, in the times of stress, we choose to keep our eyes focused on You. AMEN

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Colossians 1:1-8

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