A Psalm about Relationships

A sample of the powerful daily devotional thoughts available in this book...A full Review of the book will be available on Friday, November 9, 2012.  Free Book Giveaway on Friday

Psalm 146

Why doesn’t God just make your relationships better overnight? We often think that if God really cared for us, he would make our relationships easier. In reality, a difficult relationship is a mark of his love and care.

We would prefer that God would just change the relationship, but he won’t be content until the relationship changes us too. This is how God created relationships to function.

What happens in the messiness of relationships is that our hearts are revealed, our weaknesses are exposed, and we start coming to the end of ourselves. Only when this happens do we reach out for the help God alone can provide. Weak and needy people finding their hope in Christ’s grace are what mark a mature relationship.

The most dangerous aspect of your relationships is not your weakness, but your delusions of strength. Self-reliance is almost always a component of a bad relationship.

While we would like to avoid the mess and enjoy deep and intimate community, God says that it is in the very process of working through the mess that intimacy is found.

On January 16 Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp writes in Heart of the Matter (p 16).  

A Psalm for Stress

A sample of the powerful daily devotional thoughts available in this book...A full Review of the book will be available on Friday, November 9, 2012.  Free Book Giveaway on Friday

 

Psalm 28

If the Lord is near, if he is someone who knows what’s on your heart, who knows what weighs heavily on you and preoccupies you, then he is a hearer of his beloved children.

Many psalms start out by pleading with God—Lord, listen to me, bend your ear, you must hear me, I need you to listen and act on my behalf . These are not calm psalms; they are intense and pointed. In Psalm 28, David tells God that if God doesn’t hear him, he will die. This is faith talking, and David talks this way because God is listening. God’s listening does not guarantee that what is making you anxious will go away— that your financial problems will be solved, that you will be cured of cancer, or that whatever else is worrying you will disappear. You may not be healed, people you love may die, and you may struggle with financial stress. But God comforts, strengthens, and gives hope in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. Jesus did not want to drink the cup of God’s wrath. But God strengthened him, and he was fully willing. There’s help from him for whatever worries you. So when you are anxious pour your heart out to God. He is listening.

On June 14 David Powlison writes in Heart of the Matter (p 166).