God speaks to my heart

 

 

READ Psalm 46-50

For several weeks, my first thoughts and prayers in the morning are for the Ukraine. Today, I asked the Lord to speak to that situation, partly so I know how to pray and mostly to affirm His involvement in the events and the lives of His people who are living there. This is what I hear from His Word. First, I am not to fear:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah (Psalm 46:1–3)

Second, I’m to consider the history of His power and promises — like this one:

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (Psalm 46:8–11)

The bottom line is: “God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” (Psalm 47:8) Faith means trusting Him to have His way, even if the news makes much of terrible events that I don’t understand. I keep thinking how the disciples felt when Jesus, the sinless God-man, was killed. How can we now call that event “Good Friday” — yet it didn’t end there. The above verses tell me that God is not finished yet with this conflict.

I also asked God about those I pray for, some of them are younger relatives who live in a world that discourages faith in God and uses the name of His Son as a swear word. Sometimes my heart is heavy when thinking of their fate, yet God answers that too, giving me this:

Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever. (Psalm 48:12–14)

This isn’t about a literal walk but considering what God has already done and thinking of His great power. I’m to tell the next generation about Him and what He has done, that He does not change and still can do those things and even greater. He will guide me in the telling, but He will also guide them in how they respond to what they hear.

Of course I thought of the difficulties of speaking up for God in the culture we live in. It is far more focused on money than spiritual truth. I wondered about how God thinks about this distraction in their lives. He says:

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:16–20)

What can I do about that? Very little. But God can bring people to their knees whose god is their bank account. Money has wings. As the cost of living rises, the toys people can afford decreases. High prices, lost jobs, poor investments, sudden losses, all sorts of things can topple that idol. God knows what to do to humble the pride of those who worship their own ability to prosper. As hard as that seems, the greater need is never money. It is always Jesus.

Daily devotions are supposed to be a search for God’s wisdom for each day, listening to what He tells me and being obedient to His leading. Here is the bottom line for my life and how I need to think and act on this day, the middle of Easter when we ponder the wonder of His dying and the greatest wonder of all, that He lives.

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” and “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” (Psalm 50:15; 23)

Keep calling on the Lord to take care of me, offering thanksgiving no matter what happens and obey Him anyway . . . and He will reveal His saving power in the Ukraine, in those who don’t know Him, in those whose focus is money, and in me — who needs Him every day for everything.