Lord, Keep My Soul and Deliver Me

Scripture: Psalms 25: 10-11, 18-21

All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.(10,11) Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.(18-21)

Scripture Commentary: God, deliver me from evil

We can’t lose when we stay on the path God has set for us. But we know we’re weak, and we fall in times of weakness. This is when we need the Lord to deliver us from ourselves and help us stay on the right road.

We are bombarded with relentless appeals to go in various directions but when you read The Bible, you will find God and help is on the way.

Recognize God for Who He Is

To fear God is to love Him. Recognize God for who He is: Holy, Almighty, Righteous, Pure, All Knowing, All Powerful, and Wise.

When we regard God correctly, we gain a clearer picture of ourselves: sinful, weak, frail, and needy.

We need two powerful forces to preserve us: integrity and uprightness

Uprightness makes us learn God’s requirements. Integrity keeps us from claiming to be upright while living as if we don’t know God.

Vow to consistently walk in the Shepherd’s way.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Psalms Chapter 25

“Have you considered my servant, Job?”

Scripture: Job 1: 8-11

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Scripture Commentary: Have you been a fair weather believer or do you have the faith of Job?

Satan came to God after roaming the earth looking for those whom he could possibly turn away from God. And God asked Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job?”

Satan attacked Job’s motives for being faithful to God, saying that Job was blameless and upright only because he had no reason to turn against God. Everything in Job’s life had gone well. Satan wanted to prove that Job worshiped God not out of love, but because God had given him so much.

Satan accurately analyzed why many people trust God. They are fair weather believers, following God only when everything is going well or for what they can get.

God expects you to express your faith even when you’re struggling

Adversity destroys this superficial faith. Adversity, however, strengthens real faith by causing the believer to dig their roots deeper into God to withstand life’s storms.

Although God loves us, believing and obeying Him does not shelter us from life’s calamities. Setbacks, tragedies, and sorrows strike Christians and non-Christians alike. But for the Christian, God expects us to express our faith to the world during our trials.

How do you respond to the trials in your life? Do you ask God, “Why me?” or do you say, “Use me!”?

God is never caught by surprise by our troubles

The conversation between God and Satan teaches us an important fact about God: He is fully aware of every attempt by Satan to bring suffering and difficulty upon us.

While God may allow us to suffer for a reason beyond our understanding, He is never caught by surprise by our troubles and He is always compassionate. God’s love for us is truly immeasurable.

Think of how God has lifted you, your family and loved ones out of harm’s way, even when you were in darkness. God’s love is true and unchanging.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Job Chapter 1

Good and Evil Are Part of Life

Scripture: Job 2: 4-5, 9-10

And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.(4-5) Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.(9-10)

Scripture Commentary: Shall we only receive good at the hand of God?

Satan held the opinion that Job was faithful only because of God’s blessings. When calamity strikes, there are many people who question God’s goodness and justice. Satan is working hard to get you to curse God. Good and evil are part of life, and you will receive both.

Don’t give up on God because He doesn’t give up on you. Faith in God isn’t a guarantee that you’ll only receive good, and lack of faith does not guarantee that you will be beset by troubles. If this were so, people would believe in God simply when times are good, and to get rich.

God is capable of rescuing you from suffering; however, He may allow suffering to come for reasons you can’t understand. Satan’s strategy is to get you to doubt God. He may inflict physical and mental suffering to get you to denounce God.

Place your faith in God; don’t be fooled by Satan. Everything won’t always be good. You will be tested in life to see and feel the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ at work in you and for you.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Job Chapter 2

God Is A Very Present Help in Trouble

Scripture: Psalms 46: 1-3

(To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Scripture Commentary: Don’t be afraid because God is always present

The fear of mountains or cities suddenly crumbling into the sea as the result of a nuclear blast haunts many people today. But the psalmist says that even if our present day world ends, we need not fear.

In the face of utter destruction we can have a quiet confidence in God’s ability to save us if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. It seems impossible to consider the end of the world without becoming consumed by fear, but the Bible is clear.

God is our refuge even in the face of total destruction. He is not merely a temporary retreat; He is our eternal refuge and can provide strength in any circumstance.

Take time each day to be still and exalt God

War and destruction are inevitable, but so is God’s final victory. At that time all will stand quietly before the Lord Almighty. How proper it is then for us to be still now, reverently honoring Him and His power and majesty.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Psalms Chapter 46

The Wicked Find No Favor With God

Scripture: Ezekiel 18: 24

But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Scripture Commentary: Sooner or later, wicked people are punished

A typical childish response to punishment is to say, “That’s not fair!” In reality God is fair but when we sin, we have broken the rules. It is not God who must live up to our idea of fairness; instead, it is we who must live up to his.

God is the God of love but He is also the God of perfect justice. His perfect love causes Him to be merciful to those who recognize their sins and turn back to Him but He cannot wink or ignore those who willfully sin.

Wicked people die not only physically but also spiritually. God takes no joy in their deaths. He would prefer that they turn to Him and have eternal life.

Step forward in faith and work to live up to God’s standards

If you renounce your life’s direction of sin and rebellion and turn to God, He will give you a new direction, a new love, and a new power to change.

Don’t spend your time looking for the loopholes in God’s law. Instead, live up to God’s standards. You can begin in faith, trusting in God’s power to change your heart and mind. Then determine to live each day with Him, and by being attuned, you will feel the strength of His love for you.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ezekiel Chapter 18

God, Put Your Hand on Me

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Scripture Commentary: Humble yourself under God’s almighty hand

The Hebrew word Jabez means ‘pain.’ During Jabez’s time, a person’s name had meaning. Perhaps the mother’s pain was emotional. Maybe his father died, or perhaps the family had fallen into financial straits. Only God knows for sure what caused the pain of this anguished mother. Jabez cried for God’s hand to be upon him and free him from pain.

Jabez cried out to God, “Oh, that you would bless me …”

To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.

We, too, are crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness of God.

Proverbs 10:22 reads, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”

Jabez also entreated God to “enlarge my territory!”

Your business is the territory God has entrusted to you. He wants you to accept it as a significant opportunity to touch individual lives. Asking Him to enlarge that territory brings Him great delight.

Oh God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for Your Glory. Let me do more for you!

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Chronicles Chapter 4

Additional Reading:
Proverbs Chapter 10

How Many Times Will God Need To Call You?

Scripture: 1 Samuel 3: 9-10

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Scripture Commentary: … And when you hear His call, how will you respond?

The Lord called Samuel three times before he answered. Why did it take Samuel so long to answer God’s call? It’s because Samuel didn’t know God’s voice. If the Lord called you, would you known his voice?

God talks to us everyday. He tells us when we are doing right and when we are doing wrong. It is vital to our relationship with God that we both listen and respond to Him.

Although God does not always use the sound of a human voice, He always speaks clearly through His Word. To receive His messages, we must truly walk, talk and listen to him.

We cannot hear Him if we are not in His Spirit. To be in God’s Spirit, we must study His Word and live a life that we know is pleasing to God.

If you are His child, you will hear and feel His spirit. Like Samuel, be ready to say, “Here I am Lord.”

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Samuel Chapter 3

God Gives Us a Little Space for Grace

Scripture: Ezra 9: 8-9

And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Scripture Commentary: God gives us a little space for grace to rest in Him

After learning about the sins of the people, Ezra fell to his knees in prayer. His heartfelt prayer provides a good perspective on sin.

He recognized the following:

That sin is serious
No one sins without affecting others
God’s love and mercy had spared the nation although they did nothing to deserve it

It’s easy to view sin lightly in a world that sees sin as inconsequential, but we should view sin as seriously as Ezra did. With weeping, he expressed shame for sin, fear of the consequences, and desire that the people would come to their senses and repent. His prayer moved the people to tears.

Ezra demonstrated the need for a holy community in our local churches too. Even when we sin in the worst imaginable way, we can turn to God with prayer and repentance.

How fortunate we are that God gives us mercy and grace rather than only justice!

The next time you ask God for fair and just treatment, pause to think what would happen if God gave you what you really deserve. Plead instead for His mercy.

Jesus’s love for us is all that we need.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ezra Chapter 9

Then Shall I Know God Will Save

Scripture: Judges 6: 36-38

And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

Scripture Commentary: Trust and know that God has your back

Are you like Gideon in that when God tells you to do something, you question it? Are you constantly asking God for a sign? Gideon asked God three times to give him a sign so that he would believe God. Gideon believed when he saw the miracles of the fire from the rock, the fleece being wet, and then the ground wet and the fleece dry.

Was Gideon testing God or was he simply asking God for more encouragement? Was Gideon’s motives right or was his methods less than ideal? Are you trusting God or do you need more signs?

When you go to God and ask for His help, don’t always look for a sign before believing. Although you may not get the answer you were looking for, God will always guide you in the right direction.

Visible signs aren’t necessary if it only confirms what you already know is true. The greatest means of God’s guidance is His Word, The Bible. If you want more of God’s guidance, put your life in His hands, and study The Bible.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Judges Chapter 6

Man Judges the Outward Appearance While God Judges the Heart

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16: 6-7

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Scripture Commentary: We concentrate on our outward appearance but remember to also check the inside

What suit and shoes will I wear today? And how does my hair look? All of us concentrate on our outward appearance; we want to look our best when we go out.

That’s not a bad thing, but how many of us look at ourselves on the inside? We need to ask ourselves if we look good on the inside.

Am I a Christian, inside and out? We are to be loving, kind, helpful, and giving. The outside shell should be a mirror to the inside.

When God told Samuel to go and anoint the new king, Samuel was looking for a man who was tall and handsome like Saul. God warned Samuel against judging by appearance alone.

When we judge by outward appearances we overlook qualities that are on the inside. God sees all of us, both inside and out. God judges by faith and character, not appearances.

If you love God, it will show. Check yourself. What steps are you taking to improve your attitude and to show your love for God?

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Samuel Chapter 16