Today’s devotion comes from Psalm chapter 31. Here is a link to this chapter – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+31&version=NASB
I quote only the following verses.
“19 How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!
20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried to You.
23 O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:19-24.
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Like David, you may feel like you are in a besieged city. You may be in alarm, feeling cut off from God.
But, like David, God will make marvelous His lovingkindness to you even when you feel like you are in a besieged city. Verse 21.
There can be wicked enemies that we encounter like Sennacherib king of Assyria, who when he was besieging Jerusalem tried to undermine Hezekiah king of Judah and create fear in the people by stating to the people in Jerusalem defending the city: “Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’” 2 Chronicles 32:13-15.
But, there can also be apparently righteous allies that we encounter who likewise try to undermine our teachers of God’s goodness and create fear in the members of our church. They will do so much more craftily and slyly by teaching that You can only trust God for the only goodness that You will get in heaven. They will not point to Scripture, but rather, they will point out those people whom God had apparently not helped (without knowing whether or not they were actually Christians or without knowing whether or not God had indeed helped them).
In all such encounters, we need to stay focused on God and His word.
“Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.” Verse 24.
Trust God and His great goodness to you.
“How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!” Verse 19.
“11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
How blessed is the man who trusts in You!” Psalm 84:11-12.
“5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.” Psalm 13:5-6.
“8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,
And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.” Psalm 52:8-9.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32.
“O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.” Verse 23.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 