Joey's Journal August 5, 2006

Heavenly Father, I thank you for watching over us while we sleep and keeping us safe and sound. Lord, as I live my life today, may it be focused on You. May You take away all distractions and anxieties of the day and let me give You the controls of my life today and all the days of my life. Lord, give me Your grace of patience, love, hope and total trust in Your ways and I lay on Your feet my joys and sufferings of this day. May Your wisdom be imparted to me as I continue to read the book of Psalms. May I dedicate this day and all the days of my life to You, Lord. I ask all of these in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

My reading - Psalm 4 The Godly will be saved

As David hid from Saul’s snare, he calls on God for mercy and take away his fear of his enemies. Likewise, I ask the Lord for His protection and mercy as I do battle daily with the evil one’s grasps and temptation. But the Lord ‘will separate the godly for Himself and answer our call to Him’. To be godly, I must not sin nor let this anger to my enemies gain control of me. I must meditate on it in silence with the Lord, offer sacrifices and trust in Him. With this, The Lord rests His favor on me and I will have great joy and sleep peacefully knowing that when I am with Him, He keeps me safe.

My reflections – When the fear of what consequences will happen to us stares us in the face, we call on the Lord for His help. Just like King David, who was fearing for his life, we shout out to the Lord to have mercy on us. But I am thinking, what got us in this situation in the first place? For King David in the book of 2 Samuel, he was being hunted by his son, Absalom, who wanted to overthrow him because he didn’t exercise his kingly authority against a crime committed in his house (2 Sam. 13) and because he was a weak ruler and also broke the law of God against murder and taking one’s wife (2 Sam. 9). For us, we have committed sins that weighed the same as King David’s and now, we are griped with fear losing our lives to the evil one.

This is the time we call on God for mercy and forgiveness. Again, I ask, what got us there? It is because of our sinful nature. We just stumble and fall on the traps of the evil one. We are enticed by Satan’s lures of temptation. Yet God, full of compassion and love rescues and forgives us; bringing us back to godly standing with Him. He makes us fully restored in His presence. Even though, oftentimes, we struggle and fall to the same sin again because of our human frailties. It seems like a never ending process of us committing sin after sin yet God forgives. Why? Because of His unfailing love and compassion for us always giving us the chance to live godly lives and attain our salvation. What a wonderful and merciful Father we have!

My prayer – O Father in heaven, I am a sinful man. I confess that because of my weakness, I get caught in Satan’s traps. I am lured by him of evil thoughts and desires. I call on You Father God, to rescue me from this situation. I long to stand rightfully in Your presence; to do godly things that would honor You; to faithfully live and obey Your laws. I thank You for giving me these chances and opportunities to go back to You. And should I fail again, please do not desert me for I only long to attain my salvation. And to have this, it will only come from Your unfailing love and compassion to me. I asked all of these in the precious Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.