Pray the Word:
Psalm 77:1-12
Meditate on the Word:
Going through a time of crisis is emotionally and physically taxing, even for a believer. Worry causes stress, stress causes a lack of good rest, and a lack of rest leads to more worry. A friend once told me that worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere. Our worry and distress is only exacerbated when we cannot feel the presence of God. We can feel that He has abandoned us, is angry at us, or just doesn’t care. It seems that our psalmist here was experiencing some of these same feelings.
Worry can be a hard cycle to step out of. It’s like the treadmill just keeps going faster, and it’s harder to keep up, but you can’t just step off and you can’t turn it off. The psalmist though, from verse 11, starts to focus on what God has done in the past. This is a good practice for us to do as well. We can ponder His great acts of mercy either from Scripture or those things that we have observed personally. Remembering that God is in control and has plans for our good can give us something to focus on besides the worry that is plaguing us. It is very comforting to know that whatever we are experiencing, He is there with us, even if we cannot “feel” His presence at the moment.
Pray the Word:
Focus today on some act of grace that God has done in your life. Express your gratitude to Him today.
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