Thursday 24 Nov 2016

November 24: Psalm 42:6-11

Key Verse: Psalm 42:9
I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Devotion:
Have you ever noticed that as a Christian, you still get depressed? Or have you tried to cover that up? If we are all honest, there have been times in our lives when we just feel so sorry for ourselves! We get to the stage where we actually start to blame God for things which are happening around us! Well, you are not alone...

This Psalm was written a few thousand years ago. Yes, they did get depressed back then too. We may look back at their history and think they had no right to be depressed because of all the things which God had done for them. God had lead them out of slavery into their own land. A Land He had reserved for them alone. God allowed them to defeat people who were far stronger than them. God had provided food for them out of nothing... Yet they still got down in the dumps...

No matter how well our lives may be going, there are going to be times when others around us are looking at us and asking why are we so sad when we have so many things? There are going to be times when others will look upon us and think we have no right to be sad. Why do we feel like that?

Satan is a very clever adversary. He is going to continue prodding us until he can get us to the point where we are sad and depressed. He knows that if he can keep tripping us up, we will start to feel rejected. Just as we begin to feel rejected, he will throw ideas at us until we do start to blame God for things which are happening. We do this because we are drifting away from God and allowing this sort of thing into our lives. We have an open phone line to God. No matter who says we cannot worship Him, we can always pray to Him. Nothing can stop us from reaching God. Nothing can stop God from reaching us... that is unless we turn our backs... God continues to be in command of everything, but still allows us to have free will. We need to choose the right course to keep happy in Him.

Points to Ponder:
What do you do when your friends feel down?

Do you call on God to help you to smile?