May 19: Psalms 66 10-12

Key Verse: Psalms 66 12
You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.

Devotion:
None of us like to think we have to go through tough times, but sometimes we do have to face challenges in order to grow stronger; just like we have to do exercise in order to get fitter, we have to do spiritual exercise in order to be spiritually stronger too. But then we also have to face hardships in life in order to know how to cope with them – something none of us want to do!

The Children of Israel had to go through a long period in the desert before they were able to reach the land God had promised them – but that was probably nothing compared to the time they spent in slavery in Egypt. God did not cause any of these things to happen. These all happened because of what man was doing. It could be said this current pandemic is all down to what mankind was doing… we are largely responsible for things like this because we are trying to understand the world a bit better – so we test things we ought not to be testing without proper protection… but we make mistakes and we all get to pay for those mistakes!

But, no matter how much we go through and no matter how much we do things wrong, God is always there. We may push Him into a corner because we want to get on and do something we ought not to be doing, but God is still there. He has every right to punish us for the things we experiment with, but He does not. He waits patiently for us to realise our mistakes and turn back to Him for he comfort and abundance He wants us to have.

There are times when I get so carried away with work and all things computerised that I forget to knuckle down and spend time with God. He does not punish me for those times but waits patiently for me to get round to it… This morning is the repercussion of one such time when I did not knuckle down to do my Bible study and devotionals – so this one comes out a bit later than normal! But I know God is still with me every day – because He is faithful, always!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things you ought not to?

Was God still there when you turned back to Him?