Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

 

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Read

Psalm 13 (NRSV)

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 

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Reflect

The suffering and turmoil that the psalmist is experiencing in Psalm 13 is all too familiar. Though my enemies and foes often vary day to day, a constant enemy “exalts” over me along with a constant foe that “rejoices because I am shaken.” Grief exalts and sorrow rejoices.

My older and only brother, Todd, died from kidney cancer a little over two years ago. The diagnosis was made just three months before his death. He was the third consecutive generation male in my family to die in his 40s from some form of cancer. My brother’s death has overwhelmed me and shaken me to my core. Questions and doubts often surface, and that frightens me. But Psalm 13 gives me comfort and hope just knowing I’m not alone with my doubts and questions, and no matter how much I doubt and how many questions I ask, God has not forgotten me.

“I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me,” the psalmist says in verse 6. What a wonderful resolution we are given at the end of this psalm; God deals with each of us “bountifully.” Extravagantly, abundantly, lavishly, handsomely are just a few synonyms for bountifully. God’s love for us is nothing short of lavish, extravagant, abundant, and so much more than we can ever realize.

No matter what we’ve lost, God is always near to lavish us with never-ending love and grace – if we allow it.

 

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Pray

O God, thank you for loving us more than our foes and enemies could ever hurt us. Help us to remember you are always near waiting to give us your extravagant grace and love, no matter how much we question or doubt. Through Christ Jesus, your only son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

 

Go with God!