Daily Bible Reading
To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only twenty-five readings. Today we start a few “free days” . We encourage you to catch up on any readings you may have missed this month.
If you have finished the month’s readings, you can use these final days of the month to study the passages that challenged or intrigued you.
Daily Devotion
The other day when we read Psalm 94, the following verses grabbed my attention. The Psalm’s verses became personal because, in the past six months, I have dealt with two troublemakers who endangered my livelihood and caused many of my heartaches.
Psalm 94:16-19 NLT
16 Who will protect me from the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the Lord had helped me,
I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.
18 I cried out, “I am slipping!”
but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
19 When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Are you going through some things in your life right now that are making you anxious and bringing extreme feelings of being overwhelmed? We all go through seasons when we know exactly how the Psalmist feels when he states, “I am slipping” in verse 18. I picture this condition as if someone threw me down in a pit, and I am trying my best to get back up. But my foot keeps slipping! When doubts fill our mind [verse 19], we cannot see what is weighing us down and causing us to keep slipping. It is all the worry and anxiety that keeps us sliding down into the pit again. Those worries overwhelm us and drain our energy.
The best part of it all is that we are not facing these challenges alone. God is always right there beside us. It is His unfailing love that is supporting us, so we do not fall. His protection, His presence, and His comfort turn our worries upward and help us arise from the pit with renewed hope and joy.
No matter what season we find ourselves in, no matter how we ended up where we are, God is always with us. Only His presence can wash over the situation and circumstances that cast us into the pit. When we are slipping downward, draw closer to God and He will bring us the lifeline that will get us back to the higher ground and the place of steadiness with hope and cheer.
Romans 8:28 NIV “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
~ Niezel Carganilla