Thoughts for the Day

O Most High, when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid;
what can flesh do to me?......

You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your record?...

This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We have looked at the first four verses of this psalm before and seen the situation that David was in at the time (Psalm 56), but it's worth looking at it further. What's your instinctive reaction when real trouble strikes - when you have caught covid but not had all of your vaccines, or you fall down but can't get up, or face having to go through chemotherapy or a major operation? For each of us the trouble will be different. Are we as able to instinctively put our trust in God knowing that He will respond, but accepting his answer might be different to what we expect?

God keeps a note of 'our tossings' and put our tears in his bottle says David, in a wonderful image indicating God's love and compassion for us. God understands our pain because of the suffering undertaken by Jesus on the cross, and He holds us close at such times to give us the strength to cope with all that we're going through. We just need to remember to turn to Him constantly, for 'with God nothing is impossible' Luke 1.37

Heavenly Father,
when trouble strikes
and we need help,
may we instinctively turn to You
knowing that You care for us
and have our best interests at heart.
We pray also for the strength to continue,
and the courage to follow You plans.
Amen.