Daily Devotional

July 28, 2020

“O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry.” (Psalm 88:1-2) 

An Amish proverb states, “Sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms his child.” Some years ago, I saw that statement illustrated in the life of a friend of mine who had received a terrible personal blow. 

After my friend had been...

July 27, 2020

“In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” (Psalm 86:7) 

I have always been a person who likes to seek out advice. Every Saturday morning, I tune in to a local talk-radio station and pick up tips from “The Garden Doctor.” “Mr. Fix-It” is another of my favorites. When our children were very young, I would ask other mothers for advice on potty training, when to start...

July 26, 2020

“They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” (Psalm 83:3-4)

Antagonism toward Israel has been a reality since God delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt and established them as a nation. In Bible times, the Egyptians were not the Israelites’...

July 25, 2020

“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.” (Psalm 79:9)

“Need help!” came the call. Then louder, “Need help!” The persistent little voice that claimed my attention was the call of my three-year-old nephew. When my assistance did not arrive quickly enough to satisfy him, he called even more urgently, “NEED HELP!” Since these repeated cries came in...

July 24, 2020

“For he [God] established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children.” (Psalm 78:5-6)

Ten-year-old Patrick was blessed to be born into a Christian home where both parents are serving the Lord. His grandparents also...

July 23, 2020

“And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” (Psalm 77:10-12)

For many years it has been my privilege to watch my now ninety-year-old aunt model the words of today’s focus verses. For example,...

July 22, 2020

“But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.” (Psalm 73:28)

In the summer of 1949, Reverend Billy Graham had a well-loved and respected preaching partner who started doubting the authority of the Scriptures. This man told Reverend Graham that the evangelist was fifty years out-of-date, and that informed scholars no longer accepted the Bible as being...

July 21, 2020

“Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” (Psalm 71:9) 

We are blessed in our church family to have many elderly folks who daily are proving God’s nearness and provision in “the time of old age.” As I considered the words of our focus verse, my mind went to my aunt, Ruth Ashwell.

Auntie was saved when she was a girl of just seventeen years. At the...

July 20, 2020

“Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.” (Psalm 70:1)

In the United States, 911 is the number to call in case of emergency. Doing so connects the caller to an emergency-response system designed to quickly dispatch police, fire, or medical assistance to the scene.

The system of providing an easy-to-remember, national number for emergencies was implemented in 1967 when Congress legislated 911 as the national emergency ...

July 19, 2020

“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1-2)

One of the great precepts of Scripture is that all peoples of the world must be told of the true and living God. As suggested by our focus verses, when God blesses us and causes His “face to shine upon us,” a...