Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 166: O Lord, My Strength

Good morning, everyone!

Today I read Psalms 17-20.

Today's focus will be on Psalm 18. Now, it's pretty long, so I'm only going to cover part of it today.

Psalm 18:1-3 - "I love You, O Lord, my strength." The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

Now, if a lot of David's psalms seem like cries for help, or thanks to God for deliverance, that's because they were. David spent many years on the run from Saul, who wanted to take his life (for this story, see 1st and 2nd Samuel), so he wrote a lot of psalms to God about deliverance.

But I just love David's psalms. Even when they begin with "Help!" they end with "But I will trust You," or "Thank You, Lord." They are a great example of how our prayers should go.

Even if we begin with pleas for help, or cries for deliverance from a situation, our prayers should always end with words of thanksgiving, praise, and gratitude. The storm is not all there is. God has done a lot for us. And at least part of our prayer - probably the beginning and the end - should be used for remembrance and gratitude for what God has already done, and just for who He is.

David's psalms are a great example of this.

God is our strength and our refuge. We can always come to Him, always cry out to Him, and He always hears us. He may not deliver us right away - even David had to wait a long time for his deliverance - but God always takes care of us, just as He took care of David.

The situation may be bad. It may seem like it's getting worse. But most of us don't have it as bad as David - running for our very lives.

When something goes wrong in my life, it often seems like the world is ending. But I have to remind myself that it's not. And that it could always be worse.

That's not always easy, when all I want to do is whine and complain, when all I want is for God to make it better right now.

But I'm learning to trust Him more with every new situation, whether it's bad or just makes me nervous.

I'm learning not to worry so much, though I can't help worrying a little.

I'm learning to pray better. To tell God how much I love Him, and how much I trust Him. How good He is. How faithful.

And you know what? Saying it aloud, makes me believe it more too. And the situation doesn't seem as bad.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read Psalm 21-25.