Devotion #93

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:13-14 NASB

Have you ever looked at another marriage and wondered how they can remain so strong as they endure difficult trials? How can they keep going with everything going on in their lives? Some marriages just seem to know the secret—they have that lasting power. It’s tempting to look at successful marriages and think they’ve got something that we don’t, or if my husband treated me like he treats her, we would be fine, or if my wife was like her, our marriage would survive. Those are the kind of lies that tempt you to walk away from the fight. How do marriages endure difficult trials?

They fix their hope on the promises in God’s Word. God will allow our circumstances to take us to a place where we feel as if we cannot do anything else because that’s where He wants us—at the end of what WE feel we can do. He wants us in that place where we just don’t know what else to do because that’s when we finally look to Him to rescue us.

We find His rescue in this verse. David does not despair because He knows the goodness of God. Not only is God with us as we walk through the difficult terrain of life, not only is He sovereign and ordering everything in our lives, but He is good. His goodness is our ultimate rescue no matter what we face. And we can be confident of His goodness because He promises. 

This verse shouts of God’s goodness. While we don’t know what David was facing in this specific Psalm, we do know that he would have despaired if he had not held on to the promise that He would see the goodness of the Lord while he we still living. He didn’t say I would have despaired BUT I see the goodness of the Lord. It wasn’t seeing God at work that brought him hope. It was trusting that he would see the goodness of the Lord—at some point in the future. We can grab a hold of the same promise for the future because God is good—even when we can’t see it. If our eyes are fixed on the situation in front of us, we will lose hope, but when we fix our eyes on Him, we will see His goodness. Marriages that last do not despair because they know the goodness of God. They may not see it in their circumstances, but they hold on to the hope that they will see His goodness at some point in the future. Marriages that last don’t hold on to the hope of current circumstances, marriages that last hold on to the future hope that they will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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