Monday, January 26th | Daily Devotion

Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rockthat is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! For you, O God, have heard my vows;you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. -Psalm 61:1-5

TRANSCRIPTION:

Great morning, of God.  It is, in fact, Monday as we continue in our weekly daily devotional  for the month of January.  I'm Dr. Powell, and we've been  focused in  the wonderful book of Psalm. Today, to start out this week, I would love for us to start to look  at a familiar Psalm,  the 61st Division of Psalm.

I think this speaks to not just our physical condition, but oftentimes our mental condition as we move forward by faith and by grace. Of course, I'm going to read a little bit, but then  I'd expect that you read the entirety of this song  in your quiet time. 

The 61st Division of Psalm:

“Hear my cry, O Lord. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me  to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given the heritage of those who fear your name." And it goes on.

David writes this psalm in the middle of a distressful period, albeit  distressful by nature of him being on the run, but also distressed for being  genuinely overwhelmed.

Have you ever felt like that? Where if it wasn't one thing, it was another. And it seemed like you were asking God almost for not just a reprieve in trauma or drama, but more so  just to slow it down a bit. Even on yesterday as we watched into the afternoon as the snow continued to pile up. I recall going out to start the shoveling process only to finish up what I was doing to come back and look as though I hadn't done any shoveling at all.

Isn't it interesting that life can sometimes feel like that? And when you slay one giant, three others pop up.

And so here comes David and David says, listen, lead me to the rock that's higher than me. This speaks to the place and point where you recognize that your singular and internal and personal strength is not enough.

And ultimately it's an acknowledgement of your feebleness in the backdrop of God's infinite wisdom and power. And he says, let me dwell in your tent for a minute. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. When he time to look at this, this imagery of wings, it is this area of protection. Oftentimes birds would, would shelter their young underneath their wings is that there was some safety involved in being connected to the parent. 

And he's saying, listen, at this point, I almost feel as that I'm out here by myself and I wanna be back under your protection. 

And many times we feel far away from God only because we are the ones that have strayed away or we are the ones who become  so self-reliant in our own self-righteousness that God oftentimes allows elements, albeit outside, to affect us in such a way as to say, hold on, come on, come on back up underneath the wings. Letting at you stray too far from your area of safety and protection.

And at this point, David has risen to some level of prominence by nature of being the king. And so because of there being other people who rely on him, I think there may have been a false sense of security in believing that he had the ability to protect himself and he says listen no respecter of title no respect of space  all of us  ought to want and yearn to be led back  to God's protective power and protective nature.

And so on today I encourage you that in the midst of overwhelming and distressful situations we are reminded  of the place where we have shelter and safety and that's under the wings of the Lord. And that literally God has the ability and the power to circumvent any of our deepest and heaviest of situations.

So be encouraged on this Monday as we move forward by faith and grace. God bless you and have an incredible day.