22nd. July. 2021. Daily Devotion.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. — Psalm 34:8
With the aid of her walker, a woman at the nursing home was out enjoying a brief stroll on a pleasant summer evening. I admired her courage in being out there, but what she said was even more admirable. With all her heart she said, “God is so good! God is so good!”
Decades earlier, at age 40, she had suffered a major stroke. In a moment, the mother of three active youngsters went from a demanding, busy life to a bed in the hospital’s stroke unit. Half of her body was paralyzed. Acute hospital care transitioned to months of demanding rehabilitation before she returned to her young family—and then with only a fraction of her former strength. And now, four decades later, what does she say? “God is so good!”
How could she say this? Well, she was not happy to have had the stroke. Like all of us, she longed to be healthy and strong all her years. But in and through all that she experienced—weakness, demanding therapy, struggles, disappointments—she tasted and saw what the psalmist had discovered: that the Lord is good. Over the decades, whatever the experiences, she saw and savoured the Lord’s goodness. Because she trusted wholeheartedly in God, her Saviour, she knew blessedness—the blessedness of all who take refuge in him. She convinced me anew: God is so good! H. Kiekover
Prayer Lord, whatever our situation may be, help us to taste and see your goodness. We take refuge in you. Amen.
Prayer for Joyfulness
Heavenly Father, in a world that has so many difficulties and dangers Lord, it is so easy to allow my heart to become weighed down with pressures and overwhelmed with problems, and yet You have promised that the joy of the Lord is our strength and I thank You that Your strength is made perfect in my weakness .I pray that I may keep my eyes fixed firmly on the Lord Jesus and live in total dependence on Him, in the knowledge that He has overcome the world, and has promised to give us His joy and peace in our hearts. Thank You for Your abiding love. I pray that I may learn to fully abide in You and You in me so that Your joy may be in me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Cover My Soul with the Shadow of Your Wing
Thanks to you, O God, that I have risen today,
to the rising of life itself;
may it be to your own glory,
O God of every gift,
and to the glory of my soul likewise.
O great God, aid my soul
with the aiding of your own mercy;
even as I clothe my body with wool,
cover my soul with the shadow of your wing.
Help me to avoid every sin,
and the source of every sin to forsake;
and as the mist scatters
on the crest of the hills,
may each ill haze clear from my soul, O God. Amen. Adapted from Carmina Gadelica.
Meditation
“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of His willingness.” ~ Martin Luther
