Prayer for Today
God, today grant me
Strength to do as You please
Wisdom to discern Your best for me
Compassion to serve others who need You
Power to overcome the world’s temptations
Bible Verse
Psalms 5:4-6 (ESV) For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Wickedness
How many times have we sat back and asked how God can tolerate such vile behavior from those around us? Toward the end of my drinking career, I was extremely angry with God. I simply could not understand how a loving God could allow such evil and sickness in His created world. Unfortunately, at that time, I was taking a short view of life. I was angry about what was happening today. But God does not want us to take a short view of life. Sure, He wants us to be upright in all that we do, and He wants us to be good examples of living life for Him; but what He really wants is for me to take the long view of life. God expects me to live every day of my life giving all of the honor and glory to Him. However, when the going gets tough, He wants me to remember that this is only for a short period of time. We are His ambassadors but for a brief whisper of time. Our seventy, or so, years on this earth are but a fraction of time against the age of God’s creation. It is an even smaller whisper of time when measured against eternity.
Application
It is not easy, but it is certainly easier to endure the things that life throws my way knowing what awaits me when it is my appointed time to leave this earth.
So, how do we take the long view of life? As David tells us in these verses, evil and wickedness cannot dwell with Him. None of the deceit, wickedness and sickness that surrounds us today can exist in the presence of God. He has provided for our cleansing through His Son, Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed for my sins. Jesus died for my sins before I was born. He knew I would sin and yet He still provided for my redemption. However, if we reject the sacrifice that God sent on our behalf, then we will face eternal separation from Him. That is a bleak outlook, and one from which we should lead our friends and neighbors. I am willing to sacrifice a little bit of the comfort of this life knowing that I have an eternity in Heaven waiting for me. In heaven, all of the pain and suffering of this world will be abolished. It is not easy, but it is certainly easier to endure the things that life throws my way knowing what awaits me when it is my appointed time to leave this earth.
Prayer
Lord, help me today to resist taking the short view of life. Help me to take a long view of life, look beyond today, and run the race of this life knowing that heaven is the eternal reward that awaits me.