Daily Devotional

For previous weeks’ devotionals, please contact Pastor Vince.

Wednesday, February 22
 
    “My times are in your hand.” Psalm 31:15

 Our smart phones are unbelievably efficient. At the touch of a finger you can control time and command information. But what’s the cost to your personal well-being? There are days when my Android feels like a ball and chain, and I’m the prisoner! It can very easily eat up too much of the space and time that ought to be devoted to other things.
    Are you addicted to your hand held device? We might call this helpless, overburdened feeling “hand held device hell.”
 But take heart, the Scriptures offer a more excellent way. When King David was feeling out of control and overburdened, he pleaded with God: “Take me out of the net that is hidden for me!” (Psalm 31:4) Then, by ruminating further on his situation and the God who claimed him, David confessed, “my times are in your hand.” No matter what phone, cell or smart or otherwise, we have in our hands, the fact of the matter is that our times are in God’s hands and are blessed by the risen Christ, who prayed on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Committing myself to Christ and knowing that God is shaping my life gives me extraordinary perspective about the times I live in and the technology I use. It even gives me the courage to turn the Android off when my Sabbath comes, so that it, and I, can rest.

LET US PRAY.   
Lord, help me to remember that however today goes, my time is in your hands. AMEN.

Thursday, February 23

 “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3

 In 1999, Bill Gates wrote a thought-provoking book entitled Business @ the Speed of Thought. He challenged all companies to keep adjusting to the changing technology of the Information Age or else perish. Gates’ words exposed the swift shifts taking place in business at the time and ring true to this day in the lives of our nation’s workforce who find themselves in an often shaky economy.
 In the midst of this unsettling business culture, we cry out with King David, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” David found that answer where he began the psalm: “In the Lord I take refuge,” he says (11:3).
 The Lord is our sure foundation, even in these turbulent times. Whatever our job situation may be right now, we know that the business of our identity and worth has already been settled by the God who loves us without condition. The cross demonstrates that nothing, not even the changing circumstances of this information age, can separate us from His love.

LET US PRAY.
      Lord, even if the foundations of my working life are in a shambles, help me to find refuge and confidence in you. AMEN.

Friday, February 24

 “You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.” Psalm 60:2

 I grew up in southern California. Earthquakes struck fear into my heart, every time the ground began to shake. As I write this, I am looking at photographs of the devastation that occurred in Japan over a year ago. The destruction of that event is still beyond belief. Our hearts continue to go out to the victims, and we wonder what we can do that would make any difference in that situation and any other where fellow human beings have suffered so. In his poetry, David experienced an earthquake of another sort when he was going through the upheaval of defeat in battle. He compared his situation to a quaking land.
 What is shaking your world right now, both literally and figuratively? Maybe it is a natural disaster, the sudden death of a loved one, a divorce or a health “scare”. Seismic shocks of all kinds can make us feel broken apart, helpless and even rejected by God. With David we pray, “Answer us, so that those whom you love may be rescued.” (Psalm 60:5)
 It is in these very moments of uneasiness that God calls to mind that Good Friday moment when “the earth shook and the rocks were split” as Jesus breathed his last to keep our lives from falling apart. His offering of life freed us from sin and all that scares us, literally and figuratively.

LET US PRAY.   
Lord, may the seismic shocks going on in my life right now point me to your message of rescue. AMEN.