Monday: Assurance of God’s Care
Daily Lesson for Monday 22nd of January 2024
Read Psalms 40:1-3, Psalms 50:15, Psalms 55:22, and Psalms 121:1-8. How is God involved in our daily affairs?
The Lord reveals Himself in Scripture as the living God who acts on behalf of those who call upon Him.
For the psalmist, “the Lord [is] always before me” (Psalms 16:8). Therefore, he trusts God and calls upon Him (Psalms 7:1, Psalms 9:10). The Lord will hear him even when he cries out of the “depths” (Psalms 130:1-2), conveying that no life circumstance escapes God’s sovereign dominion. Thus, the psalmist’s cry, no matter how urgent, is never devoid of hope.
Image © Pacific Press at Goodsalt.com
Psalms 121:1-8, meanwhile, celebrates the power of the Creator in the faithful individual’s life. This power includes:
1. “He will not allow your foot to be moved” (Psalms 121:3, NKJV). The image of “foot” is often descriptive of one’s life journey (Psalms 66:9, Psalms 119:105, Proverbs 3:23). The Hebrew word for “move” describes the security that God gives to the world (Psalms 93:1) and to Zion (Psalms 125:1).
2. The image of the Lord as Israel’s Keeper who does not slumber nor sleep highlights the Lord’s constant alertness and readiness to act on behalf of His children (Psalms 121:3-4).
3. The Lord is “your shade” (Psalms 121:5-6, NKJV) calls to mind the pillar of cloud in the time of the Exodus (Exodus 13:21-22). Similarly, the Lord provides physical and spiritual shelter to His people.
4. God is at their right hand (Psalms 121:5). The right hand typically designates a person’s stronger hand, the hand of action (Psalms 74:11, Psalms 89:13). Here it conveys God’s nearness and favor (Psalms 16:8, Psalms 109:31, Psalms 110:5).
5. God’s protection of His people is clearly confirmed in Psalms 121:6-8. God shall preserve His children from all evil. Neither “the sun” nor “the moon” shall strike them. God shall preserve their “going out” and “coming in.” These poetic figures underscore God’s comprehensive, unceasing care.
The bottom line? The psalmist trusted in God’s loving care. We, of course, should do the same.
What are some practical ways that you can better experience the reality of God’s care? How can you better cooperate with God in order to enable Him to work within you and for you?
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God cares for me every day. Just waking up every morning from sleep is the act of God. Providing me a family that I can share His love is awesome. I need to cooperate with God by hearing from Him throughout the day in scripture and in nature. Lord, please help me be your agent in communicating your saving grace to people around me Amen.
I have attended far too many funerals of friends and colleagues. I have sat in stunned silence on hearing of the deaths of young students killed in an instant on the roads. Perhaps even worse, I have seen the slow disappearance of friends and colleagues into the silence of dementia.
Consider this: In a conversation with one of my New Zealand friends we talked about the Tangawai Disaster - a train disaster that occurred in our childhood when 150 people lost their lives. Some Seventh-day Adventists narrowly missed getting on that train, other Seventh-day Adventists perished. I no longer have a simplistic view of God's care and protection. Like Job, I sit and wonder and propose answers that ultimately sound hollow and at the end of the day I still only have questions.
And if you think that I can write a two-paragraph summary of God's care and protection, you have to be dreaming. I am described by my kids as elderly and have lived long enough to have seen more suffering and unexpected death than I need.
Here is something to think about: Psalm 23:4:
This verse does not shy away from the reality of pain and death but it does offer the confidence that God is with us even in death. That is all I need. And by inference, when we find ourselves in the company of those who experience the painful agony of being caught in the battle between good and evil, we can offer comfort not by cute arguments and trite sayings but by being there, sharing their pain and suffering and lifting their burden.
Okay Maurice, this sounds like a Psalms of Mourning! but you are not going anywhere!
Amen. Beautiful. Immanuel - God with us is everything. He is our Great Assurance. Here. Anywhere. He is our every assurance. However long we spend in this world.
The true question is: do we know Him? If we do, we will trust Him as we sojourn home. Indeed, we are but pilgrims passing through this land.
Psalm 139:8-10:
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Assurance is an essential characteristic of a healthy relationship. When there is assurance one feels supported and validated. Assurance encourages honesty and openness and reduces tension and doubt.
We serve a caring God, one who protects, provides, and prescribes just what we need to be redeemed, reconciled, and restored to His likeness. As we study the scriptures we see God's assurance, His ability, His attentiveness and His Amazing grace.
I have this quotation from my notebook, which may tie to the question in today‘s lesson:
„ God‘s protection plan depends on God not on us. Our proximity to God determines our protection.“
Personally, I experience God's care even in simple and never thought of situations that I can experience that. God's care gives me comfort even in trying times when you think your are in the depths of the trials. When I do not know how or what to do, God gives me comfort that I will always have an assurance that He is in control. That He prepares everything straight.
The best that I can do to cooperate with God so that He can work within me is to submit all my plans to Him. To open up what are my plans and let Him align it with His. That is the least that I can do and I cannot just let myself do it all alone since humans are tend to commit mistakes and errors. It is better if I submit it to the Most Experienced Planner that to realize it on my own.
Psalms are uplifting. But sometimes, we reject being uplifted; the thought that comes to our mind is, "I want to see this thing solved!" And perhaps this "thing," this problem, is exactly what God needs to show you and me how much He cares for us. Faith can make a real difference in my life! "If you believe, you will receive..." (Mat. 21:22)
One of the ways to receive protection from God is by praying and asking for it. In Matthew 7:7, it is written, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” You can ask for God to protect you. David would ask for protection from God in the book of Psalms. Psalms 143:9 and Psalms 71:1-2.
I truly believe that God cares for His own, yesterday was a great example of giving us what we need sent the wrong text message and ended up being blessed beyond measure 🌻💕🙏
The curious among us would like details…
What pulls it out of chance and turns it into Providence?… Royce.
One of the wonders of witnessing the little things that God does in our lives is an assurance of His care and love for us.
I witnessed such a wonder this morning.
Yesterday my roommate and I made a used puzzle I bought. We found that there was one piece missing. Sometimes that happens when you buy a used one. We looked everywhere for the missing piece, but we couldn't find it.
When I got up this morning, there, on the table, was the missing piece! I ran into my roommate's room to show her my appreciation for finding the piece. To my surprise, she hadn't found it.
Since we were the only two in my home, I knew that God had a hand in this by having an angel put the piece on the table for me to find this morning.
Once I realized that God had a hand in this, I got very excited! My spirit recognized this little miracle came from God and I danced around the room and praised the Lord as I enjoyed His presence. If He cares about this little, unimportant thing, we can know that He will care for the more important things.
There is so much He does for us that we haven't seen. The knowledge we gain from the little things He does that we do see is so encouraging that we cannot but rejoice in God our Savior.
God has promised His divine presence with me always. I believe the problem arises whenever I am not intentionally focused on that promise. Since God says He'll never forsake me, I just need to trust that He means it. So, Lord, even when I don't feel You, please give me that firm assurance in my spirit that You are here with me through every season of my life. Hallelujah! Glory be unto Your Name!🙌🏾
And then there is also the Apostle Paul's statement that "Perfect Love casts out all fear," and then there is also the phrase that: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." I was driving down the freeway (this was about 30 years ago) on my way to work and I was driving about 70 MPH. I had not been getting much sleep on the previous days and I started blacking out and losing my vision. I started to pray and telling God that I was in trouble because I could no longer see and I knew that I was driving at 70 MPH so to please help me. I pleaded for the blood of Jesus and when it was all over, I had rolled my truck for about 100 yards and was taken to the hospital by an Ambulance and I was without a single, solitary scratch. I experienced absolutely no fear at all. My truck was totaled. But everyone including me felt that I had been miraculously spared without a scratch. So, King David knew what it was like to "Walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death without any fear at all." And the Apostle Paul is also correct that "The Perfect Love of God and Jesus in our minds and lives will cast out ALL FEAR!
Thank you Pete for this amazing story! It was actually John in 1 John 4:18 who said "perfect love casts out fear." Thanks again for this wonderful story and illustration. I am so glad God was with you and you had no fear and no scratches.
Fear not, for I am with you:
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
Yes. I will help you.
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NKJV
SDA hymnals no 742..I have a friend In Jesus.
This friend cares more than we ever think.Thanks everyone for the nice comments,am encouraged.
At the moment I'm working far from home and I'm praying and believing that I'll soon get a transfer back to my home In Jesus Name Amen.
I was looking at the picture included in today’s lesson – Jesus standing at the helm of the boat filled with his disciples rowing vigorously to reach the other shore. Its path leads through the tempest of the water spilling its waves into the boat as the sky's powers threaten to sink it. All they desire is to reach the savety of the other shore - with Him at the helm it is possible!
This picture impressed me greatly because it depicts the life of the faithful without the use of words! I encourage you to take a moment and study it; reflect on memories of struggles coming to mind as your eyes wander over the sea and sky depicting threat and manace. In time, let your eyes focuse on the Savior's sure and strong stance with arms spread out wide at the helm of the boat - what does this stance impress you with?
Going through life, every living soul experiences fear and trepidations here on earth. Our Father created us and gave us this earth in which we would never know fear. The fall of our original parents changed everything, and now we suffer through the separation from Him. Fear and trepidations are separation pains of a life lived estranged from the heavenly Father - our Creator.
Our flesh cannot bring us closer to Him, but He provided a Way - His Way of Faith and Trust based on His Love. Walking along its path brings the mitigation of our pains when drawing ever closer to Him; it offers us to experience His Love through our faith and trust in Him.
His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has shown us how to savely stay on His Way. Faith and Trust are not works, they are the gifts imparted through the Holy Spirit which inspire the faithful believer's desire to love our God with all our heart and being.
”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” - Prov.3:5-6
”In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” - Isaiah 30:15
Interesting last question in the lesson. What does God expect of those who claim Him as God? Cooperation?...or Obedience?