Devotions 26-06-07

Ps 1 23:1-4

To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He shall be gracious to us. Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us; for we are greatly filled with contempt. (lack of respect) Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing (lack of respect with mocking) of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

I need to keep my eyes on the Lord and not on what is happening around me that really troubles me. It is God who is in control and knows all things; more than a master to his servants or a lady who has a maid. So I must keep my eyes on the Lord until He is gracious to me. I may seek the Lord in prayer to be gracious to me to help me in my problems. One of my major problems is the lack of respect I have for others. They may be people who are lazy and do little work or maybe the rich who do foolish things with their riches. Maybe it is just proud people who are always causing problems with their arrogance.

God knows all about them and He will deal with them but I must pray for them and seek to help them to know the God of heaven and earth. I must not be disrespectful to them because they are people for whom Christ came and died for and loves sincerely. So I must show them love and respect and share Christ with them.

I write this with confidence because of what God teaches me in His Word but I also know this is very difficult to do in real life. It is so easy to look at others with disrespect because of their selfish and worldly lifestyle and how they are so uncaring toward those around them. But if I am not careful I can have the same attitude and that is sin to me. I need God to help me and be gracious to me so I may honor the Lord in my respect toward others. I must share Christ with them in a loving and gracious way.