#DailyDevotion Have You Abandoned Yourself To The Mercy Of God?
Psalm 80 4O LORD God of armies, how long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people? 5You have fed them on the bread of tears, and have given them plenty of tears to drink. 6 You make us something for our neighbors to quarrel about, and our enemies mock us. 7O God of armies, restore us and let Your face shine to save us.
You have to be pretty bad if the LORD, the God of armies, is angry with your prayers. But such is the case with Israel or Judah or both here. Of course when we read the history of the Israelites, we see how again and again they rebel against the LORD, forget the LORD and chase after other gods. The LORD God does not let this just go. He has already been the bigger person sending prophet after prophet, whom they persecuted and sometimes killed, to call them to repentance. It is only when He lets their enemies, whose gods they worship, persecute, capture and kill them they start calling out to God like a drunkard puking in the toilet saying, “O LORD, if you get me out of this one, I’ll never do it again.” Then they go back to drinking the next day.
But letting Israel’s enemies win over them, they become a mockery to them. Well, if you are going to worship idols of wood, stone and precious metals which man has made, you should be mocked. It isn’t as if the LORD wasn’t able to save His people. They were petitioning other gods for every good. He tells them, if that is who you trust, call out to them. How often do we not rely and trust in our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ not only for our salvation, but for everything good? How often do we trust people, political parties, government, alcohol, sex, drugs, work and any other created thing to solve all our problems today instead of trusting God to take care of us. Then we are upset when everything goes wrong and all these idols we have made fail us.
Let us cry out with the psalmist, “O God of armies, restore us and let Your face shine to save us.” Let us make the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit our God. He has promised to hear our prayers and answer them. He has promised us He will answer them at least as well as we evil fathers take care of our children. How much more will a loving God and Father give us every perfect gift from above.
Jesus tells us not to be anxious in Matthew 6 because God the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. He cares for us more than the birds. Paul reminds us not to be anxious in Philippians 4 but to turn to the Father with prayers, supplications, petitions with thanksgiving and the peace of God, beyond all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Peter in his first epistle in chapter 5 tells us to cast our anxieties upon the Father because He cares for us and if we will humble ourselves under His mighty hand, He will exalt us at the appropriate time.
It is in turning to God the Father with true prayer, i.e. trusting He cares for us, hears us and will answer us in the manner that best for us, that we will experience the light of God, the face of the LORD shining upon. When He is no longer our insurance policy but rather we completely abandon ourselves to His tender care, hating all other helps, that we will know His light, life, and salvation.
Heavenly Father, grant us true faith that we may abandon ourselves to Your tender care and mercy. May we not trust anyone or anything to provide us all that You have promised, but that we receive them with thanksgiving, when You provided people and things in answer to our prayers. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.