#DailyDevotion When Times Are Tough Have Hope & Praise God
Psalm 71 13May those who accuse me come to a shameful end, and those who are out to harm me be covered with disgrace and humiliation.
It must be really tough being king. Reading the Psalms you might think he never had a day of peace. However, the Scriptures usually report when things are happening and those things are bad. But when they are bad, it’s bad. This psalm has many elements making us think it is when David is old, pointing us to the time of Absalom. So people are accusing David and they are out to harm him. When we pray these curses, he is simply praying what God has in store for them if they do not repent. They will not get away with harming God’s anointed.
In similar fashion, Jesus had His detractors as well, namely the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests. Before He was ever even arrested, they were spreading lies about Him and accusing Him of things because of their jealousy. Eventually they started to plan to kill Him. They did have Jesus crucified. They could not kill Him though. Jesus is the one who gave up His spirit at the appropriate time. Those who did not repent of this met a bad end.
You too, because Christ’s sufferings overflow into your life (2 Cor. 1) may experience people who falsely accuse you. This probably happens mostly at work but it can happen in neighborhoods and even churches. Be comforted these sufferings have been sanctified by the suffering of Jesus and they are making you holy and preparing you for glory (2 Cor. 4). If they do not repent, they will not end up in a good place.
14But I will always have hope and praise You more and more. 15I will tell how righteous You are, about Your saving deeds every day, although they’re more than I can number.
I like to say, if you will praise God later, you might as well praise Him now. David speaks how he will always have hope and praise the LORD more and more. While a lot of the psalms with nothing but praises come much later, even the psalms where everything is going wrong are peppered with praises of God, like this one. God has sure and certain promises. Because we know God will do what He says He is going to do, we may always have hope. Our hope is the resurrection to eternal life and the inheritance of the world to come.
Some people keep a gratitude can/box. They put in there all the things they are thankful for and take it out and read them when things are bad. When David tells of the righteousness of the LORD and His saving deeds, he is pulling from the Scriptures all that God has done to save Israel and all the things He has done for David. We too should praise God for all His righteous deeds and salvific acts for His people in the Scriptures. We too should recount the saving deeds of Jesus which have been testified in sacred scripture. But we should also recall all the saving deeds God has done for us in our lives. Keeping a box with them written in or maybe a journal might not be a bad thing to do so when you are having a bad day and despairing of hope, you can read them to see Jesus has not abandoned you in the past. He has delivered and provided for you in the past. Recalling them, you can then have hope in the present and for the future, He will provide His saving deeds here as well.
Heavenly Father, when we experience the participation of the sufferings of Christ in our lives, grant us hope in Your righteousness and Your savings deeds in the past, so we may praise You for them now and praise and thank You for what You have promised to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.