Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
WEDNESDAY, July 21
Psalm 119:49-72. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
Why is it that when we are "down with the fish" (a favorite saying of a dear friend), we dig ourselves deeper into that dark place in our lives and only in retrospect see God's presence? I have been lost, confused, at the end of my rope, and unable to see anything but afflictions in my life--divorce, shattered hopes and dreams, fears for myself and my children. Is this not true for all of us? It is in that time of affliction that I have turned to God, felt God's grace, and grown from those experiences.
With God's grace and spiritual friends who walked with me and talked with me, I can look back on those times and say, as the psalmist said, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted" because I came to a place to say, "God, I need your help."
I had to move from that place of knowing about God to that place of knowing God. This move was from my head to my heart--trusting that the unknown would become clear, as I trusted in God's presence. Today, God is in the midst of my life. I know in my heart that God's comfort is always greater than any affliction and when my faith falters, as it will do, I can hold onto that hopeful promise given in his Word. (2003)
PRAY for the Dioceses of Ekiti West and Ekiti Oke (Province of Ondo, Nigeria)
Ps 119:49-72 * 49, [53]; Joshua 8:30-35; Romans 14:13-23; Matthew 26:57-68
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