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

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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