March 7 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 56:

¹Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
²Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
³What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
⁴In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
⁵Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
⁷Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
⁸Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
⁹When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
¹⁰In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.
¹¹In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
¹²Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
¹³For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

Devotional

In our lives there are trying occasions when we are obliged to wait. Perhaps a loved one is ill, and we pray fervently for recovery. But we may have to wait through long hours or days before the hoped-for signs of recovery appear. Perhaps we have applied for a job, for admission to a certain college or other institution, or for something else of great importance to us - and we have to wait and wait until the results are known. Perhaps at times we wait with suspense for the result of tests that may influence the whole course of our lives.

In the many situations in which we are required to wait, we can suffer much tension, anxiety, and agony. We can give way to dark fears and can suffer more acutely than if the feared developments had really occurred. But in the times of waiting and suspense that come to us, we do not need to be weakened or overwhelmed. Rather, by God's grace, we can actually be strengthened. When we are tempted to give way to fear, we can put our trust in the Lord. We can find in Him our light and our salvation, the strength of our lives, and the conqueror of our fears. We can rejoice in the knowledge that our Saviour cares for us and that He is with us in His love and power - as we wait.

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)