Psalm 42:8 "By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me -- a prayer to the God of my life."
OK, I don't know about you, but I've had a really rough and emotional week. I'm not going to lie. When you have a sick child with a yet undiagnosed illness, choosing joy in the rough times is easier said than done. I've tried my best to be consistent in my quiet time, and let me tell you, I love how God works. He always seems to direct my eyes to just what I need to see in His Word.
The verse I chose to memorize for this week is one that was especially meaningful to me the last few days. I've been reading through Psalms and Proverbs this month, and I actually read it a few weeks ago. When I did, I highlighted it in my Bible, and kept on reading. You see, that's the cool thing about God. He reveals Himself to us through His written word, and God has a way of directing us to just what we need to read to hear His voice on just the day we need to hear it. For some reason last week when I sat down to read, I felt God was directing me to go back and review some of the things I had highlighted in earlier days in the month.
Read Psalm 42. In it, the psalmist talks about thirsting for God, being down in the dumps, choosing joy and trusting God. It's the famous passage where the author says, "Why are you so sad? Put your trust in God!" But I love how God works. This time, it wasn't that well known verse that stuck out to me; however, He did use another verse in this chapter to really encourage me.
Take a look at verse eight. "By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me -- a prayer to the God of my life." During the day time, when I'm awake, God tells me, "I love you. Don't worry, I've got this." And at night, He holds me tightly, sings me a lullaby and rocks me to sleep. That's the visual image I have with the second part of this verse. At night, when all is quiet and my mind easily wanders into the different scenarios and plays the "what if" game, God my Father, my daddy, holds me so tightly that His love erases all other emotions. His love is with me during the day, and His song is with me at night. He's got this. When I'm awake. When I'm asleep. My God who never slumbers has this under control, and even though I feel so helpless, it doesn't matter. All I need to do is trust Him. This verse gives me such peace!
Then I love the end of the verse. "A prayer to the God of my life." I've sat here and tried to find words to express how I feel when I read that phrase. I usually don't have trouble expressing myself (as you well know) but the only thing I can think of is that I feel comforted - the kind of comfort that comes when a needed hug is received. No, not a little hug, I'm talking about a big bear hug that squeezes away all fear and pain, leaving only tears of joy. If I can say those words with honesty, that God is the God of my entire life, then I have to believe when He says, "I've got this" that He does. For me, that's the kind of hug that I needed this week.
---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com