Yesterday, I was spending time with Jesus in prayer and in His word - specifically Psalm 94:1-23. Verse 13 caught my attention…..“You grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.”.
Actually the latter part of that verse is what I really liked - I feel like I am in a pit myself, so imagining the enemy in a deep pit after he has so preyed on my weaknesses is very rewarding to me. Anyway, I didn’t allow myself to linger there long and went on with my day.
Later, I was reading an online devotional from David Jeremiah and LOVED this excerpt: “Have mercy” occurs 46 times in Scripture, 12 times in Psalms alone - the book in which authors are often found imploring God for relief or help. Jesus was called upon to “have mercy” on several occasions by those in need. And He responded by granting healing or deliverance as required. What is mercy? It is when we don’t get what we deserve. Being sinners, we deserve all manner of judgment. So when we feel we’re in the middle of a judgment of circumstances, we call out to God to “have mercy” and take the bad situation away. By grace, God often does - grace being giving us something (relief) we don’t deserve. Grace and mercy are the opposite sides of God’s coin called love.
Have you ever found yourself there? Crying out, asking God to have mercy and take the bad situation away? I have! Reading, “God often does”, really blessed my heart and filled me with hope, so I found myself going back to this devotion and meditating on it all day.
This morning, I was reading another devotion thru
Proverbs 31 Ministries , titled “Tight Places”. The contributor, Marybeth Whalen, uses the focus verse, Psalm 4:1.…. “Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.”
She talks about a time in her own life when she was “stressed, anxious, worried and overwhelmed” - huh, that sounds familiar. She goes on to say, “When I read our verse for today, I was struck by the explanation in my Bible for the word “relief”. It literally means, ‘make room for me in tight places.’” (Sounds like a pit.)
She then closes with this reminder, “…there is Someone who can come and offer relief.”. Amen!!
Usually, at the end of every Proverbs 31 devotional, you are given “Power Verses” to go along with the insight the author is trying to convey. One of the “Power Verses” given, was Psalm 94:13.…. “You grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.” (NIV)
It was the last part of that verse that reminded me I had just read that the day before - so I looked it up again in my Bible, but this time the Lord allowed me to see the common thread throughout my devotional times - RELIEF. (Yes, I can be a little slow.)
This spoke volumes to me - HE spoke volumes to me - He offers RELIEF! Thank You, Jesus!
