Ever Have One of Those Days (Ps. 86:14-17)

Ever have one of those days when it seemed liked the world was against you? Everyone grouches at you. You can't get your contacts in your eye. You spill coffee on yourself getting in the car on your way to work. You hit every light red. Your cell dies. And things just go downhill from there.

I sure have had my fair share of those days. What makes those days worse is when you feel that everyone is conspiring to make your day miserable. Confrontations with people at work, an angry customer, a demanding boss only ratchet up the frustration. It's those days that make you want to tell everyone where to get off while you escape to some tropical paradise or quiet mountain retreat.

King David experienced a lot of those days himself. He writes about it frequently in the Psalms. Only, he really did have people trying to kill him or overthrow him, including family members. I think it would be hard not to develop paranoia or least a huge sense of inferiority or inadequacy. You know he had to have faced depression on a somewhat regular basis.

David found his solace in God. On those days when he felt the world was against him, and probably was, he reached out, cried out to God. He sought to find his rest, reassurance, hope, encouragement in the grace and mercy of his heavenly father. David knew that even when he screwed up that God wouldn't get bent out of shape with him. And David pulled some major blunders that should have alienated himself completely from God. He had felt God's discipline in his life, but also experienced God's graciousness and compassion even in those moments.

I think that David also knew that sometimes he deserved the pressure he got from others. He wasn't perfect. So not only did David ask for protection and encouragement, he asked for wisdom and strength. I confess, some of those days in which I think the world is against me, I am the one who declared war. Maybe I'm tired, maybe I just got up on the wrong side of the bed, but it's my attitude that created the confrontation. That's when I need forgiveness. That's when I need His grace the most to invade my life, take control of my spirit, my heart and begin to flow from me. I need for God to fill me with His mercy, so that I may reflect His goodness and character.

God, some days I feel like the world is picking on me. I feel frustrated, alone, abandoned and empty. That's when I need your comfort and compassion the most. I need for you to reveal my heart, my attitude to me. I need your forgiveness and grace and peace and reassurance and encouragement and love. Pour your presence into me so that I might reflect you.

Daily Reflections on 2 Thes. 1:4-12 (Getting Vengeance)

Vengeance is mine says the Lord. I keep reminding myself of that promise. Last night I learned of the tragic murder of two of my friends and former church members. I confess my heart aches deeply today and my anger is brewing under the surface. Everything within me is crying out, "It's wrong. It's wrong, Lord." I find myself longing to be at the sides of family members. I want to get involved in the investigation. I want their killers hunted down. I want God to do something.

In my frustration, God brought me some comfort in today's reading from 2 Thessalonians. In the most severest of trials, faith is of the utmost importance. It's our steadfastness of faith that makes a difference and draws us to the presence of God. In these verses, Paul reassures us that God is just and will pay back those who cause us, His faithful, trouble. He also promises to give us relief from our trouble. In the end, God will punish those who don't know Him or obey His standards. He will bring on them everlasting destruction and ban them from His presence.

But for those of us who are faithful and remain in Him and trust Him, God promises to be glorified in us. We experience His majestic power. God will right things in the end. Evil will be punished. His faithful rewarded. I have no question in my mind of the eternal fate of my friends. Today they are in the very presence of God. I look forward to embracing them again because of Jesus.

Yet, my heart still aches for my loss, for the family of my friends and my former congregation. So what little comfort I'm able to bring to them, I'll offer it. Like Paul, my constant prayers will be for them; that not only that God brings them comfort but through them God will fulfill an even greater purpose because of their faith.

God, I need your comfort and reassurance today. I know the family of my friends need your comfort and reassurance today. I'm asking that you bring your punishment upon those who did this evil. Show your mighty power. Remove any vengeful spirit in me and the family. Pour out your grace on us.