READING: 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm 30
“Lord, when you showed your favor,
you made me stand like a strong mountain.”
Psalm 30:7
I’m grateful for God’s blessings. He has taken care of us so completely that Pam and I need very little. As I travel the world and see the wants of the world, I’m reminded over and over again of the degree to which we are blessed. But, those blessings also scare me.
They scare me because I know how easy it would be to depend on my blessings rather than on the God who blesses. The psalmist experienced that reality in his own prosperity, saying, “When I was secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken’” (Psa. 30:6). In his blessings, he became self-dependent and arrogant, leaning more on his stuff than on God.
Then, God allowed some type of trouble to hit him. The psalmist faced the “night,” apparently with great weeping and anguish. God, too, hid his face, and the psalmist who was once secure found himself terrified and alone. God’s withdrawal so captured the psalmist’s attention that he turned back to God in repentance and prayer – and God turned his “lament into dancing” and his sackcloth into gladness (Psa. 30:11). He became the psalmist’s “mountain,” and the psalmist learned that God alone must be his rock and foundation.
Many of us need to learn that lesson, too.
ACTION STEPS:
- Evaluate whether you depend on your blessings or on God.
- Thank God for His care, and trust Him fully.
PRAYER: “Lord, be my mountain today.”