Daily Devotionals
February 24, 2021
Comforting Words
February 24, 2021
By Stephanie Smith, Adult Ministries Program Director
DAILY READING
Have you ever had that moment when you’re reading a scripture and realized it speaks directly into your current moment?
Far too often than I’d like to admit, I’ve gone through the motions of reading scripture, struggling to glean its application to the here and now. Over the last year, that internal conflict has been all too prevalent in my walk as I try to reconcile the headlines and my lived experiences with the Word I was reading. It seemed like every day I asked, “God, where are you?” as the pandemic continued, racial tensions surged, and political ideologies divided the church. The widespread sickness, hurt, and pain made it easy for me to wonder if God was hearing our cries for help and healing. My head knowledge of Scripture knew the answer (Spoiler alert: He hears us loud and clear!), but the heaviness of it all weighed down my heart and fed into my doubts.
In Psalm 77, the writer is expressing similar thoughts, albeit several thousand years earlier. The Psalmist begins, stating, “I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.” They continue on, lamenting about feeling rejected by the Lord and expressing concern over whether or not God would show favor on His people again. But as they continue to write, the Psalmist remembers the ways in which God showed up in the past: performing miracles, redeeming the seemingly irredeemable, leading people to freedom. God makes promises and keeps them.
There was a sense of comfort in reading these words, like a balm for my soul. These feelings I had weren’t unique or indicative of poor faith. The Psalmist took the words out of my heart and put them on paper. We all have moments of feeling lost, forgotten, or forsaken. But just because we do not feel God in the here and now does not mean God does not hear our every cry.
During those times we start to lose hope or feel lost in the silence, remember the promises made and kept by God. The answered prayer. The healed relationship. The flowers in bloom after a long winter. The rainbow after the rain.
God is present. God hears us. God keeps His promises.