FBC Daily Devotional – January 7, 2021

How's your week going? Winding down this first week of the new year and I trust it's been it's been a good one for you

And you're getting the year off to a good start. How many Do you make resolutions New Year's resolutions?

I don't make resolutions, but I do try to establish some goals for a new year

Last year's got pretty much pretty much shot out of the water COVID did a lot to mess things up and it threw off equilibrium, but it also created a new set of goals for you know, just dealing with dealing with life and ministry under the

The problems associated with with COVID still have COVID around but here we are in a new year.

What what have you What kind of goals have you established for this year? I I trust the

Lord will help you to see each of those come to fruition each that are worthy of pursuit and And each that would be in the framework of his will have you ever discovered?

I'm sure you have that at the beginning of a year you have goals established and set up you start working toward them and Along sometime in the middle of the year you you realize, you know, those are not things

They're they're really not worth pursuing there's these other things that are more important and you go after something else that's fine

That's that's a good process to go through You probably wouldn't discover the other thing if it weren't for the one thing that you were pursuing.

But anyway enough of that How are you sleeping these days?

How are you sleeping? What's what's keeping you awake at night? Maybe family problems

Money problems marriage problems You worried about worried about the future, you know, you know is

Kovat ever gonna end you you worried about What happens to me if I take a vaccine if I don't take the vaccine, you know and all that kind of stuff

You worried about that kind of thing How about America's stability as things start to get more and more clear in terms of the political

Landscape and the impact of last November's election and so forth are you

Worried about our country and where it's headed and what it's gonna mean for you your children your grandchildren

Maybe it's your own Spiritual concerns your personal spiritual concerns. What's what's keeping you up at night?

What keeps you awake? You wake up in the middle of the night and you can't get back to sleep you toss and turn or you

You lay your head down on the pillow you're tired you're exhausted but your mind won't stop racing and you just can't sleep well

Psalm 4 isn't exactly a bromide that you can take that Will solve all of life's problems and guarantee that those things that you're worried about You will not have to worry about them anymore and so on and so forth one thing

I do not want to do is be guilty of Giving the false impression that when a person becomes a

Christian he has no problems and that all his problems are just simply a matter of a lack of faith or something of that nature and if you just have enough

Faith all your problems will go away. I Don't want to suggest that for a minute, but even though That isn't the case and it's not what

I want to pursue what I want to emphasize Psalm 4 does give us some help in getting a better night's sleep under certain circumstances, of course in Psalm 4 verse 8 the last verse in the psalm

David writes this he said in peace. I will both lie down and sleep

I Will both lie down and sleep. Why doesn't that sound good? Doesn't that sound good to be able to?

Be at peace when you lie down and to sleep, how does he do that? Well as he continues he gives us some insight

He says for or because this is why I can lie down in peace and sleep because you alone

Oh Lord Make me dwell in safety And we don't know exactly what it was that threatened

David's safety under these circumstances. He had oppositional many different times and different settings in the course of his life and reign

But whatever it is, whatever the case He could say this you make me dwell in safety

So I would suggest that the very foundation of a peaceful slumber is a deep trust in the

Lord that nothing Nothing will harm me or disturb my safety with this caveat

Nothing will harm me or disturb my safety that is outside of his sovereign providential purposes

So again, you know there are times we do Suffer harm we do suffer heartache.

We do have our safety disturbed but within the confines within the parameters of our

Lord's providential purposes and Even those allowances in his purposes for the disturbing of our safety or security

I can still nonetheless Sleep I can be at peace as I lie down and sleep knowing that Even this disturbance is under the sovereign hand of my gracious God so David earlier in the psalm shows us how to express that confidence.

So doesn't he in Verse 1 he prays He says answer me answer my call.

Oh God of my righteousness answer me. This is his plea and His reflection then follows on that what you know

Why does he why does he even go to God in prayer because he says? You have given me relief when

I was in distress now often we forget this how often I forget this I Get I get my hands ringing and I get tossing and turning and you know, not sleeping well over some distressing thing that is keeping me awake and I forget how many times that God in his grace has given me relief when

I was in distress Well David remembers this and that leads him next to pray be gracious to me and hear my prayer

Notice the humility in this petition. He's not making a demand he is

Realizing that if God is going to hear my prayer, it's going to be because of his grace.

He knows he needs grace So he prays But then and expressing this confidence that the

Lord will make him dwell in safety He believes in verse 3. He expresses a belief in his gracious position

He says but know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself and he's speaking about himself

Now that's not a boastful claim That's just recognizing that God in his grace has set him apart has called

David and put him in his position and has Shown him gracious favor and made gracious promises

So he believes in that gracious position as one who is godly that's been set apart

By the Lord for himself. He also believes in the Lord's gracious favor

He says now in the past in the present tense. He says the Lord hears when

I call to him So earlier he said he said be gracious to me and hear my prayer

But now he's saying the Lord does hear my prayer. He believes even as he prays.

Child of God follower of Jesus your Lord You too can

Rest in him You can And I pray that in his grace

God will give you that rest and again I'm speaking of course here about things that are distressing your mind

They're perplexing your mind and disturbing your soul and keeping you awake under those circumstances

I'm talking about physical things. It may be Influencing you here, but but these things these things you can rest in him because of the

Lord's gracious favor and Your gracious position believe in him and then go to him in prayer

Thomas Watson said faith though. It sometimes has a trembling hand It must not have a withered hand but must stretch so Exercise your faith stretch out that hand even if it's trembling and reach out to your

Lord So our Father and our God we do reach out to you. We pray that by your grace

You would give your people rest Give us rest we pray and we ask this in Jesus name and for his sake

All right, have a good rest of your Thursday look forward to the winding down of the week and this coming