Devotion's by Deborah

Devotion 2-20-24, Psalms 59:16- "But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress." There are many evils in the world. There are an abundance of enemies, visible and invisible. There are dangers, strife, illness, hate, evil intent, and murder. This has always been so since sin entered through Eve's deception and Adam's treason. However, each moment of every day we have a choice, actually many choices. We may choose to wallow in the mess; we may choose to despair. Or, we may choose to look up to God, speaking to Him of the many troubles and seeking His wisdom on how to address those over which we have influence or control. We choose to look up to God, choosing to honor Him as the source of our strength. We choose to sing of God's lovingkindness, we chose to fully lean on His wisdom and word. In doing so, we choose God as our stronghold and our refuge in times of trouble. We chose Him over the mess; we choose Him over the evil. In doing so, we worship Him and we receive more strength, more love, more wisdom, more freedom from the bonds of sin. God tells us to "resist the devil and he will flee..."(James 4:7) He says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."(James 4:8) One of the best ways to draw near to God is to choose time in His word and time in worship and praise. I choose to sing your praises, O God! "O my strength, I will sing praises to You..."(verse 17a)