Oh, my Father, way too often I get wrapped around the axles of health issues, financial uncertainties, children and grandchildren, and even how long we can continue to serve You in the lives of couples who come to us for help.
I've found that the key to steadiness in my life is to set You continually before me. When I make You my focus, I can walk more steadily along my life-path.
Teach me how to just take one day at a time, remembering each day has enough trouble on its own. Just keep me suiting up and showing up and taking care of what you put before me this day, trusting you for all the other stuff.
This I pray in Jesus' precious name, Amen.
Verses for Today:
Scriptural References
"I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me." (Psalm 16:8 NLT)
"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)
There is a nuance I notices in the Hebrew behind Psalm 16:8 literally says "I have set the LORD continually before me". The NLT paraphrases it as "I know the LORD is always with me." Same truth, two angles: David's action (setting God before him) and the NLT's reassurance (God is beside him). I intended in this prayer to hold both — I want to set Him before me, and He keeps me from being shaken. The older translations preserves David's original verb, which is a deliberate act of the will — setting, not just knowing.
Isaiah 26:3 is my prayer's promise attached: fixed thoughts, perfect peace. And the Hebrew there says "peace, peace" — shalom shalom — the doubling signaling completeness.
