An encouraging thought for today

This pretty graphic is from Baptist Bible Hour

Life is pretty crazy right now.  There's just a lot going on, on a number of fronts.  Suffice it to say that some days (and this is one of them) I feel weighted down with concerns and responsibilities.  It's such a wonderful truth, though, that God knows all about the things that weigh us down and burden us.  And His Word has the antidote: His strength.  His encouragement.

Last week I started a study of Psalm 119.   It's basically following the reading plan from Love God Greatly, but I actually started the study a week early because I just wanted to take my time and do it on my own, plus I had just finished up the verses I'd been working on (a study on planning and priorities) and I was ready to start then.

All that to say, that yesterday morning one of the verses I chose to meditate on using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) was Psalm 119:28 :

S= "My soul melteth for heaviness; strengthen Thou me according unto Thy Word."

O= The word translated "melteth", according to a marginal note in my Bible, literally means "droppeth."  So we could read the phrase, "My soul droppeth for heaviness."  And that soul-dropping feeling is a familiar one.  The psalmist then asks God to strengthen him according to His Word.  A cross-reference is given of 1 Peter 5:10:
"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you."  Wow!

A=  I have been in the place where my soul melts, or drops, in heaviness -- where the weight of trials seems too much to bear.  What a blessing to know that God will strengthen us according to His Word!  I Peter 5:10 is the perfect cross-reference for this.  It's the God of all grace, the same One who has called us to eternal glory by Christ Jesus, who will establish us, strengthen us and settle us as we undergo trials.  What an encouragement!

P= Lord, I thank and praise You so much for Your Word today!  I pray that You will help me to grow in my knowledge of Your Word each day and to get serious about applying it to my life.  I thank You so much that when my spirit melts and my burdens seem just too heavy, that I can trust You to strengthen me according to Your Word.  I praise You that You are the God of grace and that my difficulties are overseen by You, with my good in mind.  I thank You for how You will establish, strengthen, and settle me as I continue to choose Your ways.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

I hope that this little verse encourages someone else today as it did me!