{"id":21287,"date":"2017-02-06T00:10:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T08:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10027"},"modified":"2017-02-06T00:10:26","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T08:10:26","slug":"february-6-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/02\/06\/february-6-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"February 6, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cIn the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 138:3<\/span><\/p>\n

Soul Strength<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cOh God, deliver me from this crush of grief, of fear, of despair!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This has been my prayer more times than I care to remember. I can still feel the pain of betrayal, the uncertainty of my tomorrows, the anguished questioning of what I should do about my situation. My heart still breaks when I bring to mind my deep grief at certain losses, the sense of everything having changed, and the way I drew back into myself from those who loved me and wanted to help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I learned later in life to draw back not into myself, but into the Lord. He is my Helper and Comforter through those dark, difficult times of affliction and heartbreak. What He gives cannot be taken away.<\/span><\/p>\n

When David penned the words of today\u2019s text, what he most wanted was deliverance. His adult life was one of continuous ups and downs\u2014rejoicing in God\u2019s goodness and answered prayer, interspersed with fear, hiding, fighting, and killing, accompanied by the loss of foes, friends, and family. Who wouldn\u2019t want all the madness to stop, and things to return to a level of comfort, peace, and security?<\/span><\/p>\n

David cried out to God, and was he delivered? No\u2014he was made bold with strength in his soul. Is this answered prayer? Oh, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

God knows what our greatest need is, and that is what He gives. \u201cThe Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 138:8). The Lord will complete and finish the work He is doing in me, as He did with David. God\u2019s plans for David would require a great deal of soul strength, so that trait was developed in him throughout the trials of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The funny thing is, when the battles were over, David realized that he had, indeed, been delivered by the Lord. \u201cThough I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 138:7).<\/span><\/p>\n

Glory to God\u2014He knows what we need, and that is what He gives. Pray for deliverance, but receive bold strength in your soul to do what you are commissioned to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod, deliver us from our troubles, our fears, our sorrows. We know that You will give strength to endure, and when we are through the trials, we will be received into glory. In the precious Name of our Savior, we pray.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.\u201d Psalm […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5xl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}