Listen

Lord, change our circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste! Let those who plant with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts. Let those who go out, crying and carrying their seed, come home with joyful shouts, carrying bales of grain!

Psalm 126:4-6

Think

“My hands are sweating, I’m short of breath, my heart rate’s increasing, I feel desperate.” All of these were phrases Alice used when she didn’t know what was happening to her.

The word that summed it all up was “worry.” Worry is the result of wanting to control the future and not living in the present. So, what if we changed our strategy? Instead of looking to the future, we look to the past to find the hope that will guide us forward.

The psalmist was asking God to change his circumstance as God had done before. The text indicates that the people were bringing to their memory the great things God had done. With hope, they were asking God to “do it again.” They were recognizing that they still needed God and that, just as in the past, they needed God in their present. When we bring to mind the goodness shown by God in our past, we experience hope. We’re reminded that God has been and will be there to fulfill God’s promises in our lives.

Lilybeth Bosch

Question to Ponder:

What strategies do you use to manage your emotions?

Pray

God give me a way to handle my emotions when I feel…

I need your power to impart to me what I need to live in the present with hope.

Amen.

Go

Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us.

Ephesians 3:20