Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
PSALM 139:1-10 | 1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
Some are called to full or part-time roles guiding God’s flock as pastors and leaders. But everyone is called to come alongside someone as a guide who can manifest God’s attention and care. Psalm 139 stresses that we are known by God, even before our birth, and right now, today—better than we know ourselves.
Yet at times, we don’t sense God’s nearness or feel His constant care. At these moments it is absolutely crucial that friends and fellow travelers come alongside us. Shepherds in the first century and still today know their sheep individually by name. They made a commitment to protect and care for each member of the flock, fighting predators, and becoming the literal gateway in open stone pens while their flocks rested securely. Accompanying others takes commitment and sacrifice—we enter into another’s problems and face them together.
Are you alongside anyone currently?
Do they sense your commitment to them and to God and your conviction we are never alone?
Read Psalm 139:1-10 in the light of John 10:3-5.
