{"id":3208,"date":"2020-04-30T18:15:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T01:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2020-04-30T18:15:40","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T01:15:40","slug":"hobart-herd-devotional-psalms-4-4-30-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3208","title":{"rendered":"Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 4 – 4-30-20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever been maligned\nby people, your words twisted and turned into lies that bring shame and\ntears.  David was led by God to write\nthis Psalm, a song from the heart with musical instruments to share the pain of\nbeing stabbed in the back and destroyed by men you thought were your friends\nand supporters.  However, David never\nlost faith in God, even though he struggled with the pain of it all.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   In verse 1, we see David call on His\nrighteous God, who brought relief in distress and grace in hearing his\nprayer.  David knew that the Lord has\n\u201cset apart the godly for Himself;\u201d and listens when and hears when they cry and\ncall out to Him.(vs. 3)  Maybe the verse\nthat stood out to me the most in this Psalm is verses 4-5; \u201cBe angry, and do not\nsin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.  Selah   Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in\nthe LORD.\u201d(ESV)  Oh, how angry I get when\nsomeone is doing me wrong!  My heart is\nusually controlled by the thought of getting even, or saying things about my\nenemies that will devastate and destroy them. \nI cannot keep silent and just let things go.  And in so doing my heart of worship towards\nGod is ruined and my trust in Him is set aside. \nHow the Lord would love to step in and set things right.  But He cannot be a part of the anger and\nsinful thoughts and actions that go on in our selfish battles.  Oh that I would learn to trust Him and allow\nHim to set things straight.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   The blessings of joy and peace in the Lord\nare worth far more than any get even plot I can make up to bring temporary\nsatisfaction when someone who has done me wrong.   I\ntruly want to enjoy the peace and safety that comes from being in right\nrelationship with God no matter what man may do or say against me.(vs. 6-8)  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, I ask forgiveness for trying to take\nthings into my own hand when struggling against those who would gossip and\nslander against me.  I know my first\nresponse is anger and doing and saying things back against them.  I ruin the relationship of trust and\nrighteousness that I have with You and lose Your power and joy in the\nprocess.  Thank you for giving me Your\ngrace in forgiveness, and allowing me to return to the peace and safety that\nYour love provides for me.  May I learn\nto rest in the promises of Your Word and trust that You will set things\nstraight.  In Jesus Name, Amen! Pastor\nRob <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever been maligned by people, your words twisted and turned into lies that bring shame and tears.  David was led by God to write this Psalm, a song from the heart with musical instruments to share the pain …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3209,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}