Daily devotional, March 1, 2024 The fountain
"'The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace."' Psalm 29:11
I have always been amazed with fountains. As a kid, I remember asking my dad how come the water flow does not seem to end, but at the same time it does not flow out of the fountain area?
Decades later, I came to realize that like the fountain, our God’s power and love is endless. His might is limitless, and He is everlasting. As followers of Jesus, we should take comfort in these truths and hold on to them especially during times we are helpless and hopeless.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength." Isaiah 40:28-29
As mothers, we can find ourselves overwhelmed most days. We are swamped with chores, our schedules are jampacked, and if we work outside the home — our career also has separate demands that we have to juggle alongside our family life. Once met with unexpected incidents or occurrences, we tend to get rattled all the more.
Soon we could overflow — overflow with physical tiredness and get burnt out; overflow with resentments for people we want to count on but did not measure up to our expectations; overflow with guilt for not being a good enough mother; and overflow with stress and even misplaced anger.
When we hit this wall, we should remind ourselves that there is a fountain of power and love that could carry us through these overwhelming times:
"'And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'" 2 Corinthians 12:9
To tap onto this source of strength, we have to empty ourselves in front of Him. We should take our own overflowing cup of self-sufficiency, pride and resentments, and empty its contents before His holy presence.
We can do this by asking for His forgiveness for our sins, and for chasing things that do not really matter in the end. By recognizing our own sinfulness and spiritual poverty, we are giving the Lord the opportunity to fill us up with His goodness, mercy, and love.
This is exactly what King David did after he realized the gravity of the sins he had committed when he committed adultery with his soldier’s wife, Bathsheba. In Psalm 51, King David surrendered his repentant and sorrowful heart to the Lord, asked for His forgiveness and vowed to rise up again and proclaim God’s words to.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a rightspirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you."
Psalm 51:10-13
So once we have come to Jesus and accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior, we should follow through by nurturing that special relationship with Him. We should consciously start our days with Him, prioritizing quiet time with Him and reading His words. We should fill our lives with His voice by consuming media content that honor biblical values, instead of mindlessly scrolling digital garbage that slowly wreck our lives. We should devote time to worship Him, and be doers of His words.
Once we accept that only through Him will we have real strength and peace, we could overcome the challenges that form part of our Christian journey.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Isaiah 40:27-31 and Psalm 51to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Where do you draw strength from especially when faced with difficulties?
Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for being the constant and unlimited source of my strength. Empower me to do your will in my life, so I could worship you and live a life that is pleasing to you. Amen.