Seek God first

Posted by   Grace Ministries   |   Categories :   Devotionals

Psalms 121:1-2 (ESV)

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

Oftentimes, when we face trouble, we turn to everything else but God to seek comfort. We turn to food, exercise, people and hobbies. These are all good things, but when we rely on them too much, we throw ourselves out of whack. We overeat or we starve ourselves. We stop exercising or we exercise too much and injure ourselves. We become clingy or we push people away. We pick up too many hobbies or we drop our favorite ones.

This scripture evokes imagery of a battle and being surrounded by your foes in a valley. The Bible often uses imagery of valleys to represent those times when we are struggling with sin or feel burdened. In a battle, you look up, hoping for reinforcements to come barreling over the hilltop to your aid. This scripture also highlights two important steps to seeking aid from the Lord.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.” The first step is to acknowledge that you need help and cannot do it alone. We are imperfect beings and we must ask others for help to be successful. “From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” The second part of the scripture asks a question and then answers it. This is the second step: acknowledging that the Lord is the only One who can help us. As the scripture tells us, the Lord made the heavens and the earth. If He can do that, why do we think He cannot help us when we are struggling with something or worried?

This week, make a list of the things or circumstances that have been on your mind lately. List the ways that you have tried to deal with your issues (or avoid them). Have any of these solutions worked? Have you tried seeking God’s wisdom on any of these issues?

This week, pray about your circumstances and try to make it a habit to seek God first when difficulties arise in life.

August 17, 2020