Today's Passage: Psalm 16-17

 These chapters of Psalms have been precious to me for a long time. I have come back to both of them for encouragement and promises from God. I have committed portions of them to memory because I did not ever want to not know what they said. Do you have passages of Scripture like that? Ones that God has just spoken to you through in such a special way? I would say these two fit that bill for myself.

I especially hold dear the four verses at the end of chapter 16. Verses 8-11 gives great encouragement and advice as well as some wonderful promises of the Lord. I deal with anxiety. I worry about everything. The Lord has really been working with me on this and I feel like these verses helped so much. David says in verse 8 that he has set the Lord before him always. This gives me something to work towards. Do I always set the Lord before me? Is he always in my line of vision? Do I let him into every part of my life, especially the parts that cause me the most anxiety? Setting the Lord before me means that He should be the total focus of my life, infiltrating every part. David goes on to say that because God is at his right hand, he will not be shaken. As someone that deals with anxiety, being shaken is not comfortable. The thought of not being shaken is a wonderful hope. Now, of course this does not mean that nothing will ever come my way that will be hard to deal with or frustrating or anxiety causing, however, because I have set the Lord before me and he is at my right hand, I can stand through those times without wavering. He is my strength.

I love one of the promises at the end: that he will fill us with joy in his presence (v. 11). As an anxious person, being full of joy is a wonderful aspiration. This verse made sense to me because to be filled with joy, I just need to be in God's presence. And if I've set him always before me, how do I live in anything other than his presence? Joy is almost a guarantee. Again, not everything will go perfectly, but the joy of the Lord will be present and will provide strength.

I hope you were encouraged today be reading these chapters and I pray that you let God use them to speak to you in your situation.