by Richelle Hecker

Placing your hope in God, who will lift your head in praise.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link. 

Are you feeling wilted lately? Sometimes it feels as if everyone around you is perked up, and ready to go, while you are struggling to lift your head. You wonder if you’ll ever feel like blooming in the sun with your head held high again. Perhaps you can relate to this flower in the background, heavy and drooping.

King David was an emotional man. He was unafraid to dance naked in the streets with joy, or involve himself in fervently loving friendships. He lived with incredible integrity at times, striving to follow God’s law far beyond human expectations. At other times, his passionate personality drove him to shocking degrees of sin. Still, God called him a man after His own heart. I believe that is because David always strove to be in close relationship with God. When he sinned, he grieved and repented. No matter what he was feeling, he always turned to God for love, forgiveness, hope, wisdom, and strength.

David also went through seasons of great sorrow and weariness. At the same time he grasped at the hope that all of us have,  God will not leave us there.

“Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.”
Psalm 42 New International Version

When you feel wilted and tired like this flower, take the time to ask yourself the same question David asks in the Psalm above. Then, no matter what answer you give, follow with the same trust, faith, and hope that he did. God will not leave you in this place. You will yet praise Him because He is your Savior and your God. It does not matter whether it is your own sin, or sin from the world around you, that has made your heart so heavy. God has already redeemed you and your situation. He will lift your head in praise. Put your trust in Him and rejoice!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO