December 12, 2022 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || ODB for Monday
Read December 12, 2022 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || ODB for Monday
READ MONDAY ODB DEVOTIONAL, OUR DAILY BREAD 12TH DECEMBER 2022 WRITTEN BY Bill Crowder (OUR DAILY BREAD MINISTRIES)
TOPIC: I Heard the Bells
KEY VERSE: Why, my soul, are you downcast? . . . Put your hope in God. Psalm 43:5
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Hosea 9–11 Revelation 3
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Psalm 43
December 12, 2022 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || INSIGHT
The book of Psalms is Israel’s official hymnbook. It consists of 150 songs written over a thousand-year period by several composers, including Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, and the sons of Korah. Used in individual and corporate worship, these songs are variously categorized as thanksgiving, praise, imprecatory, messianic, kingship, wisdom, and lament psalms. Psalm 43 falls into the category of a lament psalm. These songs express cries to God for deliverance and help in times of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, distress, and abandonment. In many Hebrew manuscripts, Psalms 42 and 43 are combined as one song. In a series of psalms composed by the sons of Korah (Psalms 42–49), Psalm 43 is the only one with no title, suggesting that it belongs with Psalm 42. The refrain “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” (43:5) is also found in 42:5 and 42:11.
READ ALSO: December 11, 2022 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || ODB for Sunday
Our Daily Bread – 12th December 2022 ODB MESSAGE
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” based on an 1863 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a truly unusual Christmas song. Instead of the expected Christmas joy and mirth, the lyric forms a lament, crying out, “And in despair I bowed my head / There is no peace on earth I said / For hate is strong and mocks the song / Of peace on earth, good will to men.” This lament, however, moves forward into hope, reassuring us that “God is not dead, nor does he sleep / The wrong shall fail, the right prevail / With peace on earth goodwill toward men.”
The pattern of hope rising out of lament is also found in the lament psalms of the Bible. As such, Psalm 43 begins with the psalmist crying out about his enemies who attack him (v. 1) and his God who seems to have forgotten him (v. 2). But the singer doesn’t stay in lament—he looks up to the God he doesn’t fully understand but still trusts, singing, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (v. 5).
Life is filled with reasons for lament, and we all experience them on a regular basis. But, if we allow that lament to point us to the God of hope, we can sing joyfully—even if we sing through our tears.
REFLECT AND PRAY
What concerns are you experiencing in this moment? From the testimony of Scripture, how can God offer you hope in this season of life?
I cry to You, Father, as I struggle under the burdens of life. Remind me that my help comes from above, from the Maker of heaven and earth.
ALSO, READ December 10, 2022 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || ODB for Saturday
Our Daily Bread Devotional 12th December 2022 || ODB for Monday Message . Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread booklet.