Our Daily Bread Devotional For February 20, 2024 ODB Message
Read Our Daily Bread Devotional for February 20, 2024 Tuesday ODB Message written by Bill Crowder and Today’s Insight By Monica La Rose
TOPIC: God’s Wise Purposes
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Leviticus 26–27; Mark 2
KEY VERSE: How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? – Psalm 13:1
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Psalm 13
OUR DAILY BREAD 20TH FEBRUARY 2024, TUESDAY INSIGHT:
Psalm 13 is a prayer of lament in which the psalmist brings four areas of lament to God. Each one begins with “How long . . .” and builds in intensity. First, the psalmist describes feeling neglected and abandoned by God—“Will you forget me forever?” The next question—“How long will you hide your face from me?” (v. 1)—accuses God of not just passively “forgetting” to care for the psalmist but actively choosing to withdraw His faithfulness. The next “how long” describes the psalmist’s continual internal anguish, which seems to worsen “day after day” (v. 2)—the longer this perceived abandonment continues. The final “how long” describes this experience as an enemy “triumph[ing] over me” (v. 2).
The psalmist boldly calls God to address each complaint—to “look,” “answer,” and “give light” (v. 3) so his enemies will be silenced (v. 4). He closes the psalm on a note of confident trust in God’s love (vv. 5-6).
Our Daily Bread Devotional For February 20, 2024 MESSAGE
The United Kingdom brims with history. Everywhere you go, you see plaques honoring historic figures or commemorating sites where important events occurred. But one such sign exemplifies the droll British sense of humor. On a weathered plaque outside a bed and breakfast in Sandwich, England, a message reads, “On this site, Sept. 5, 1782, nothing happened.”
Sometimes it seems to us that nothing is happening regarding our prayers. We pray and pray, bringing our petitions to our Father with expectation that He’ll respond—right now. The psalmist David expressed such frustration when he prayed, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1). We can easily echo those same thoughts: How long, Lord, before you respond?
However, our God is not only perfect in His wisdom but also in His timing. David was able to say, “I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation” (v. 5). Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time.” The word beautiful means “appropriate” or “a source of delight.” God may not always respond to our prayers when we’d like Him to, but He’s always working out His wise purposes. We can take heart that when He does answer, it will be right and good and beautiful.
REFLECT: When have you prayed for something and felt that perhaps God was ignoring your requests? What lesson might you have learned in that time of waiting?
PRAY: Loving God, please help me to learn a patience in prayer borne of trust in You.
Our Daily Bread 20th February 2024 Devotional, Tuesday ODB 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 devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet.
