A WORD FOR TODAY, August 5, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, August 5, 2025
“Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power. Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine. Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let your loving kindness be on us, Yahweh, since we have hoped in you.” Psalm 33:13-22, WEB
The text in yesterday’s devotion was the focus verse for our first team devotion during our mission trip. We were certainly comforted by the idea that God has patience with us. I was the only team member who had never been there before, but it is still an adjustment for everyone to be in a place that is culturally so different than our comfort zone. We all had concerns. We did not have much experience hanging sheetrock or doing the other building work in our plan. We all were anxious about giving our testimonies, especially since most of us did not speak Spanish and we had little experience speaking about our faith in front of a crowd. On a personal note, despite my recent health advances, old age aches and pains made some of the activities more difficult than I’d hoped. I had a hard time keeping up with the younger folk on the trip. One morning during my personal prayer time, I asked God to help me be a helper and not a hindrance. Our concerns were understandable, that’s why we looked at the story of Peter.
There was another aspect to the story that helped us face our fears which encouraged us to trust in God. See, The story of Peter and Cornelius was not just a random coincidence that Peter had a vision that led him to an encounter to share the Gospel. It was a divine appointment which God had carefully planned every aspect. Look at the timing of the arrival of the men from Cornelius! They knocked on the door just as Peter came out of his vision. “Go with them,” God said, with his lesson about everything He cleansed being clean. Peter obeyed, not because he didn’t still have concerns, but because he realized that God was with him. We could go into our week with the same encouragement and faith. Our presence in that place at that time was a divine appointment.
I once attended a women’s retreat that focused on living a life worthy of our faith. The speaker talked about why and how to grow in our faith and live to glorify God, which is a life of obedience and trust. During our table conversation, we talked about the gut feelings we get once in a while that lead us to do the unexpected. We told stories about answering a call that seemed strange but turned into a divine appointment. God can do great things through our lives despite our concerns, worries, and fears, if we live in faith, trusting that God really does know what He is doing and that He has invited us to be a part of His work in the world.
Do we really trust God, especially when we are outside our comfort zone? We trust in so many things. We trust in our talents. We trust in our politicians. We trust in our strength. We trust in our financial institutions. We even trust in our generosity. Even in church, how often do we trust in the human aspects rather than God? We trust our pastor, the leadership, the programs, and the property. We are reminded in today’s psalm that a king is not saved by an army or man by great strength. Man is saved by God s grace, and God has no favorites. He sees all mankind, He watches all people of the earth. The psalmist describes Him as He, “who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works.” He is the one who plans all our moments, putting us in the right place at the right time to do His work in the world. We just have to be willing and obedient. Even so, He is patient.
We are called by the psalmist to be patient and to trust in God. He is our help and our shield. It is hard to go out of our comfort zone to do something we don’t think we are capable of doing. We all have moments when we think we will be more of a hindrance than a helper. Yet, God makes it possible for us to do the impossible, to do go beyond our perceived abilities, to get through our concerns and respond to every opportunity in ways that we never expect; He always ensures that our work will bear fruit for His kingdom. We are blessed to be a blessing, and though it seems beyond our ability to accomplish the things He sends us to do, we can go forth in faith, trusting that He is our help and our shield.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org