Our Daily Bread Devotional for 4 February 2025 Tuesday
OUR DAILY BREAD DAILY DEVOTIONAL 4TH FEBRUARY 2025 MESSAGE
Welcome to Today’s Daily Bread Devotional Message to inspire and bless you! Read, Study and, Meditate over and over again. Let the blessings of God rest upon you!
Our Daily Bread Devotional for 4 February 2025 Tuesday
Topic: God’s Spacious Place
Bible in a Year: Exodus 34-35; Matthew 22:23-46
Bible Verse: You . . . have set my feet in a spacious place. Psalm 31:8
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 31:1-2, 8-16
Insight: The book of Psalms is divided into five books or sections. Book I (chs. 1-41) and Book II (chs. 42-72) carry the majority of David’s psalms, and many of them are in the form of lament. Psalm 31 falls into this category. We might think it’s inappropriate to “complain” to God, but that’s what a lament is—a complaint about a circumstance in life. The difference between biblical lament and complaining, however, is that biblical lament almost always resolves in hope and praise. The psalmist finds this resolution in verses 19-24. He concludes: “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (v. 24). By: Bill Crowder
Our Daily Bread Devotional for 4 February 2025 Message
When theologian Todd Billings received a diagnosis of incurable blood cancer, he described his imminent mortality as like lights in distant rooms turning off or flickering. “As the father of a one- and three-year-old, I tended to think of the next few decades as an open expanse, assuming I would see Neti and Nathaniel grow and mature. . . . But in being diagnosed . . . there is a narrowing that takes place.”
In thinking about these limitations, Billings reflected on Psalm 31, how God set David in “a spacious place” (v. 8). Although David spoke of being afflicted by his enemies, he knew that God was his refuge and place of safety (v. 2). Through this song, the psalmist voiced his trust in God: “My times are in your hands” (v. 15).
Billings follows David in placing his hope in God. Although this theologian, husband, and father faces a narrowing in life, he agrees that he also lives in a spacious place. Why? Because God’s victory over death through Christ’s sacrifice means that we dwell in Christ, “the most spacious place imaginable.” As he explains, “What could be broader and more expansive than to share in His life by the Holy Spirit?”
We too may cry in lament, but we can take refuge in God, asking Him to lead us and guide us (vv. 1, 3). With David we can affirm that we live in a spacious place. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean to you to live in a spacious place? What are some concrete ways you can put your hope in God today?
Heavenly Father, You allowed Your Son to die to set me free. Thank You for the gift of a spacious place.
Rick Warren Daily Hope 3 February 2025 | You Ought to Do Something about That
