The Crosswalk Devotional: A Daily Devotional Chris... - Clinging to God When Life Feels Uncertain

0:00Life Audio Welcome to the Crosswalk Division, we're so glad to have you as a listener. Today's topic is, Cling to God when life feels uncertain. We'll be right back with a brief message from our sponsor. What if everything you love about your faith got deeper? Richard, more rooted, more alive? LShadai Ministries exists to take Torah to the nations, restoring the biblical and historical foundations of the connection between Christians and the Jewish roots of Scripture. Pastor Mark Biltz has taught in 25 nations on five continents, and now he's teaching you. Free at 1place.com, just search LShadai Ministries at 1place.com. You've been to the bottom. You've wondered if God could ever love someone like you.

1:01Melchancy has been there, and he's not done telling the truth about it. No one is too far gone. No past is too broken. No life is beyond the reach of God's love. Full surrender with Melchancy, a podcast about faith, strength, and surrender, real conversations, biblical truth, and redemption for anyone who has walked through the dark. This is your story is not over, and Jesus specializes in redemption. Full surrender with Melchancy. New on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and most major podcast platforms. Follow and subscribe today. Cleaning to God when life feels uncertain. Written by Laura Bailey, read by Laura Bailey. My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from my cries of anguish, Psalm 221 in IV. Mom, why did God abandon David when he needed him most? My youngest daughter asked before bedtime. Earlier in the day, we'd gone to see a movie about David's life.

2:03My girls were familiar with the general story of David as King, but the movie, which focused on David's transition from Shepherd to the King of Israel, raised many questions. I thought about my daughter's question in more detail. Often we think of, and teach our children, David as the slayer of Goliath or as the mighty King. We linger on the fulfillment of God's promises to David, protection, prosperity, and permission to King. And while it's important to draw our children's focus to God keeping his promise, we also need to share the hard parts of David's journey, the testing of his faith and God's faithfulness. For starters, the prophet Samuel anointed David as the future King when he was just a teenager, yet David didn't take the throne until he was almost 30. Historians estimate David became King about 15 to 20 years after Samuel's pronouncement when he eventually succeeded Saul.

3:06David's life involved a lot of uncertainty and waiting on God. The scene that prompted my daughter's question was inspired by Psalm 22. With words and phrases like forsaken, cry out, bar from saving, you do not answer. It came to be easy to think that God had indeed forgotten David, or at the very least wasn't with him in the wilderness. I shared with my daughter that just because David was going through a hard time didn't mean that God had neglected him. God promised to make David King and he would, eventually, fulfill that promise. Let's look at the closing verses of Psalm 22, I said to my daughter, grabbing my Bible. Psalm 22, 22 through 23 says, I will declare your name to my people in the assembly. I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor him, revere him. All you descendants of Israel. We could openly bring our doubts, questions, concerns, engravements as to the Lord.

4:12Yet we shouldn't leave them there. Our petitions should ultimately lead us to praise as we see in David's prayer. The first three P verses of Psalm 22 are filled with angst, confusion, and general frustration over his current circumstances. But through his prayer, David turns his problems into praise. How can one get gratitude to God in the most dire situations? Because he remembers who God is. Most importantly, he rests confidently in the assurance that God will keep his promise to deliver David and ultimately his people. While God had something good planned for David's life, that didn't mean his life would be easy or without hardship. The majority of the Psalms were written while David was fleeing from Saul, and a few when his son was trying to kill him. While David felt like God had abounded him, the truth was that God was always with him, and God is always with you too, I shared with my little girl.

5:14On the good days and the bad days, he is there. I easily forget that the God of the mountains is the God of the valley, and no matter my circumstances, he hears my cries. Just as with David, there will be times when I feel alone, but God never forsakes his children. He is always working for my good and his glory, intersecting faith in life. If you currently feel forgotten by God, read Psalm 139, 7 through 12, and write down what it says about God's presence. For further reading, check out verse 16, Psalm 22. Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what you heard today, we want to make sure you know about our sister podcast. Your Daily Prayer. When you follow your daily prayer in your favorite podcast app, you'll get a brand new prayer and devotional each day, so your days begin in conversation with God. If you're looking to grow in prayer, or start your day with your heart focused on the

6:16right things, search for your daily prayer in your favorite podcast app, and be sure to follow the show so you get a new prayer delivered straight to you each morning. Hey friends, it's Kelly from Life Audio. We just launched something new. It's called the Good Word, our free weekly newsletter, built for people who want to go a little deeper in their faith. Think devotional, guided prayers, curated podcast recommendations, and a little community all in one place. No ads, just good content. This one means a lot to us. We built the Good Word based on the audience survey, so many of you filled out a few months back. You told us what you wanted, and we listened. So thank you truly for helping us shape this. Head to the link in the show notes and join our community today. We'd love to have you. A powerful prayer life does not require hiking and mountain to be able to hear from God.

7:18God can meet us right in the middle of our busy lives to help, guide, and speak to us through prayer. I'm Christina Patterson, host of the Teach us to Pray Podcast, providing practical teaching and encouragement on how you can make prayer a natural and consistent part of your everyday life. I promise it won't require hiking a mountain, but you just might develop the faith to move one. Listen and subscribe at lifeaudio.com. I'm Mark Vinet, host of the Historical Jesus Podcast, which presents the new series Miracles, focusing on biblical miracles from the old and new testament. Join me on the Historical Jesus Podcast as I explore the interesting, compelling, intriguing, and wonderful miracle stories of the Bible and the many great miraculous events inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.