Walking Through Fires

Prayer for today from the words of Psalm 119: 143-144:
As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands. Your laws are always right; help me to understand them so I may live. Today's Reading: Psalm 88
O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day.  I come to you at night.  Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.  For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near.  I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left.  They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave, I am forgotten, cut off from your care.  You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths.  Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me.You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.  I am in a trap with no way of escape.  My eyes are blinded by my tears.  Each day I beg for your help, O LORD; I lift my hands to you for mercy.  Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?  Do the dead rise up and praise you?Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?  Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?  Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?  Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?  O LORD, I cry out to you.  I will keep on pleading day by day.  O LORD, why do you reject me?  Why do you turn your face from me?
I have been sick and close to death since my youth.  I stand helpless and desparate before your terrors.  Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.  Your terrors have paralyzed me.  They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.  They have engulfed me completely.  You have taken away my companions and loved ones.  Darkness is my closest friend.

     This psalm is from a man's heart-the heart of one who has been ill since his youth, who has been abandoned by loved ones and friends, who sees death coming for him.  Verses 10-18 are a prayer for deliverance, notable for the absence of even a spark of hopefulness.  Sounds like someone else we know from just one book before Psalms-Job.  He was in the same situation as I am sure there tons of people in the world feeling this way right now.  You may be one.  If you aren't, feel blessed and go out today and help someone who is in this situation of despair.  For we are called as children of God to do just that, HELP!

Power Verses:

Hebrews 4:14-16
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would like them to do to you. AKA the Golden Rule

Today's Devotion:Then Nebuchadnezzar...said, "Look!  I see four men loosed and walking in the midst of the fire without harm and the apperance of the fourth is like a son of the gods."  --Daniel 3:24-25

Jesus was with Daniel's friends in the fire.  Lord, be my faithful God, just as You were to Daniel's friends.  Keep me from harm as I walk through the fires in my life.