Rescue Mission

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

My name is Xochitl Dixon. In today's reading, Rescue Mission, I'll be sharing how God used a lost sheep to deepen my hope in Him. Volunteers at a farm animal rescue organization in Australia found a wandering sheep weighed down by more than 75 pounds of filthy matted wool.

Rescuers suspected the sheep had been forgotten and lost in the bush for at least five years. Volunteers soothed him through the uncomfortable process of shearing away his heavy fleece. Once freed from his burden, Barack ate. His legs grew stronger.

He became more confident and content as he spent time with his rescuers and the other animals at the sanctuary. The Psalmist David understood the pain of being weighed down with heavy burdens, feeling forgotten and lost and desperate for a rescue mission. In Psalm 38, David cried out to God.

He had experienced isolation, betrayal, and helplessness. Still, he prayed with confidence. Lord, I wait for you.

You will answer, Lord, my God. David didn't deny his predicament or minimize his inner turmoil and physical ailments. Instead, he trusted that God would be near and answer him at the right time and in the right way. When we feel weighed down by physical, mental, or emotional burdens, God remains committed to the rescue mission he planned from the day he created us. We can count on his presence when, like the Psalmist, we cry out to him, come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Psalm 38 verses 11 to 22. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds. My neighbors stay far away. Those who want to kill me set their traps. Those who would harm me talk of my ruin.

All day long, they scheme and lie. I am like the deaf who cannot hear, like the mute who cannot speak. I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. Lord, I wait for you. You will answer, Lord, my God. For I said, do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip. For I am about to fall and my pain is ever with me. I confess my iniquity. I am troubled by my sin. Many have become my enemies without cause.

Those who hate me without reason are numerous. Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good. Lord, do not forsake me. Do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior. Let's pray. Gracious God, help us to encourage others who feel weighed down, lost, or forgotten, just like you have encouraged us when we felt the same way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.