Clinging to God

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. I'm Amy Boucher-Pye and I called our reading, Clinging to God. When Joni Eareckson-Tada speaks of Rika, she highlights her friend's deep, time-tested faith in God and the endurance she's developed while living with a debilitating chronic condition.

For more than 15 years, Rika has been bedbound, unable even to see the moon from her room's tiny window. But she hasn't lost hope. She trusts in God, reads and studies the Bible, and as Joni describes it, she knows how to stand firm during fierce battles against discouragement. Joni likens Rika's tenacity and persistence to that of Eliezar, a soldier at the time of King David who refused to flee the Philistines.

Instead of joining the troops who took off, Eliezar stood his ground till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. Through God's power, the Lord brought about a great victory that day. As Joni observes, even as Eliezar hung on to the sword with determination, so too does Rika cling to the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. And there, in God, she finds her strength. Whether in glowing good health or battling discouragement over a chronic condition, we too can look to God to deepen our stores of hope and to help us to endure. In Christ, we find our strength.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Samuel chapter 23, verses 8 through 12. These are the names of David's mighty warriors. Yeshua-Bashabet, a Tachmonite, was chief of the three. He raised his spear against eight hundred men whom he killed in one encounter. Next to him was Eliezar son of Dodi, the Ahoite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pa-daemon for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, but Eliezar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day.

The troops returned to Eliezar, but only to strip the dead. Next to him was Shammah son of Agi, the Harorite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them.

But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory. Let's pray together. God of all power, thank you for loving us and for helping us endure when we face trials and hard times. Please help us to focus on you that we might continue to trust and to love you at all times. We pray in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.