Morning reading: Psalms 10-16

There are themes of both encouragement and despair in these passages. We are told about the promises of God, reassuring us that the Lord is just and faithful. But everyone has those moments of tiredness and sorrow, when it seems as though we have been abandoned to deal with our suffering alone. Yet Oswald Chambers writes, "We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character." These secret places are often only revealed in the midst of grief and trials. We have to see our own shortcomings before we can release them and allow Christ to enter in and make our hearts His. God knows how low we sometimes must fall in order to open ourselves to His Spirit and workings.

Take heart, for He is sovereign.