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Words of Hope Daily Devotional

The Words of Hope Devotional is a non-profit, donor-supported publication whose goal is to encourage readers to grow in faith through the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer. The devotional is available in your email and in print.

God, Have Mercy

Read: Luke 18:9-14

God, have mercy on me, a sinner. (v. 13 NIV)

Is doubt a virtue? I doubt it, if Jesus tells us to stop. Well, then, is doubt a sin? It might be, or it might not be, depending on what kind of doubt it is. I’ll talk about species of doubt in the coming days.

But let’s now consider how we can stop doubting. The end of the story we’ve been considering from Matthew 14 (Peter’s walking on the water) points us in the right direction. When Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat, the wind immediately died down. Then everyone in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (v. 33).

The ultimate cure for doubt is to fix the eyes of our small faith on the greatness of Jesus. Compared to him, the storms of life are nothing. He may seem to be missing in action. Or he may come to us on the waves. Or he may still the storm with a word (Matt. 8). But because he truly is the Son of God, he always reaches out and catches the doubter who cries for mercy.

That is the one prayer God always answers, whether it comes from believers, doubters, or unbelievers. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That’s the last word on doubt for now: mercy. As Jesus responded to Peter, we must respond to a doubter not with anger or rejection, but with mercy, even if that doubter is our own self. Jesus showed mercy. So must we.

As you pray, use the words of our reading: God, have mercy on me, a sinner, for Jesus’s sake.

Counselor

Read: Isaiah 30:15-21 His name shall be called . . . Counselor. (Isa. 9:6) When a long-held plan recently fell apart, I didn’t know where to turn. Who could help me decide what to do next? While counselor can refer

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Wonderful

Read: Isaiah 9:1-7 And his name shall be called Wonderful . . . (v. 6) “That’s wonderful!” we might say, meaning simply that something is great or remarkable. But the English word wonderful contains other meanings. Something wonderful might be

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Immanuel

Read: Matthew 1:18-25 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa. 7:14) Some things always happen the same way. The sun comes up in the morning and goes down at night. Spring

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I Am

Read: Exodus 3:1-14 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) What do you say when you are asked to introduce yourself? Your name? Your age? Your occupation? You might identify

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Waiting

Read: Isaiah 40:21-31 They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (v. 31) Has anyone ever asked

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Grateful for Smell

Read: Numbers 28:16-25 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (v. 24) The phrase “a pleasing aroma” appears about 40 times in the

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