Words of Hope Daily Devotional
START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE
Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read His Word, and meet with Him in prayer. Available in print and email.
START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE
Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read His Word, and meet with Him in prayer. Available in print and email.
THE DEVOTIONAL IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR EMAIL AND IN PRINT.
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.
DINNER WITH JESUS
Breakfast on the Beach
Staying the Course
Read: Psalm 18:27-42
You equipped me with strength for the battle. (v. 39)
For me, long distance running didn’t come easy. I started by walking, and I wasn’t fast. Over time, through many months and years of training, I racked up the miles until I was ready for a 5K, and even longer races. Similarly, the faith journey takes perseverance. It can feel difficult, like running a marathon in heat or rain. Sometimes, we might feel pain. We might want to quit. But someone serious about running a marathon keeps on running.
In Psalm 18, David recounts that when the struggles of life may seem to overcome us, God delivers us. God gives us strength (v. 32), makes our feet firm on a safe path (vv. 33, 36), and equips us for the battles of life (vv. 34-35). We all face moments in life when we question God’s faithfulness and his promises. We may doubt his goodness when things don’t go as planned, or when we are in despair. But David found hope and strength in remembering God’s past acts of faithfulness to carry him through the present and the future (vv. 27-30).
God protects and defends everyone who trust him. Psalm 18 is a powerful reminder of this truth. If you need help today, re-read the entire psalm and use it to strengthen your trust in God’s perfect way and faithfulness. If we have faith in God’s promises, that faith will enable us to withstand suffering, which “produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (Rom. 5:1-5).
As you pray, ask how you can stay strong through your faith journey.
About the Author
Ariana D. Den Bleyker is a Pittsburgh native currently residing in New York’s Hudson Valley. She is the author of two devotional poetry collections,To Be Held by the LightandWaking in the Light. She is an ordained deacon in the Reformed Church of America.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. First Last
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including Why Doesn’t God Act More Like God, Christ in the Psalms, and A Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
Danger Within
Read: 2 Timothy 3:1-17 Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. (v. 14) We live in a world of spam—junk emails, scam phone calls, and conniving social media messages. Some may
The Value of Silence
Read: James 1:16-27 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (v. 19) Have you ever regretted a conversation that turned out to be unproductive? Sometimes, I have dropped my
How Should We Pray?
Read: Matthew 6:5-15 Pray then like this . . . (v. 9) During the pandemic, people prayed regularly—for quick healing and relief, turning everything over to God. It’s always good to turn to God in prayer and cry out to
The Pain of Waiting
Read: Luke 2:25-35 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. (v. 25) Waiting can be excruciating,
Broken Heart
Read: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (vv. 8-9) Horatio
A Perfect Home
Read: Hebrews 11:8-16 They desire a better country . . . a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (v. 16) Every human heart longs for a