Day 34: Dealing with Defeat

Reading: Psalm 18:16-24

Some days just leave you feeling defeated and broken. David faced many of these days as he took on enemy after enemy, not knowing when his life would see freedom again. When we cry out to God though, we can count on Him to show up and rescue us. When we are innocent before Him and strive to follow Him, He will deliver us from the darkness we face. Though His timing may be different from ours, we need to remember that He will not leave us or forsake us. There will be days you feel like the world doesn't care and that you need to solve all of its problems, but remember that God has already overcome the world and its problems. He can show us a way out of our defeat and lead us to a victorious end.

What is a battle you face or have faced that you feel or felt like you couldn't get through?




Who do you know that is facing pit after pit in their life? How can you pray for them and encourage them?




Reading: Matthew 22:15-46

Dealing with the tricks of life and people who try to trap us can be frustrating. We see Jesus deal with these situations brilliantly though. When life seems to be confusing to us, we can follow His example here.
Give to the world what belongs there. Jesus says to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's." As Christians, we have priority to God first, always, but we also have a duty to obey laws and pay taxes. Jesus cleverly answers the religious leaders in baffling them by not allowing Him to be arrested for it, nor make people angry with Him.
We also read how Jesus handles a debate on marriage in heaven, telling the leaders that they are missing the point completely. He calls out their tricks and explains His Father's power to do the impossible. He also points out that this life is not the end all.
Finally we read how Jesus lays out the greatest commandment - love. With this, the leaders stop asking questions and go their own way.
Taking on life with the wisdom of God's Word is important. We may face challenges similar to the ones Jesus faces in this reading, but we can overcome those with knowing the Bible's stance on it. We probably won't know the answer to everyone's questions, but when we have the bottom line, that is all that matters.

Where has life confused you? Where did you turn for answers?



How are you keeping yourself full of wisdom and of God's Word?




Reading: Job 30:1-32:22

We can feel defeated when we face all the struggles of life like Job has and still have no comfort from friends or family. Job is left, blamed for sin by his friends, yet he pleads his case and is blameless before God.
We see Job lay out many things about his life to his friends to prove his innocence before God. Job was pure in heart. Not to say he never sinned, but he confessed them and went through the proper procedure to cleanse himself and his loved ones for that matter.
We need to be sure we are standing upright with God. Life will throw us curve balls and hardship, but Job proves that not all struggles are linked to our sin. Staying right with God helps you to see His light through those tough times though.
Job didn't care about material things. He was not tempted by the ways of the world or by what it had to offer. He stayed in close community with God and walked with Him. We also need to make sure we're not basing our lives around material things and the various temptations the world has to offer.
Job loved his enemies. He never pointed and laughed at them when they faced troubles themselves, but Job kept his mouth shut and didn't gloat. We live in a culture that seeks revenge, yet we have a God that tells us to do otherwise.
And Job gave to the poor and needy. He didn't withhold from them, and worked to help them. God calls us to reach out to the poor many times throughout His Word. He even tells us that what we do for the least of these, we do for Him. Helping others in need sure adds a little significance to your life too.

What does your life look like before God?



Do you have friends that build you up, or tear you down?



There are many times in life that we can walk away from a day feeling rather defeated and down. Whether we are pursued all day by enemies or things that we just hate to do, or if we are thrown some confusion in life and we try to reach out to those in need but can't seem to get the answers straight. Or maybe we have people in our lives that just don't help much when life is rough, we can always count on God to pull us through. He has made a way for us to take on those days that just reek of defeat. Rely on Him and His ways, and He can bring you to days of victory that only come from Him and Him alone.