Dear Ones,
Hope your day is full of sunshine and praise. I have to wait another month for my implants, but I did get my crown yesterday. Emoji Our grandson, Joe, stopped in for supper last night and good to have time to catch up. Today Al gives a service at Assisted Living, and I have Exercise, crafts, soup supper and Lenten service.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
If we look around our culture today, we are a complaining people full of self-pity. We don’t have to look far to see people feeling sorry for themselves that they don’t have as much as someone else, that they feel overlooked at work, that they don’t have the best health or mate or house. Self-pity is vastly different than pity that sees the needs of others and wants to help. Instead, self-pity distorts reality by whining and feeling sorry for oneself. It seems like our society today is always making comparisons as who has more and wallowing in the fact that some don’t have as much. I can imagine we all have times of feeling sorry for ourselves but we find that self-pity only drags us down and wastes our time and potential.

I was reading Eugene Peterson’s take on Psalm 77 written by Asaph that has to do with self-pity. The first 10 verses are full of self-pity as he cries aloud to the Lord and verbally shares his misery and hurt. He can’t sleep as he mulls over his troubles and remembers the good old days when things were better. He is upset and questions if the Lord will reject him forever and forget to show mercy and acceptance to him. He sees God as angry and wonders if He will be compassionate again. He sounds like he is in a swamp of self-pity.

But the next 10 verses are a radicle switch, and we aren’t privy as to what caused the change. But he began remembering what God has done in the past, His wonders and works and deeds. He switches his focus to the Lord and meditates on Him, rather than his troubles. He particularly remembers the Exodus from Egypt and how the Lord supernaturally saved His people. He ends up singing of Gods might and power. What a change! He offered his self-pity to God and said, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God is holy. What god is great like our God?”

Challenge for today: Let us not wallow in self-pity but allow the Lord to free us out of our Egypt of misery into the Promise Land of grace.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy