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
Lost and Found
Read: Psalm 107
He delivered them from their distress. (v. 6)
It had been a while since I’d cried hot, angry tears, but there they were, uncontrollably rolling down my face. I was in one of those moments in life when a “yes” answer to a long-prayed prayer was so close. Then, like a mortgage that doesn’t come through or a dire diagnosis, the “yes” vanished into a “no,” and I was angry. Sometimes, we get angry at God, wanting to blame him for our misfortune. No one likes hardship, but despair can teach us about ourselves and God—it can mature us and strengthen our relationship with God.
Psalm 107 describes people who were lost and broken before they were redeemed by God. Four times in the psalm there’s desperation, a cry for help, and an answer from God. And four times, it repeats the same refrain of gratitude: “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28). The repetitive structure of this psalm reminds us that we can cry out to God in our despair and when we do, God is faithful to deliver us.
When we’re lost, God finds us. Even in hard times, God can be trusted to redeem us, to help us, and to save us from our distress. He changes things for us and will do so again and again. So, when something in our lives turns inside out, on the other side of it there’s hope.
As you pray, cry out to God in your trouble.
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.
Breakfast on the Beach
Read: John 21:1-14 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” . . . They knew it was the Lord. (v. 12) Can you picture the scene? Sunrise on the beach—the beginning of a beautiful day. There’s breakfast on the
Known to Them
Read: Luke 24:25-35 He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (v. 35) When my late father-in-law led us in prayer, he would often add this thought: “Forgive us our sins and our shortcomings.” It was a
A Meal in Emmaus
Read: Luke 24:13-27 He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (v. 27) After his resurrection, Jesus met with his disciples, friends, and family on several occasions. Some of these gatherings involved food! In one instance,
The Lord’s Supper
Read: Luke 22:14-23 Do this in remembrance of me. (v. 19) There are some passages which are so familiar that we seem to stop reading them closely or stop listening to them with fresh hearing. This passage, when Jesus instituted
Washing the Disciples’ Feet
Read: John 13:1-15 I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (v. 15) The disciples had shared many meals and many conversations together during Jesus’s ministry on earth, but those
Dinner with Friends
Read: John 12:1-11 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.” (v. 7) Dinner with friends is usually a sweet time of fellowship and special remembrances, but it can be especially