Devotion written by Dane Clark, State Director Mission Encounter 360

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. – Psalm 86:15

As I was reading Psalm 86, my attention was drawn to the verse above. In this Psalm, David is calling out to God for mercy as he was being pursued by his enemies and suffering from outward afflictions. Don’t we all feel that way at times? I know that I do. We may not have literal enemies chasing after us, but we always have the Enemy working to tear down our lives and faith. Challenging circumstances and afflictions also hit us from every angle during different seasons of life. In the midst of David’s unbelievable hardships, he never forgot who his God was. With the simple word “but”, he was able to insert God’s incredible character and love into his difficult circumstances. May we guard against forgetfulness and simply remember to insert God’s character into our own circumstances and difficulties today.