I do not blame God but I am angry with him at times and the key phrase is AT TIMES, that doesn’t mean always.
@Sheba0907 I agree. Sometimes words just dont help
**1 **For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
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Thank you for the reminder 
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Welcome @hecrews Look forward to getting to know you.
Peter
I read all about these seasons of times where prayers are not answered right away, or at all, and how God has been there for you through it all and I can agree up to a certain point. He has been there for me throughout my entire life, but the pain and grief I’m going through after losing my husband so suddenly after 45 years of marriage is indescribable. It’s something that just doesn’t go away. And it’s something that keeps haunting me and has me asking why does God seem so far away. No matter what I do or say or think or pray I have no joy left. I am struggling to live a life without him, a life I didn’t ask for quite frankly I don’t want.
Hi Jenny. Can you or anyone else please guide me on how to creat a post? Thank you so very much! 
I will pray for God’s Divine guidance and healing for you.
Feeling overwhelmed is so draining. I’ve found that dumping my racing thoughts into Taskai on my Android helps clear my head so I can actually find peace during my nightly prayers.
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I’m new at this, my first time commenting. I really liked this devotional/prayer for Your Nightly Prayer. I’m on the elder side now, and when you have more years behind you than you do ahead of you, life looks different. Your advice on not keeping up with the Jones’s is right on, because it just leads to an endless quest to measure your worth against that of other broken and fallen human beings. The old saying; “Comparison is the thief of joy,” really rings true. Concentrate on your spiritual growth, your relationship with Jesus Christ, and you find that to be so much more rewarding. Proverbs 3:5-6 Gary S.
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Welcome @GarBear. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your very first comment here! It is a true honor to have you share your perspective.
You put it so beautifully, measuring our worth against other “broken and fallen human beings” is an endless, exhausting cycle. Looking at life through the lens of eternity changes everything. Your reminder to focus instead on our relationship with Jesus is exactly where our anchor needs to be.
Proverbs 3:5-6 is the perfect anchor for that truth.
Blessings,
Peter
God has been faithful before, and He’ll be faithful again. 
So thankful for tonight’s devotional and the gift of God’s wisdom and guidance!
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Thank you Peter for your kind words, they mean a lot. Lately, I have felt the Holy Spirit pulling at my heart strings, so to speak, about spending far less time on social media sites, maybe even dropping them altogether. At my age, 75 yrs, time in God’s word is time spent far more wisely I believe. 
Blessings…. Gary S.
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Amen and do that. Uh, but keep this Forum. Just kidding. Do whatever it is God leads you to do. You can never go wrong trusting in Him.
Peter
Another instance of a very challenging time in David’s life is found in 1 Samuel 30:6. “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” This is while he is running from Saul and hiding among the Philistines. God spared him from going to battle with the Philistines but on his return with his men to Ziglag, they find it has been destroy and everyone and everything taken. David, unlike his men, took the view of Job who stated in the midst of his trial: …The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21). But he didn’t stop there. 1 Samuel 30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
:8 And David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
First, He was discouraged so he encouraged HIMSELF in the LORD. He couldn’t go to his men for encouragement. They wanted to stone him. But thankfully we have an individual and personal relationship with the LORD (Jehovah) God. The text even brings this out by stating the LORD “his” God. So he went to the One he knew loved him and that could strengthen him in his time of need and trouble.
Second, he consulted with the LORD to receive His instruction, or will, as to what to do to remedy the issues he and his men were facing. Again, what a joy we can pray to God directly (Hebrew 4:14-16:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.). David didn’t ask the priest to enquire of the LORD for him. No, he asked for the ephod, a garment worn by the priest which held the Urim and Thummim, sacred items used to discern God’s will, and put it on HIMSELF to enquire of the LORD. We can know God’s will and direction for our lives even in troublesome times.
Lastly, David received and obeyed the LORD directions and thus he and his men, even those thst were faint, recieved the blessings of obedience and faithfulness. Once we know God direction for us in our own lives and we consistently, faithfully obey, we enable God to more abundantly pour out His blessing and joys to us. God is always good because His mercy endures forever and God is thus always good to all of mankind, even those that refuse to acknowledge Him. But to His faithful the blessings can be of a greater magnitude as one can see in Ephesians 3:20 which states that God is able to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” For God blessing are conditional. Clearly stated in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” No faith, no diligence, no seeking then no specific, extra blessing. One can receive the everyday blessings that any and all do enjoy. But deliverance from troubles, overcoming sinful habits and temptations, forgiveness for our sinful shortcomings, specific needs for ourselves and others and the list could go on and on, cannot be meet unless we ask Him. But when we do then we need but wait on Him. For just like David and his men, we can “recover all” and joy in the redemption and fulness of God’s goodness in our lives. "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Are you discouraged by life and it’s circumstances? Don’t be. Encourage yourself in the LORD YOUR GOD and obey His revealed will for your life by faith and wait for the blessings to fall.
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