You have shown me the path to life, and you make me glad by being near to me. Psalm 16:11
(Life Application Study Bible)
Jesus Tells Us; keep your eyes on Me. I will show you what I want you to do, and I will give you the strength to do it. I will never ask you to do anything without giving you what you need to do it. But you must first seek Me. Whenever you have a decision to make, pray about it first. If you have a chance to serve Me, pray about it first. Before you begin anything, pray about it first. Seek My will in everything you do. And when you pray, enjoy the time you spend with Me.
Jesus Concludes; Remember, you are in the presence of the Creator of the world, and you have My undivided attention.
Psalm 16:11; Psalm 141:8 Study Notes
Footnotes Psalm 16:10; David stated confidently that God would not leave him in the grave. Many people fear death because they can neither control nor understand it. As believers, we can be assured that God will not forget us when we die. He will bring us to life again, to live with him forever. This provides real security.
Passage Psalm 141:8; But my eyes are fixed on you, sovereign LORD, in you I take refuge, do not give me over to death.
Footnotes Psalm 141:5; David says, that being rebuked by a godly person is a kindness. Nobody really likes criticism, but everybody can benefit from it when it is given wisely and taken humbly. David suggested what to do when facing criticism from the godly: (1) Don’t refuse it, (2) consider it a kindness, and (3) keep quiet, don’t fight back. Putting these suggestions into practice will help you control how you react to criticism, making it productive, rather than destructive.
Footnotes Daniel 12:13; The promise of resurrection was reaffirmed to Daniel. He would one day see the fulfillment of his own words, but he was not to spend the rest of his life wondering what his visions might mean. Instead, he was to rest in the comfort of God’s sovereignty and look forward to the time when he would rise to receive and share eternal life with God. God does not reveal everything to us in this life. We want to know what lies ahead, but instead he shows us what he is like, gives us wisdom and understanding, and touches us with his love. We must be content with the partial picture until he wants to see more of us.
Jesus Tells Us is from the Jesus Calling 365 devotions for kids.
THE WORLD…we see history
John Quincy Adams
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, THE SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO SAW THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
Trust in Him, at all times, you people, Pour, out your heart before Him, God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:8
After the Boston Tea Party, the British issued punitive measures against Boston, which prompted the Colonies to convene the First Continental Congress in 1774. John Adams of Massachusetts traveled to Philadelphia, leaving his wife, Abigail, and their children in Braintree, near Boston, which was quickly becoming a battle zone. British troops began swarming the area, and shots were fired at nearby Lexington and Concord. Abigail was the daughter of a minster and a force to be reckoned with, but she grew increasingly anxious for her children’s safety. On June 15th, she wrote her husband, “We now expect our seacoast to be ravaged, perhaps the very next letter I write will inform you that I am driven away from our yet quiet cottage. We live in continual expectation of alarms. Courage, I know we have in abundance, but powder, where shall we get sufficient supply?” Seven-year-old John Quincy felt the strain too, later writing, “My mother with her infant children dwelt every hour of the day and of the night liable to be butchered in cold blood or taken and carried into Boston as hostages by any foraging or marauding detachment of men.” On June 17th, Abigail and her children heard guns and cannons that marked the beginning of the Battles of Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. As the British started up the slopes, a command reportedly passed through the American lines: “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.” When the guns began firing, the sound traveled for miles. Hearing the roar of the cannons and the sounds of the battle, Abigail took John Quincy and hiked to the top of Penn Hill, where they watched the battle unfold across the bay. The Boston neighborhood of Charlestown went up in flames, and the winds blew the heat and smoke into their faces. Waves of British soldiers fell while charging up Bunker Hill. The patriots were driven back, and it was the bloodiest battle thus far in the war. The next morning Abigail wrote John, and in the middle of her letter, she burst into the cherished scriptures sustaining her, especially a passage from Psalm 62:
The WORD…we see Jesus, His Story!
The day, perhaps the decisive day, is come, on which the fate of America depends. My bursting heart must give vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear friend, Dr. Warren, is no more, but fell gloriously fighting. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power to His people. Trust in Him at all times. Ye people, pour out your hearts before Him, God is a refuge for us.” Charlestown is laid in ashes. The battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunker Hill, Saturday morning about three o’clock, and has not ceased yet. It is expected they will come out over the Neck tonight, and a dreadful battle must ensue. Almighty God, cover the heads of our countrymen, and be a shield to our dear friends! How many have fallen, we know not. The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep.
John Quincy Adams never forgot the carnage that filled his seven-year-old eyes as he stood transfixed by the cannons, gunfire, charging soldiers, dying troops, burning city, and unfolding history. He later said it made an impression on his mind that haunted him the rest of his life. Even in old age he couldn’t bring himself to attend celebrations associated with the events of that day. “I saw with my own eyes the fires of Charlestown and heard Britannia’s thunders in the battle, and witnessed the tears of my mother and mingled them with my own,” he wrote. Abigail finally turned and left the bloody panorama, leading her son back home where she made him promise to repeat the Lord’s Prayer every morning before rising from bed, a practice he kept the rest of his life. Thus, the little family watched, prayed, trusted God, poured out their hearts to Him, and melted Abigail’s collection of pewter spoons into musket balls for the Patriots.
Source: https://www.robertjmorgan.com/shop/100-bible-verses-that-made-america/ Page 74