August 30, 2025 Devo

August 30th, 2025

Walking Through the Psalms
“Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.” – Psalm 90:15 (NLT)
“A Prayer of Healing and Restoration”

This is such a great prayer. It’s an admission that sometimes life is hard and overwhelming. It’s a confession that sometimes we find ourselves reaping the consequences of horrible decisions. It’s the acknowledgment that we have those periods in our lives where we slip away from God and wander down dark and dangerous roads. It’s the deep sigh of having been in a place of grief. The world seems cold. The weight feels heavy. And time seems to stand still.
But the psalmist is reminding us of two important truths that we can hang onto and claim. One is that these dark days won’t last forever. They may FEEL like an eternity, but they are not. The no-good, horrible, very bad days do eventually give way to better days. Brighter days. Wonderful days. The second truth is that God is a Restorer. I love how our verse today frames it. “Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!” God can turn the depths of our despair into heights of great hope. He can not only remove the scar tissue of pain, but He can also fill our hearts to overflowing with joy. Where once we felt utterly alone, He can make us feel utterly loved. Even Job, who is a poster child for a hard life, experienced this truth. Job 42:12 says, “So the LORD blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.” God’s restoration is greater than life’s destruction. Can I pray this prayer over YOU today?
“Father, I lift up to you my precious friends. You know the depth of their pain and the sorrow of their souls. You know how long their misery has lasted and how weary they have become. Today, O God, I ask for those days to cease. Lift from them this heavy weight that they are bearing. End their suffering, ease their stress, and break the chains of their heaviness. Let your healing and restoration begin.
Breathe health back into their bodies. Breathe joy back into their hearts. Breathe life back into their souls. Brighten their days with your Eternal Hope. Give them back, for every hour of their weeping, two hours of laughter. Give them back, for every day of their suffering, two days of gladness. Give them back, for every year of their hardship, two years of great joy. Let their days of darkness be gone, and let a new day of light begin. Let Your Goodness wash over them today, and may they bask in the warmth of Your restoring love. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.” That’s God’s Word for you today.