SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 42:5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again-my Savior and my God!

DEVOTIONAL:
You can choose to put your hope in God. When you feel discouraged or sad, you get to choose what to do with those emotions. It might not always be easy to put your hope in God. It can be much easier to put your hope in bills being paid, or in a raise, or in wealth and status and achievements, or even in people, but all of these things will eventually let you down because they don’t last. Like David in this Psalm, you might have to choose to put your hope in God. You might have to make your body submit to praising God. Fasting reminds us that we can intentionally cause our bodies to submit to God. In the same way, we can intentionally choose what to do with our emotions; to praise the Lord and put our hope in Him.

PRAYER:
God, help me direct my soul to find hope in You. When I am drifting and start looking to the temporary things of this world for hope, help me recall this verse. Help me to remember that tangible things will all fail eventually, but that hope in You and in Your character will not fail. Help me turn to praise in order to fix my eyes on You and to set You always before me. I pray that as I praise You, You would increase my hope.

READING PLAN:

• Mark 10
• Mark 11
• Mark 12
• Mark 13
• Mark 14
• Mark 15
• Mark 16
• Luke 1
• Luke 2
• Luke 3
• Luke 4
• Luke 5
• Luke 6