Week 10: Day 5

Intro: Hey guys, and welcome to Orbit, I hope you’re doing well, if I haven’t met you yet, well my name is Robin and it’s great to have you with us today on our fifth and final session, how time flies when you’re having fun! If you are joining us today for the first time, then do not worry, a massive welcome to you.

So far this week we’ve currently looked at.

1 - What it looks like to have a strong faith.
2 - How we can have good expectations of what God can do in our lives today.
3 - We looked at how we can practice hearing from God.
4- And yesterday we looked at the responsibility we have within the relationship we have with Jesus.

As for today, and as on most Fridays here on Orbit, we’ll be finishing the week by reflecting on a psalm.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Psalm 10, and we will be focusing on verses 12-14.

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

Thoughts: Now as you’ll know, each day I start by asking you a question, and today I want to ask you this: How is your compassion?

Now the word compassion can be thrown around a lot, but the definition of the word ‘compassion’ is to have a “concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.” And that’s something we see throughout many of the psalms.

Here in Psalm 10, King David is interceding for those that have suffered. To intercede is to pray on behalf of others, which is something that happens through the whole Bible. A clear example of that can be seen in the book of Acts in chapter 12, it talks about the church praying for Peter as he is in prison.

To pray for others or to have concern for others, is to practice having the heart of God.

When we help those who are in need, when we love those who are rejected, when we feed those who are broken, we become more like Christ.

My most common prayer, and you may have heard me use it once or twice this week, is to pray “Christ - shape me, change me, form me - to be more like you each day”

The way in which we can do that is to pray like David does in this psalm, to pray for those who have suffered, and to then do something about it.

Challenge: Hebrews 11 is all about faith in action. Faith it requires action. And so for today’s challenge, I wonder if you can spend some time thinking about who it is that is near you that may be suffering in life at the moment. And once you’ve thought of someone, firstly spend some time praying for them, like the psalm does: But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

And then see if there’s anything you can practically to help them, whether it’s to spend time with them, to sit with them, to call them, to feed them, to encourage them. And as you do that, you are being shaped to become more like Christ

Pray: Heavenly Father, you are good, and, in your goodness, you meet with us. Lord, we thank you that you are a God of compassion. Jesus your ministry was a display of compassion, Lord may that compassion begin to burn within our hearts. And as always Lord will you continue to shape me, change me, and form me to be more like you each day. Amen.

Outro: Well, thank you so much for joining me this week here on Orbit! I’ve enjoyed myself, I hope you have too. I do hope that you will continue to grow closer to God as we continue next week, here on Orbit.