God's Word is Alive and Active

(Chicago)

I was deeply troubled by something I did to a friend and was worried that I offended him, and that's why he stopped responding to me. For about a week my heart was restless day and night, I felt guilty and asked God to give me His peace. I made a commitment to recite all 150 Psalms for 40 days, and that meant waking up early in the morning and staying up late to finish. On day 1, I came to Psalm 32:4-5: "For day and night Your hand was heavy on me"...."Then I acknowledged my sin to you"...."And You forgave the guilt of my sin". I was struck by these verses as if they were speaking to me. Suddenly, I was overcome by peace that I could not explain. My friend had not responded yet, but I knew everything would be all right. I still longed to hear back from my friend. I kept on reading and kept my heart and mind open to whatever God had to say to me. Then I came to this verse: "But God will never forget the needy, and the hope of the afflicted will never perish". (Psalm 9:18) God was telling me not to lose hope. And I didn't. These are just a few of the verses that "spoke" to me. About 10 days into my prayer, my friend called me, gave me his new phone number, and asked when we could get together. I was overjoyed. Now that my prayer was answered, I was curious about what verse would stand out next: "I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart, I will tell of all your wonderful deeds".(Psalm 9:1) Even though my prayer wasn't answered instantly, God was with me every step of the way, guiding me with his powerful Word, which is "alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword".(Hebrews 4:12)