College Student DevotionalSample

With His Power

The best-constructed house will crumble without God. The most heavily guarded city will fall to its enemies if God isn't invited inside. And a career defined by going in early and staying out late will not succeed if God is not at its center.

No one is smart enough, beautiful enough or wealthy enough to successfully navigate life without God's help. In fact, an abundance of worldly resources may infuse us with too great a confidence in our own abilities and make us vulnerable to errors in judgment.

During the freshman orientation for the College of Engineering, David began to suspect that university classes were going to be much more demanding than those in high school. His first few weeks confirmed this assumption, and he soon concluded that if he wanted straight As, he was going to have to study—a lot.

At first, David studied seven days a week. But before long he became so fatigued that he was struggling to earn even Bs. At that point he prayed to God for help. God made an unexpected answer clear to David: Don't study so hard. Get your sleep. And spend 24 hours per week without studying whatsoever.

David struggled with God's message. How could he attain good grades without those 24 hours of studying? Surely his GPA would plummet. In the end, though, David decided that God was probably a bit wiser than he was. So he gave it a try.

David stopped studying from Saturday at 6:00 p.m. through Sunday at 6:00 p.m. During that period, he devoted himself to attending a worship service, reading Scripture, praying, sleeping, spending time with friends and relaxing. After those weekly breaks, David found that his Sunday night study session was more productive than any other time of the week.

By the time the semester ended, David had reached his goal—a straight 4.0. And he credits that success to obeying God's call to let him be both his Lord and the center of his desire.

• Why do you think the writer of Psalm 127 has such confidence that God outranks hard work and expensive resources?
• Do you think you can enjoy a successful career without working abnormally long hours? Why or why not?