Leaning to Trust

"Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, that He may deliver their souls from death and keep them alive in famine." Psalm 33:19

During the darkest of days the Lord promises to sustain us... that we will not be alone...

Oh that I would trust Him so fully that when dark days come I don't flinch but stand strong on His promises to be with me... that in the raging storms of life my soul and heart, and emotion and mind would be calm and still in the knowledge of who He is and how He loves me. I don't understand myself, how is it that I can I possibly forget His immensity in light of such feeble thing. How is it that I so quickly forget who He is... One glance at Job 38 & 39 leaves me breathless and longing for more of this God, this God who loves me so deeply and fully that He gave of Himself to make a way for us to be together again despite my constant rejection and forgetfulness.

I wish I  could say I have "arrived" at a place where I know and trust Him fully but I can't... I can say that I am thirstier for our time together than ever before and that I am growing more and more in love with Him and I long that my actions would bring Him glory thought I fail constantly. I am continually learning to trust Him in every moment, and that at ever crisis He must be my first thought...

I am thankful that His loving me is not contingent on anything I do but on the Blood of Christ that was shed for me, on a rugged cross, on top of a hill, so long ago. I am thankful that I won't ever be good enough because if I could have saved myself I would have tried to. I am thankful that even on the best of days He reminds me of who He is and calls me to my knees in reverent worship.

It's all about heart

This morning while drinking a cappuccino and reading the Word the Lord once again reminded me that my walk with Him is about the posture of my heart...

The Lord's dealing with us has always been about out heart issues... sin is in our nature. Both Cain and Abel brought sacrifices, they both gave, but Abel gave in faith and Cain did not. Though God did not accept Cain's sacrifice he didn't leave it at that, He pursued Cain after "his face fell". In Genesis 4:5-7 "The Lord said, 'Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. It's desire is for you, but you must rule over it." God didn't just leave Cain to his own destruction without warning him. The Lord loves us so much that He warns us in His Word and He gave us His Holy Spirit to guide us from evil and into righteousness but we have to choose to obey. We have free will: it is our choices that lead us closer to or further from our Heavenly Father.

This reminds me of how some close friends of mine are raising their boys. Since they were each around eighteen months old, when one of the boys begins to make a wrong choice he is asked to choose to obey. These parents are ensuring that their boys understand that punishment and praise are direct results of their own choices. That's what the Lord was saying to Cain in verse seven, "If you do well, will you not be accepted?" We have a choice to do well... to obey the Lord and His Word.. there is no middle ground... the choice is ours. Be encouraged brothers and sisters. The Lord looks at our hearts not our track records or ability to do good... we all have a sin nature... our natural hearts are corrupt and full of evil but when we call on Christ to be our Savior and Lord He becomes our strength and righteousness and He changes our nature. In Him alone we are able to give our lives as a living sacrifice to God the Father. 

It's up to you.. so choose today who you will serve:

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15

Be in the Light

"O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord." Isaiah 2:5

How sad that throughout 3 chapters, Isaiah 1-3, there is a constant turning away from the Lord... a choice made to walk in crippling darkness rather that "Glorious light". How easy it is to choose self righteousness and self fulfillment rather than a life of humble service to the Great High King but in the end it brings ruin and misery and loneliness and nothing of eternal significance. We like to think that we are different from the Israelite but really we're not. We get caught up in having things, jobs, hobbies, and so many other stuff that we let them steal away our time with the Lord... there is nothing wrong with having nice things, or a good job, or taking time for yourself. What makes them unbeneficial is when they became detrimental to our relationship with God, that is to say, when they become the focus of our lives. Follow God doesn't mean you won't have the things your heart desires, it means you truly giving them up to follow His will without expecting God to work like a genie "For my service I wish for wealth" or a like balancing scale, "I'll give you this if you give me that"... We should follow Him and hold fast to the knowledge that, "... the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk upright." Psalm 84:11. So let us "be in the light as He is in the light."

Lord, let it be our prayer that we would thirst after you in such a way that our own selfish desires diminish.