I heard in my spirit "Psalm 27" and I was in a rush to get out the door, and making sure my kids were good to go for the day, and my hubby was home sick and I made sure he had all the things and I looked at my Bible. I knew if God was telling me to read this chapter it was going to be worth slowing down and listening. What a great and encouraging chapter it turned out to be for this very season in my life! Of course it is. After all, God the Father has selected it for me to read. So, let's talk about it! It's only 14 verses but what power and encouragement and hope there is in these verses!
This is a Psalm of David. He begins by magnifying God and in doing so all his problems instantly shrink! The LORD is my light and salvation. Yes He is! He shines light on my path so I can see where to walk. He saves me from trouble when I listen to Him. He saved me from eternal separation, and He also saves us from the snares and traps the devil sets for us! So who should we be afraid of? No one has that kind of power and ability but Almighty God! He alone can light up the darkness and shine hope into our souls. Only God can save and set free. There is nothing anyone can say or do to put fear in our hearts when we focus on how good and awesome and marvelous our God is!
How many of us can testify with David, arms raised and say, "Yes! He is the strength of my life! He is our stronghold, our refuge, a mighty fortress we can run to! He is our protector!"?There is no one we need to be afraid of. When we begin to magnify our God and talk about His light and love and salvation and strength, what is left to fear? Nothing!!!
Are there times you have felt surrounded by people who just want to harm you? Maybe you have been in a situation where people are watching you, just hoping you will fail! David knows what that's like. He knows God is on his side, and he says even when others wanted to devour me and wished harm to me, God caused them to stumble and fall! They couldn't do anything to us! They are powerless against God. They tripped and and tumbled. They were the ones eating dirt! I stood firm as I ran to the Mighty Fortress-- our God!
Even if there were so many people we couldn't number against us, we do not have to fear. Our hearts do not have to be fearful. We can stand firm in God's love. Even if war breaks out and it's all around us, we can be confident in this: "There is one desire we have, one thing of the LORD that we will search for, that we may dwell, live, abide, stay, inhabit the house of the LORD every single day of our lives, to look and see the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple. We can search things out in His house. We can look for answers and behold the beauty that is not comparable to any other thing in life and friends that is what my soul longs after. That is what I want more than anything else anyone can offer me.
You may ask why I have this much confidence in God. It is that every single time trouble comes knocking, God answers the door. He hides me in His pavilion. He hides me in the secret of His tabernacle. It makes me so happy and full of joy that I start to sing. I sacrifice a song of praise and joy because I don't feel like singing in the middle of the turmoil. I don't feel like praising in the middle of the bad news and the bad reports, the new diagnosis, the financial struggles, the sickness, the pain, the worry, the torment. I don't feel like throwing up my hands and praising and singing but my God is so worthy that I will sacrifice it. I will praise Him because He is worth it. My circumstances don't dictate when I praise my Savior. He is always worthy!
Isn't verse 7 our heart's cry so often when things are going wrong? Hear us LORD when we lift our voices and cry and have mercy on us. Answer us God because You alone are the answer! You are what we are searching for. You alone fulfill us! You complete us! Not another person, another job, another car, another home, another degree, another material possession. No, LORD, You, and You alone fill our hearts to overflowing and not another.
God when You said to seek Your face, may our hearts say, "Your face God we will seek!" God may we stop running to see what is in Your hand, and just kneel at Your nail-scarred feet and thank You for what You have already done for us! God may we stop short of asking for something else and just pause to reflect on Your goodness and grace. God instead of looking into Your nail-scarred hands for gifts and answers, may we gaze into Your beautiful face and just lock eyes with You and be content to be welcomed into Your presence! God may we run to seek Your face and not Your hands!!
Please don't hide Your face from us. Don't make me leave in Your anger from when I choose the wrong things! You alone God have been my help! You alone are where my help comes from. God may we stop looking at You as though You are our partner and we somehow help You. May we remember we can do NOTHING apart from You God. Please do not leave us or forsake us. Oh, what a beautiful promise that Your Word says You will never leave us nor forsake us, but You will go with us until the end of the world! What a mighty God we serve! What a loving and gracious Master we have! God You are the source of our salvation!
When my parents throw me away, God, You will take me up! When my family abandons me and calls me crazy, You call me Your own! You pick us up God when we are despised by others and left as an outcast. You brush us off and clean us up and welcome us into Your family. You give us Your name and You wipe away our tears. You pour healing salve into our wounds! Who but God can do such things as these!? There is none, LORD. You, alone.
Oh, Heavenly Father, teach us Your ways. Help us to follow hard after Your example. God show us how to live like You want us to. Show and teach us how to please You Father. Lead us in smooth paths because of our enemies. When the bumps in the road, and the potholes threaten to wreck us, God go before us and make our way smooth so we can follow You closer.
Don't let the enemies win. They that come against us and want us to suffer and crash and burn. God don't let them see us fail. False accusers slander us. They say things that are cruel and untrue, they lie and self-promote, and literally breathe out cruelty. God don't let us fall into their traps.
It's so hard God when the pandemic is all around us. I hear so many say they are weary of it LORD. It's so hard when things are not normal and it seems like it may never be. It is hard God when there is so much evil and wickedness in the world, but I am like David. I would have fainted and fallen out by now God if I had not seen the goodness of You LORD in the land of the living! God if I couldn't find a cloud of witnesses I would have given up! If I had not been encouraged by what I see You doing in our lives every day it would have been too much!
Teach us to wait upon You Father God. Help us to be strengthened and have good courage. Give us bravery in our hearts to face this world head on. Give strength to Your people Father as we wait upon You.
I cannot tell you all how much God caused my spirit to soar over this Word today! If you read my blog today in conjunction with each of those verses I hope it will spark a fire in your hearts too. God is busy! He is working! He is on the move. He is unstoppable. He is doing amazing new things. He is building. He is causing things to bloom, grow, and flourish. We are not surviving this life...no we are thriving! We are more than conquerors! Hold your head up high! We are sons and daughters of the King of kings and LORD of lords. He is magnificent in all of His ways! Don't you love Him? I just cannot stop thinking about Him. I cannot get enough of His Word. I cannot get my day started without Him and then we commune all day long. He is my everything, my all-in-all.
I pray something I have shared today has been strength for your journey and light for your way! God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
No comments:
Post a Comment