Psalm 103
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things (!!!)
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
Some days, like today, I can feel Your presence as I see Your beauty so evident in the sunlight, the artistic houses, the trees and clear blue skies. Wow we serve a great God! I am so pleased to follow Him, to thank Him, and to encounter Him. So much of life is choosing to enjoy walking with Jesus. Help me to relax with You! You are glorious and Your beauty is breathtaking.
So one thing I’m learning these past two weeks is that my God always comes through for me. But He never does that in my timing. Go figure! Many times I worry so much about the outcome of a situation or what could happen. I listen to fear instead of His still, small voice. God is so good that He provides the Holy Spirit of God to intercede for His children with moans only Father God can understand. These past few days I was struggling with a situation and I was trying to control all the details in my own human reasoning with my own strength. The way I was trying to fix it was compounding the problem. Then when I had finally given up my last hope, God provided for me in a way I didn’t think to ask! He answered my prayer and gave me exactly what I was too afraid to ask for. How powerful is that!?
My Jesus speaks very clearly to me. All I have to do is be ready to listen to His voice. I can lose out on God’s best for me by listening first to others input instead of to His. It IS good to listen to wise, Godly counsel, but it is important to remember that I am here for God and His good pleasure first. I need to always be willing to do things His way. Sometimes, actually most of the time, God works in very mysterious ways. These ways don’t make sense to the average person. But as for God, His way is perfect!
I do wonder sometimes. What if each real Christian, at the start, end and throughout their day, sought God’s perfect will for their life? Even in the little things like when or how to organize your day, how to handle difficult situations, etc… I know in my heart that if each person did this, we could be very effective warriors for Christ. Did you know that each day God is wanting you to come to His loving arms? He wants to be a part of everything you do. He is crazy in love with you and who He is making you to be. But He is a gentleman and will wait for you to allow Him work in your life. He is waiting for you (as You should be waiting for Him!)
What a wonderful Savior I am privileged to serve. Sometime I mess up and choose an alternate course with longer route, but my God is always wanting me back. Back to His arms, His throne room, His heart. He likes to tell me I am His own. That in reality, He has the whole world in His loving hands. He already has me and every situation I face in His mind already worked out. I know that if I simply lean into Him and who He is, He will prepare the way for me and make my paths straight.
Do you understand the magnitude of that? The Creator of the Universe, the One who rules the starry hosts and called them each by name… THAT God is the God who holds you in the palm of His Almighty Hand. Won’t you let Him love on you today? He tells me, “You are beautiful. I paid the price so you might live.” I serve a God that knows what I need even before I ask. When Satan says “You are not enough. Look at how little you are!” Jesus says: “Becky, you are complete in Me. Stop comparing yourself to anyone else. You aren’t like them. I don’t compare you to them because you are different: I made you unique!” What a Beautiful Savior.
In closing, I wanted go back to the beginning point in saying that I was worried about a really big situation that involved those I love most in this world, but instead of asking God about it, I was spinning my wheels and worrying enough to make me sick. It is in these times when I love how patient my Abba Daddy is. He wants me to wait on Him! So finally, after a few really difficult days of me trying to do everything in my human wisdom and strength, I was on my last hope. I had a solution in my mind to the situation but didn’t think it was right to bring it up. Do you know what my God did? My loved one said the exact words I was wanting as the answer to the problem. So My heart was singing as I was processing what was being said to me that finally as I waited on God He answered with a punch! What a mighty God we serve!! Beautiful Lord!! He loves us and He is always right on time.
Have a great week!