I have several “favorite” verses in scripture and one of them happens to be Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” I have to go back to that verse time and time again, and still yet, time and again I forget and get caught up in the busyness of life. It’s like a vicious cycle….we wander away even a day to do things “our” way and we have to be prodded back into the fold. As another favorite verse says, {Proverbs 3:5-6} “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” How many times do we fail to trust in the LORD and instead lean on our OWN understanding? Why is it so hard for us to acknowledge him and let HIM direct our paths?
Ecclesiastes 2:11 says, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” We try to do everything according to OUR works, OUR way. Instead of allowing God to rule, we want to rule. There is nothing new under the sun. We are like our first parents, Adam and Eve, we want things OUR way {or is that the Burger King way?} We are sinners from our mother’s womb. Thank the LORD we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, who has interceded on our behalf! The LORD wants us to be faithful in season and out of season. When it’s popular and when it’s not popular. Our trust should ALWAYS be in Him. Not in our selves. We will fail every time. Did I say that loud enough? I said EVERY time. Plain and simple. We might as well fess up right now and admit that we are weak, puny, filthy beings worthy of hell. Because that is what we are. It is ONLY through Christ that we are made free. He is our strength. He is our righteousness. He is our life. My husbands favorite verse is Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” It needs to be seared into our minds…HE is our strength. And without him we would be nothing!
As Psalm 40:17 says, “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make not tarrying, O my God.” Years ago when I came across that verse, it struck me to the very core of my being. The LORD, the maker of Heaven and Earth, the Almighty….He thinks about me! Little o’ stinkin’, rottin’ me….it was also very sobering to say the least. But as I said before, there is hope. We don’t have to be downcast and think that all is lost. The scripture is full of promises from our Heavenly Father declaring his love for us. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” -Psalm 42:11 And again in Psalm 48:14, “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” I can only speak for myself, but I personally don’t want to be like the church in Revelation that forgot their first love. I want to praise him and bring him glory each and every day of my life. And when I do forget….Please, just give me a good swift kick in the pants!
I’ll leave you with a few more verses to ponder, including one of my all-time favorites, Lamentations 3:22-23 “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
“I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”
-Psalm 91:2
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.” -Psalms 37:3-9
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