In Thee

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed:
deliver me in thy righteousness.
Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily:
be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
For thou art my rock and my fortress;
therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me:
for thou art my strength.
Into thine hand I commit my spirit:
thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.
Psalm 31:1-5

Words like these are so true and so tender, revealing the heart of God for us. He is our Rock. He is our Fortress. He is our Defense. And yet, how inadequate are these words to convey the totality of God’s love for us. This psalm of David’s reveals David’s heart for God as well as God’s heart for His people. David speaks to God of his troubles, but he does not forget that God is his source of strength and safety. It is a praise, a prayer, a song of joy.

These things should be our daily reminders also.

God – Let me remember your guidance. I pray that I may be always trustful of You. You do hear my prayer. You do lead me into the place of safety. You are a place of refuge for me. I need to lean on You more often. I need to lean on You more completely. I need to make You my strength, and reject the strengths that I see in the world around me. The lure of the secular world leads me away from You, but still You are ready at any moment to give me guidance. If only I accept it.

My commitment to You is greater than yesterday, but I still do not rest in trust. Like a baby rests and sleeps in loving arms, so should I rest in Your strength and guidance. That is a true commitment of the spirit. I long for closeness with You, greater closeness every day. As I reach up my hand to You, I know that Your hand will be extended back to me in guidance. Thank you for Your redemption, Your deliverance and Your guidance.

Sign of Rain

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:45

Wouldn’t it be convenient if God was good only to the Good and the righteous person? Wouldn’t it be great if only the good person’s business prospered or if only the righteous person’s wealth increased? How simple it would be, to tell if someone was really good, really righteous. Just look at farmer Jones, he must be unrighteous, his garden didn’t get any rain last night, but farmer Smith’s garden has been gently watered all night! And the new store in town must be owned by a righteous man, because his sales are increasing. But the owner of the old store must be doing something evil, because no one buys from him anymore. Well, now we know who God approves of and who He does not!

And each of us would know the minute we did something wrong or walked away from God. We could go out every morning and see and feel the sunshine of God’s approval, or know that God had placed a cloud overhead. And how simple it would be to convince a person to accept Christ and become a believer: look, you want to prosper, to do well in life? Just become one of God’s children, and He will remove all your problems and give you ease and wealth. How convenient, how easy it would be for us!

But how hard-hearted this would make us. No need to love farmer Jones, he’s obviously an evil man. No need to make a choice to behave with consistency to all people; just ignore the unrighteous. And for ourselves, no need to search our own heart, no need to examine our own lives. Just look for that cloud to see if you are doing God’s will or not. And if the choice to become a Christian was based on material prosperity, would we value the sacrifice of Christ? How would we feel about a Savior who died so we could prosper in business?

God gives rain to all and He makes the truth of His Word available to all men. This shows the goodness of God. But it also means that we must make the choice to love others, even when others are failures, even when others reject God’s truth. It means we are in charge of our own daily walk. God doesn’t treat us like trained animals, who do tricks for a reward. We choose to be the children of God because He loves us. We choose to believe His promises because they were bought with a great price, and the result is a reward we will not see until the return of Christ.

A Fountain of Life

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
to depart from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

God’s Word is renewed like a fountain. It provides an unending flow of pure life-giving water. God’s blessings are renewed continuously, like a fountain. When we fear (reverence) God, we remember this, and we put our reliance on God and His promises. And God does promise to send us help. He promises a powerful help, one that will save us from death and give us life that flows without end.

Only through the belief in the statements God makes can a human being be given eternal life. There simply is no other way. No other “god” or belief system holds out the possibility of eternal life to everyone. And no other “god” or belief system proposes that a reward after death can be obtained without great effort or sacrifice. God gives us this promise because He is good, because He is a good Father. Good fathers want to be with all their beloved children. Being in the presence of a good father is never so difficult that many children will fail to achieve it. A child might reject the father’s presence, but children are immature, and do not always know what is the greatest blessing.

We forget that our source of life is God, and that He alone can provide a full abundant life. A full and abundant life starts not with us, but with Him.