Search Me...

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my anxieties;
and see if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
--Psalm 139:23-24

"I suppose my suggestion will not receive much serious attention, but
I should like to suggest that we Bible-believing Christians announce
a moratorium on religious activity and set our house in order
preparatory to the coming of an afflatus from above. So carnal is the
body of Christians which composes the conservative wing of the
Church, so shockingly irreverent are our public services in some
quarters, so degraded are our religious tastes in still others, that
the need for power could scarcely have been greater at any time in
history. I believe we should profit immensely were we to declare a
period of silence and self-examination during which each one of us
searched his own heart and sought to meet every condition for a real
baptism of power from on high. "
-AW Tozer



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Shadow

I’m a bit burdened this evening….thinking about a friend of mine who is going through some hard times. It’s so hard to watch those you care about struggle. I think about my friend who is hurting…she is hurting because someone hurt her. And it appears that she was hurt for no reason of her own….it actually seems like she was hurt for the explicit purpose of hoping that by hurting her….someone else might be hurt through watching her pain….and why is all this hurt inflicting going on??? My guess is because the inflictor of the hurt…is in and of themselves hurting.

UGH.

Yes, there is a lot of hurt in the world…..a lot of sadness. Why is it when people are hurting they lash out and
hurt others? Thereby multiplying the hurt in the world?

Sadness.

Tonight I feel sad, and as I said….burdened. Part of me wants to rush in and save and do everything I can to “fix” the problem. I have been praying a lot about this situation, seeking the Lord’s wisdom. And for now I feel that the Lord is asking me to wait and to pray. To trust HIM to be the One who will in fact come in and save and take care of the problem. It is true, that HE loves her and cares that she is hurting even more than I do. So I wait and I pray. Knowing that God is faithful.

Comfort.

I do find comfort in this knowledge that God is faithful to save. That He is Mighty to save.

“The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

- Zephania 3:17

And so, I will rest.

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”

-Psalm 37:7

Rest, Wait and Trust.

And I will attempt to wait patiently for Him and not fret. I know He is in control.

“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.”

-Psalm 36:7

Hide us now in the shadow of Your wings Lord. Save us Lord in Your timing. Help me trust You to take care of those I love.

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Astounding

This devotional reminded me of the verses in Psalm 19.

"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer." (vs.12-14)

It truly is "astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves!"

"HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ALONE WITH GOD?
"When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples." Mark 4:34 Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take us alone and expound things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we can understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out our own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been harbouring before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look in with courage? We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we shall never say - "Oh, I am so unworthy," because we shall know we are, beyond the possibility of stating it. As long as we are not quite sure that we are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until He gets us alone. Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of a wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will reveal inordinate affection - things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. We listen to many things in classes, but they are not an exposition to us yet. They will be when God gets us alone over them." -Oswald Chambers

May the words of my mouth....the thoughts of my mind....the meditations of my heart.....the actions that I do....be pleasing in my Lord's sight.


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