Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7
A battle, a struggle, emerged for me as I sought to fellowship with the Lord this morning. I am thirsty for God, but today I was more thirsty for, as A.W. Tozer put it, “God-AND,” God-AND my worries, God-AND my fears, God-AND my stress, even God-AND other people’s concerns.
Intellectually, I knew that Jesus wanted all of me today. After all, He bids me to come, to come simply, to lay aside any hindrance to worship. He calls me to meditate on Him, the Lamb that was slain, to allow my soul to quiet in His presence. Then, as my thirsty spirit stills, to ascribe to God His worth…to worship. However, there are days, like today, that I long to run in my own strength, to ignore sitting with Him, to neglect worship. There are days that I do run in the wrong direction. He labors to change that within me.
He is worthy. As I entered His gates this morning, I drank from the Fountain of Living Water, and I feasted on the Bread of Life. God is so wonderful and delightful, and He calls; yet, I still fail to draw near with eagerness. Some days are more difficult.
Why do I resist God when abundant love and mercy await? He does wait. He is there. The Father’s arms are open. Each time I come to Him, He welcomes me. While I allow the Lord to examine my heart, my intents, and confess sin, I learn that there are times that a heaviness-of-heart upon entering His throne room for worship is simply that battle with the foe, the adversary. I am reminded that restlessness is not always unconfessed sin, but the enemy of God seeking to keep His child from the safety of the Father’s ready embrace.
Those tools, which I learned through college Bible studies about worship, are effective today: the reading of the Word aloud, singing hymns, praise, and stillness with a constant thought of my Savior and His willing sacrifice on the cross, the payment, the cost, the afflictions, and the resurrection.
I give thanks for the peace I received during worship, for the quietness of soul, granted by God. I thank Him for His arms wide open, and I lift mine wide and high to Him today in praise to the One who gave Himself for me. He loves you just the same. What he did for me today, He will also do for you! Jesus bids you to come today.
Obviously, I love this Psalm!
You know that the Lord is near. You prayed. You cried out to God. You know He answers prayers. Why won’t He answer this one? Why does He seem so far away? You feel guilty for being so selfish. You know He answers according to His plan, His will. You do not doubt that, BUT…the “why” haunts you. You go to God, and you praise Him, and you thank Him for all good things. But this struggle still overwhelms you. You read the Bible. However, this present suffering wears upon you, and you sense a gap in your intimacy with the Lord. You feel the distance.
Then, you begin to fear barrenness and honesty before God. It is too difficult to tell Him that you are upset, that you are downright angry with Him. Oh, you know the theology, that God is big enough to handle it. You are just embarrassed that you have actually let yourself settle into the resentment and the anger you have toward your benevolent God. You may have tried to convince yourself that you don’t have a problem in your relationship with the Lord. No troubles, but an absence of true joy. Worry lurks in your heart and your mind. It feels dark.
If He would just alleviate this one thing….or if I could just have this circumstance improve….or if this person would just…Oh, how you and I can fall into Satan’s trap, into his lies of deception. How do you get out of this cycle? How do you stop the worrying, end the weeping, and receive the joy?
Thankfully, there is a time that the night is over, that the darkness ends. The sun rises and shines, and everything looks beautiful, fresh and new. The mercies of God are new every morning. Rejoice in His forgiveness. The displeasures of this world are temporary, but the joy of receiving forgiveness in Christ is eternal. Today, you are clean and set free. The Son of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. On that Day, in the resurrection morn, the dead in Christ will rise first, and be like him, and reign with Him forever.
I ask myself this question: “Will you yield, Brooke, to His purpose today?” Only there, I find rest in my spirit, peace, and “the joy that comes in the morning.” I pray you find His rest and peace in your difficult circumstance, and may He fill you with His joy today. The joy of the Lord is your strength!
A family hobby is to watch mystery fiction together. We love to unlock the puzzle of a Whodunit. Who will be the first to decipher the clues? Who predicts the plot twist? And, which of us becomes the detective who solves correctly? I think the appeal to us is the nature of the unknown or unexplained. Individually, we often choose to curl up with a cozy mystery book, too. Whether it be through film or novel, we love for the obscure to excite our curiosity and challenge our speculation until the very end. If a story accomplishes that, we deem it a good mystery!
What greater “Whodunit” is found than in the God-Person of Jesus Christ? The sinless Lamb bore the marks of the greatest criminal who ever walked the face of the earth. He carried the sins of the world, the weight of everlasting punishment, as He willingly gave His life upon the cross of Calvary. Oh, what a murder scene! What a criminal, a murderer, am I! I hammered the nails into my Savior with every sin, but He cleansed me and redeemed me with no payment required by me. I am guaranteed a place at His banquet table to sup with my Lord. And He calls you to dine with Him, too. Undeserved. Unmerited. Grace.
My nephew, Daniel, now receives the fullness of the blessings of being a part of his family. Not only has he been adopted by Jeff and Brenna, but He received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. He is redeemed from sin, cleansed and forgiven. Daniel is assured that he will live forever with Jesus, and with his earthly father and his earthly mother, who partook of the gift, too. Their family celebrates the adoption of Daniel every year, termed Gotcha Day!
Hello! I'm Brooke.
