God Made Me Cry This Morning.
Today has the potential to be the hardest day of my life. Today I am having to confront a very difficult situation and I do not want to have anything to do with it. It is painful. It is scary and has had way too much impact in my life for a long time. But today is the day to face the beast instead of running and hiding. I’m committed, but have been anxious about whether I am doing the right thing and for the right reasons. My answer came this morning in my quiet time and God blessed me to my very core.
This morning as Barry and I were reading through the word I was re-reading the story of David and Goliath (I will share in a later blog post why this scripture, this morning. *smile*). After reading that I wanted to go read the 23rd Psalm (another blog post. . .) As I finished the 23rd Psalm I just kept reading and there in Psalm 25 I found verses 4 and 5: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” These words alone were enough to make me realize that God is my Savior and that as I take action today it is a process by which He is teaching me to better follow Him. The added benefit is that as this day goes along He goes with me; and if I have moments of anxiety and a desire not to proceed He is going to guide my path. I have hope in Him “all day long.” God didn’t just leave it at that though. I had decided to pray through and journal this scripture this morning. But felt that I still wanted to do my short devo book reading too. Hello, God speaking through Charles Swindoll this morning. Can I get an AMEN! Here’s what I read in his book, “Five Meaningful Minutes a Day”:
Job did not say, “When He has tried me, I will make a million!” Or, “When He has tried me, I’ll get everything back that I lost.” Or, “When he has tried me, my wife will say she’s sorry and will make things right.” No, it’s not the externals that are promised, it’s the internals. The Lord promised Job, “When the process is finished, you’ll come forth as gold. Then, you’ll be ready to serve me where I choose.”
So, after reading this I stopped. I thought long and hard about this. Man, Job had it rough, but God was there the whole time. Not only that, but after all the yucky stuff, Job was ready to serve and be used. I decided I liked the sound of that. Then I went on to read the scripture that went with the devotion. And I was blown away.
“He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.” Jeremiah 32:40
“For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under His care. . .” Psalm 95:7
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
The bottom line for me is that 1: God adores all of us, yes, even me. He is our shepherd and he watches over us, disciplining where needed, guiding where necessary and loving us always. 2: Life is hard and painful and sometimes scary, but He is there. Always. Nothing is going to happen to us that He cannot use to shape us into the people that He wants us to be, so that we can serve Him best. 3: Our external circumstances are but that: circumstances. Our internal Spiritual DNA is what truly matters.
So, I sat in my living room this morning with tears rolling down my cheeks. Tears of joy, because I know that God has asked me to undertake a very difficult task today that is intended for His glory. It is for my refinement and my healing. I cannot do this alone. It is too scary; but not so with God as my Shepherd. As you read this, please pray for me. Pray that as Satan tries to distract me from these truths today that he will be unsuccessful and that my “hope” will be in my Savior “all day long.” Blessings my friends. Blessings.
Recent Comments