Brother’s birthday today. I’m thankful to the Lord for him.
May he continue to be blessed, and may his family continue to overflow with blessings.
Psalm 22. One short of the Shepherd Psalm. Reading through it, and well, actually – it was topped off with a caption: ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?‘
Feels like that sometimes, yeah? Like He isn’t there. Or, sure, He’s there, but it feels like He isn’t listening. You’ve called out time and time again, and it feels as if that’s all that’s been going on, and you don’t seem to see any response.
You find yourself questioning yourself, like, am I just not aware of His responses and reactions? Or is He really not moving?
Then that leads to the real questions – Is He even hearing me? Is He even there?
Times like these I find myself going back, or, rather, choosing to going back to realizing, forcing myself to realize sometimes, that it’s not about what I feel, or it’s not about what my senses perceive – These aren’t the guidelines or standards to see or meet when it comes to the reality of God and the Truth of His goodness. What I feel is fact, but the Truth is absolute.
Because even if I don’t ‘feel’ God, or even if I don’t see or hear of His goodness – Heck, now I’m thinking, maybe I just got so desensitized from me saying it to myself and others so much… The fact, the TRUTH remains that around 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ – the only begotten Son of God who cast His glory aside to be born and to live and breathe as one of us – cast all else aside and lay down His body and blood, all of Himself in order for us to be reconciled to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Even if I don’t feel any of it right now, I stand firm in the Truth – that Jesus Christ became sin and died the death that we deserved, so when He rose again we were confirmed as righteous and in good standing with God, that we rose, recreated, as new creations.
My mind is having difficulty seeing or hearing, and/or I am being sidetracked or distracted – but the Truth remains, that through Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, I – WE who believe in Him have been reborn, re-made as temples (tributes to God’s glory and grace), new vessels filled with new wine (the Holy Spirit).
The Truth remains – God is my Father, and because of Christ’s finished work, and the power of the Holy Spirit, absolutely nothing, not even doubt can separate me from His everlasting love.
Nothing can separate me from His perfect love, that casts out all fear.
Oh, indeed, I am thankful, we are thankful for His love! We are thankful for His everlasting and perfect love, that causes us to move in love, and to love one another – that the world may see and know that we are Christ’s!
Thank You, Father. For through this week so much has been done, but still so much remains to be done. Through this week we’ve seen things happening – but, admittedly, according to my limited perspective and my finite senses, it seems like much more of the bad is happening, and so quickly, in all aspects or degrees… But, indeed, we are thankful, I am thankful, because (1) the Truth remains and will always be the same Light, and (2) the Light shines ever brighter, and it is seen so much more even as the darkness seems to grow.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Psalm 22:3-5
Your goodness does not run according to our timeline, but according to your infinite power and eternal wisdom.
The more cause there is to doubt You, Father, the more reason we find to trust You.
As countless parents have proclaimed over their children, and as countless brothers and sisters proclaimed, and continue to proclaim:
You have blessed us. You have kept us. Your face shines upon us, You are gracious to us.
You lift Your countenance upon us, and You give us Your peace.
Indeed, through Christ, all this has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled. It remains true and absolute, in all we are going through – and, again, there’s nothing left to do, but to be thankful, to praise and glorify His name.
Thank You, Jesus. For in You we live, in You we move, and in You we have our being. Be exalted in the chaos. Be praised in the bounty… And be glorified, even in the silence.
You have glorified Your name, and You will glorify it again. Hosanna!
19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
Psalm 22:19-31
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