Letting things happen as they happen.
Letting thoughts through as they pop up.
Letting the river flow.
Life’s been leaving me wanting as of late. I’m not satisfied, nor do I have a way up or a way out of all of it. You’d think that I’d do the smart thing and be a man about it and shut up about it, working on it instead of writing about it… But, well, I suppose this is me working on it by writing about it. Perhaps, now as in always, something of value is actually drawn out while we let all of the spam and the clutter out of the mind first.
Life’s been difficult, and it’s not necessarily all happening in my life in particular… It’s just that you couldn’t help but take on the burdens of others, and not have the weight bear on you as well. Like, just now, I forgot that I was supposed to be present for a friend whose Dad died earlier this week, and whose cremation was, what, a couple of hours ago.
There’re a couple of friends, some relatives too, who have loved ones who aren’t in good physical shape either. Makes me appreciate my own Mom a whole lot more, and while I should be more enthusiastic in adding value to her life, I’m being dragged down by my own plights and issues.
Like at work. I mean, it’s a good job. I enjoy adding value, I am aware that I AM adding value to a good company… but it’s just taking so much out of my time and sanity. It’s also been impacting my ministry, in that I haven’t been as on-point with my messages – and as of yesterday, I’ve had issues with my voice projection as we practiced the songs we’re supposed to sing tomorrow.
And, really, I’m thinking as I let all of this out that it’s counterproductive, that I’m exposing my weakness for all to exploit – and, sure, folks can take advantage of this somehow, but I’m not ending here. No, I’m saying, as I’m always saying:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning, new every morning;
Great is Thy faithfulness, o Lord;
Great is Thy faithfulness.
This is how it ought to be with all of us who claim to believe in Jesus – that all things, whether things that happen to us or things that we make happen: It all comes from Him, and it is all brought back to Him, pointing to Him – to Christ and His finished work.
To Him be all the glory and praise forever and ever. Amen.
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered,
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered,
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered,
That’s why I trust Him,
That’s why I trust Him!
– ‘Trust in God’, Elevation Worship
We continue to trust in God in our losses, and in our trials. We trust and thank God in our pain and our shame, as we suffer and as we cry out – because the Holy Spirit continually reminds us, that as we seek the Lord, He hears us, and He answers us.
We give glory and honor to God, our Father, in all things, because He responds according to His eternal wisdom, His infinite strength, and His everlasting love; We know this because He responded to the problem on sin, with the ultimate Answer, the absolute Solution, and the final Word – Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord, and King.
It’s because of this that we are able to delve into the Scriptures of old, joining our hearts with the Psalmist, in giving glory and honor to the Lord across seemingly countless generations.
Psalm 115
The Futility of Idols and the Trustworthiness of God
1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.
Indeed, let one verse be enough to stir us to praise. Indeed, let the glory and the honor and the power and the praise be brought to Jesus, and not stop with us. Let the fruits be ascribed to the Spirit, and let the works find their place – beneath the infinite superiority of our God and Father.
He is good – He ALONE is good and glorious. His name is the name above every other name, and we recognize this only because of His mercies that are new every morning; because of His mercies that are as high as the heavens are from the earth. We recognize Christ as deserving of the name above every other name, because it is from Him that we have the Truth that endures, and from Him do we receive and enjoy the presence of the Spirit of Truth, who leads us into all Truth.
Halleluyah. Our Lord God omnipotent reighneth. Halleluyah.
2 Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God?”
3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.
Those who place their trust and belief on the finite – whether seen or unseen, but ultimately finite – are finite themselves.
And this is not limited to what we create with our finite hands, but also what we perceive and claim to realize with our finite brains – Any and all things the finite create is finite, and we would be foolish to place our beliefs and trust on what has a beginning and the end.
We give God the glory because through Christ we are grafted into His family, and made His people. We who were hopeless Gentiles could now join the Jew in believing Christ, joining in calling the Creator of the Universe and all things seen and unseen our own Abba, our own Father.
Yes, sir. We do not merely have a concept to adhere to. We have much more than a religion to follow. We realize that even the pinnacle of all Creation is finite, and therefore worthy of attention we give to anything else that is finite. We realize we are created, and that we have a Creator… and, together with the Jew who believes in His only begotten Son, we are able to confidently call this Creator our Father. More than anything, we have God as our Father, and He calls us His children.
In God we Trust – In our FATHER we trust.
We sought our Father, and He heard, and He answered.
That’s why we trust Him.
9 O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
12 The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great.
There we go. That’s why we trust Him – because He is our help.
I declare now – He is my Help when someone calls out in the middle of the night and I’m stuck with trips that need to be reassigned before pickup before the sun rises.
God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is my Help as I navigate through my days are they are now, struggling with maintaining a good work-life balance.
He is my Help as the rest of the world just happens, while I am forced to care and to focus on these things. He is my Father who helps me through it all, causing all things to work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
God is my Shield – moving in the midst of the body of Christ, in, out and around us, that no weapon formed against us would prosper…
…that a thousand may fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, but the evil would not touch us, or the families that we represent…
…that though the devil roams as a lion, he cannot snatch us away from our Father’s hand…
…that though this old adversary and enemy of our souls has had experience literally as old as time to steal from us, kill us, and destroy us, the fact and Truth of the matter is that we have life, and Life abundant.
Our Father is our Help, and our Father is our Shield. We trust in Him, and, yes, we are not put to shame. We bless His name that we would be blessed… We bless His name because we have already been blessed, and are being blessed.
14 May the LORD give you increase more and more, You and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17 The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the LORD From this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!
To our God be all the glory and praise… for I enter into these things feeling distraught and all sorts of things, but after we go through His Word, I am refreshed, straightened out, redirected, clarified, ever so slowly at times, but ever so surely all the time.
Thank You, Lord, for everything.
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