A Planting of Faith Seeds for the Glory of the LORD
God as a Disciplinarian…
“As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands. Your laws are always right; help me to understand them so I may live. I pray with all my heart; answer me, LORD! I will obey your decrees. I cry out to you; rescue me, that I may obey your laws. I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words. I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise.” (Psalm 119:143–148, NLT)
Life can be at times a pressure cooker one of the reasons that is so is because life has a very subtle way of taking our focus off God just as the storm did with Peter as he was walking toward Jesus on the water. Today’s scripture is all about refocusing ourselves back on God. In our world where the powerful seem to rule there is a tendency to see God’s commands as “orders from headquarters”. And while it is true God is the Ultimate Boss rather than bossing us around he chose instead to lead us by example through Jesus. He chose instead to “get inside us” through the Holy Spirit and not only illuminate the right way to live our lives but also to empower us to do so.
There are times when it becomes almost impossible for me to center my thoughts on a loving and caring God that is especially true as I find myself thinking about all the tragedy that has our world in its powerful grasp. And I find myself struggling to understand the God I love so “I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in my relationship with Jesus. I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise never to leave me comfortless.”
As I struggle to understand God against the backdrop of his seemingly, at times, abandonment of our world I find myself choosing to understand his commands not as “orders from headquarters” where he bosses me around instead I see them as travel signs designed to not only get me to his ultimate destination for my life but at the same time assist me along the way.
I choose to believe that while God is a disciplinarian he defies human nature and disciplines you and I by lovingly guiding us through life toward the ultimate relationship with him he wants to have with us.
Lord God, “Your word (commands) is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.” (Psalm 119:105–106, NLT)
Believe it! Experience it!
Grace and PEACE!
Gary
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“Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.” (John 20:8–10, NLT)
“Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.” (John 20:8–10, NLT)
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“Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”