NSM Evotional 07/17/2012

A Glory Seed Devotional
Golden Nuggets from the Psalms…

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” (Psalms 22:1-2 ESV)

Jesus and the Psalmist to utter those words. Whether we realize it or not, whether we don’t want to fess up to it or not we, too have used them. And in my case, there have been days when that’s all I can think about only I add another sentence, “God, are you listening to me?”

Yet in spite of my restlessness over whether God has forsaken me or if he refuses to hear me, the words of Psalm 139 ring just as true and powerful as do the verses above. “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” (Psalms 139:1-4 ESV)

God HEARS! God LISTENS! God KNOWS! God FEELS! God ANSWERS! Our biggest difficulty is in not hearing God answer us, our biggest difficulty is in observing HOW God answers us. “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” (Psalms 139:5-6 ESV) These two verses suggest that there are times when we may not be able to understand HOW God answers us, but they also suggest that whether we understand the answer or not we are still in the sphere and hands of God.

There are times when I believe God wants and needs us to believe in him not HOW he answers our prayers. When we cannot hear God or think we’ve been abandoned perhaps we should rehearse, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” (Psalms 91:1-2 ESV) And as we sit quietly in the sheltering hands of God perhaps, we should observe rather than just listen and exercise the seed of Faith.


Faith is not just a way of believing – Faith is a way of understanding!

Grace and PEACE!
Gary


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Scripture quotations marked ESV "Are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."