Psalm 143:8 (ESV)
“[8] Let me hear IN THE MORNING of YOUR steadfast love, for in YOU I trust.
“MAKE ME KNOW THE WAY” I SHOULD GO,
for to YOU I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 27:9
“[9] Hide not YOUR face from me.
Turn not YOUR servant away in anger,
O YOU WHO have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O GOD of my salvation!”
Psalm 25:4-5 (ESV)
“[4] “MAKE ME TO KNOW YOUR WAYS”, O LORD;
teach me YOUR paths.
[5] Lead me in YOUR TRUTH and teach me,
for YOU are the GOD of my salvation;
for YOU I wait all the day long.”
As I attempt to make certain that I follow “YOUR WAYS”, I find myself second-guessing myself that I am doing what is in HIS PERFECT will. The month of July 2007 was critical for my family, but for me I could do NO WRONG! I was in a coma and had NO CONTROL over anything that happened to me during those seventeen days!
The feeling of not being in control of anything is really sort of liberating. I remember the first few days of being “awake” again, I was so relaxed, almost “do whatever you want to me”!!! I was so “agreeable” that I didn’t want to do anything to alienate my nurses , a career that my mom had for most of my life. “MAKE ME TO KNOW YOUR WAYS” is something that I was taught without knowing that I was “in school”? I did exactly what I wanted to, but my “want to” was drastically different from three weeks prior!
The same position is something that I need to surrender to in my life today. My EYES need to be fixed on SEEING “MAKE ME TO KNOW YOUR WAYS” even when I am not focused on doing RIGHT! If I can SEE “MAKE ME TO KNOW YOUR WAYS” in front of my selfish desires, maybe I will FOLLOW HIM more frequently???
1 Corinthians 15:20-26 (ESV)
“[20] But in fact CHRIST has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a MAN has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also “IN CHRIST” SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE. [23] But each in his own order: CHRIST the firstfruits, then at HIS coming those who belong to CHRIST. [24] Then comes the end, when HE delivers the kingdom to GOD the FATHER after destroying every rule and every authority and power. [25] For HE must reign until HE has put all his enemies under HIS feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
My sins are a part of the “the fall” of humanity! Adam and Eve “chose” to select sin over PEACE, and that choice has made us the wretched people we are. ALL descendants from Adam and Eve are cursed, but some of US are CHOSEN to LIVE ANEW!!!
ALL of humanity, IN ITS ENTIRETY, doesn’t have what it takes to live a HOLY life, but “IN CHRIST” ALL SHALL BE MADE ALIVE! You can’t just “know about” CHRIST, but you MUST have HIM in you and you MUST BE “IN CHRIST”!!!!
Psalm 51 (ESV)
Create in Me “A CLEAN HEART”, O GOD
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
[1] Have mercy on me, O GOD,
according to YOUR steadfast love;
according to YOUR abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me THOROUGHLY from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
[3] For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against YOU, YOU ONLY, have I sinned
and done what is “evil” in YOUR sight,
so that YOU may be justified in YOUR words
and blameless in YOUR judgment.
[5] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
[6] Behold, YOU delight in TRUTH in the inward being,
and YOU teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8] Let me hear joy and gladness;
LET THE BONES THAT YOU HAVE BROKEN REJOICE.
[9] Hide YOUR face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
[10] CREATE in me “A CLEAN HEART”, O GOD,
and renew a right spirit within me.
[11] Cast me not away from YOUR presence,
and take not your HOLY SPIRIT from me.
[12] RESTORE to me the joy of YOUR salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
[13] Then I will teach transgressors YOUR ways,
and sinners will return to YOU.
[14] Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O GOD,
O GOD of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of YOUR righteousness.
[15] O LORD, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare YOUR praise.
[16] For YOU will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
YOU will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
[17] THE SACRIFICES OF GOD ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT;
A BROKEN HEART AND CONTRITE HEART, O GOD, YOU WILL NOT DESPISE.
[18] Do good to Zion in YOUR good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
[19] then will YOU delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on YOUR altar.”
King David was BROKEN!! Today HE HAS BROKEN ME! Our CREATOR doesn’t have to have a sin so grand that we are shamed tremendously!
GOD wants to give us “A CLEAN HEART”, but HE has to put us through some “difficult” situations to display HIS MERCY and GRACE!!!
Genesis 18:16-21 (ESV)
“[16] Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. [17] The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, [18] seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? [19] “FOR I HAVE CHOSEN HIM”, that he may command his children and his household after him to KEEP THE WAY OF THE LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” [20] Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, [21] I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.””
Was the FAITH of Abraham automatically bestowed upon him at a point in his life? Did he just wake up one day and TRUST in GOD ALMIGHTY with his entire being? Abraham was born Abram, a son of Terah (Genesis 11:26). GOD changed his name to Abraham in Genesis 17:5, where it is written “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, FOR I (GOD ALMIGHTY) HAVE MADE YOU THE FATHER OF A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS.” GOD had developed the FAITH of Abraham and HE wanted to display this to everyone!
Long before Abraham was born Abram, GOD had ordained and CHOSEN him (Ephesians 1:4). As Abraham followed the PATH for his life, his FAITH grew stronger and stronger. He was renowned for it his entire life, AND BEYOND! His FAITH was written about as late as in 1 Peter. Why did this happen? Because GOD PLANNED it!!
Has ALMIGHTY GOD CHOSEN to fulfill a PURPOSE of HIS PLAN with your life? The pain and suffering that you experience COULD be for HIS GLORY??? Those who seem to have everything going their way will ONE DAY stand at the JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST and will have nothing to offer HIM, except wealth and prosperity. What will you have to offer the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES? My prayer is that JESUS will say about me “FOR I HAVE CHOSEN HIM”, and that is all that matters!!!
Exodus 33:12-16 (ESV)
Moses’ Intercession
“[12] Moses said to the LORD, “See, YOU say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but YOU have not let me know whom YOU will send with me. Yet YOU have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in MY sight.’ [13] Now therefore, if I have found favor in YOUR sight, “PLEASE SHOW ME NOW YOUR WAYS”, that I may know YOU in order to find favor in YOUR sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” [14] And HE said, “MY PRESENCE will go with you, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST.” [15] And he said to HIM, “If YOUR PRESENCE will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. [16] For how shall it be known that I have found favor in YOUR sight, I and YOUR people? Is it not in YOUR going with us, so that WE ARE DISTINCT, I and YOUR people, FROM EVERY OTHER PEOPLE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH?””
Moses was the earthly author of the first five books of the BIBLE, but he still needed ALMIGHTY GOD to guide him through “this world”! Yet in this particular passage of Scripture Moses is saying GOD that the Children of Israel “need” to be different FROM EVERY OTHER PEOPLE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH? Why else did Moses write WE ARE DISTINCT???
If Moses KNEW that he and the CHOSEN OF GOD were different than others in “this world”, why did he have to request that ALMIGHTY GOD “PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR WAYS”? Can’t you imagine that GOD could have “ordained” them to follow HIM completely and we would SEE HIS sovereignty and never strayed into doing what “we wanted”? Surely we would learn from their errors?? Or maybe we would SEE their “rewards” for doing things their “own way” and not make the same mistakes!!
Sometimes I don’t get it! The choices I make are NOT in my best interests. WHY do I do the things that I do? Maybe it is because I don’t SEEK HIM daily to “PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR WAYS”???
Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)
“[3] And I heard a loud voice from the THRONE saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of GOD is with man. HE will dwell with them, and they will be HIS people, and “GOD HIMSELF” will be with them as their GOD. [4] HE will WIPE AWAY every tear from their eyes, and death shall be NO MORE, neither shall there be MOURNING, nor CRYING, nor PAIN anymore, for the former things have passed away.””
Recently I saw a video of an Army soldier returning to a restaurant and hugging his mother. The hug lasted for more time than one might expect? Ahhh, but then I began to think!
The GRANDEUR of seeing “GOD HIMSELF” will UNDOUBTEDLY overshadow ALL that our imagination has to offer! Even my extraordinarily beautiful wife will pale when I SEE JESUS!!! I don’t, as I’m sure most of us can’t, fathom “GOD HIMSELF” being with us as our GOD???
Will GOD hug me like the aforementioned mom did her military son? I will not know until I arrive in Heaven, but I will DEFINITELY find out when I see “GOD HIMSELF”!!!
