PSALMS 143:8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You. 9 Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; In You I take shelter.10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. 11 Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
Sometimes it’s hard to trust God, isn’t it? Every morning when I wake up, I want to spend time with God; reading, praying...crying. Just to seek His comfort means all to me. And I need to hear His loving kindness....and I can hear Him speak thru His Word...and allowing His peace to encircle me. In Him, I do trust. I have no other choice, no other remedy for my mourning, except to trust Him.
In our text, David is crying out to God, isn’t he? Notice how David, a man after God’s own heart, cries out "Cause me to know the way in which I should walk". You’d think that David already knew how to walk; God had blessed him immensely, but he was in the middle of a big trial at this point. He said that he "lifts up his soul to God". Notice that David is reaching up to God, not happy to just wallow in his troubles, but seeking out the face of God Himself to bring about peace. David says "in you I take shelter" and then, once again he asks God to teach him God’s will. He ends by saying "revive me, o Lord.
PROV 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. 11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
I don’t understand a lot of God’s ways....ISA 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. I do know that we need to acknowledge Him, and He will direct our path. How do we acknowledge Him? Well, it tells us in this text. What does it mean "don’t be wise in your eyes?" Do you remember in the days of Noah and Lot where the Bible says that men were doing what was right in their own eyes? I believe the same thing is happening with Christians these days...too many times we are doing what is right in our own eyes and aren’t concerned about what God has to say about it.
Vs 7 says Fear the Lord and depart from evil....yet we see "Christians" no only not departing from evil, but justifying it even to the point of bringing it into our churches. I saw where one church, and I’m sure probably more than one, is showing "worldly movies" and advertising this new video game called "HALO" (which has nothing to do with Christ) They are holding HALO tournaments in order to "reach out to the youth". Compromising God’s Word in order to get numbers. Listen, we need to reach youth, but our message must be the message of the cross! You can have 100 youth attending your meetings, but if any one of them cannot tell you the plan of salvation or that he knows he is truly saved and born again, then all you have is a place for kids to hang out. I am proud of the way Nanci always made it a point that any crafts or anything that the children took out of this church to their home, there was scripture on it. How much are we cheating our children whenever we just let them play and not learn about Jesus?
Fear the Lord and depart from evil; if we do this, it will be healthy for us. You believe that? Let’s look at vs 9...WOW...honor the Lord with your possessions....most people are wanting God to honor them by giving them more possessions....Listen, if you have a good job, you should thank God every day for Him giving you that job. Every time you pick up a fork or spoon to eat a good meal, praise God for His provisions. I am shocked at the number of Christians I see that forget to offer thanks over their food! Honor God with your possessions! So what is the first fruit of your increase???
I am going to break this down the way it took for me to understand it. I’d always heard about "first-fruit" but never really understood it. Here is a simple way to explain it....if you get a $100 a week raise at your job, what are you supposed to tithe? $10? No, the first fruit is $100. The first $100 goes to God...then after that first time of increase, it goes back to 10%. I didn’t really mean to get into this, but we need to know what God intends for us to know. So now you know, you can’t claim ignorance!!! (LOL)
God says if you do that, your barns will be full and your vats will overflow with new wine....simply, God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. And He owns EVERYTHING!!! David also said that he has never seen the righteous forsaken..and if you think about, you can probably say the same thing. VS 11 my son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
I don’t like chastening. Even the word chastening sounds bad, doesn’t it? Sometimes it’s necessary though. Is it better to warn a child not to touch a hot stove and punish him if he won’t listen than it is to just let him put his hand on it get hurt worse than any chastening you might give him? For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. God delights in you...you know how proud you are when one of your children accomplishes a difficult task? How proud do you think your Father in heaven is whenever you go thru a trial and get to the other side? Don’t get mad at God. He loves you and protects you.
Finally, I have to to trust God because of ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Most of the time, we can’t see possibly how in the world things are working for our good....but God’s Word says they are and God is not a liar. He is incapable of lying, so I believe it and trust Him. Look on down to ROM 8:31.......If God is for us, who can be against us? Nothing can stand against God...and He is for us. He wants you to make it. He wants you to succeed. He wants to be proud of you whenever you get thru that battle. The great thing about God is...He doesn’t send you into battle alone, does He? He said "I’ll never leave you or forsake you". He is with us even unto the end!
I take shelter in God. I look to the hills from whence cometh my help. I don’t always understand what He’s doing or why I’m going thru what I’m going thru. But God has a plan, and I’ve learned to TRUST GOD.
