Verse of the Day - Psalm 18:19

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
~ Psalm 18:19 (NIV)

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On the surface, David can almost sounds egotistical...God delights in me...I am blameless in His sight...He has rewarded my righteousness... (read this chapter through...it's in there)

I almost wonder if God allowed David to feel heady about his own purity in his early years, so that he'd really feel the weight of his depravity later on in his life.

At any rate, God delivered him from his enemies in a mighty way, and David attributes it to God's faithfulness to the righteous, to mercy on one who is faithful to God. God is able to reach down, even in the most sticky situations, and rescue those in need. He does reward those who cling to Him, who believe in him. But does He always bring us "out into a spacious place"? I wonder what Job would think of David's 18th Psalm? Would he say, Silly boy...tricks are for kids--you just haven't lived long enough to understand life as it really is... ?

God's ways simply are not our ways. His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. Trying to put God in a box or think of Him as a cookie cutter will just get you frustrated, because He doesn't always treat us as we deserve (thankfully) or as we think we deserve. When we are disobeying God, we should expect chastisement...yet that doesn't always surface. When we are diligently obeying Him, we expect green pastures...yet we might be stuck in the mud. We're like Spock on Star Trek...Where's the logic? Where's the reason?

Who can understand the mind of God?

All I know is that those who trust in Him will never be disappointed, provided they understand the true nature of God (holy, good, loving, faithful) and how we fit in His big picture. It's not about me and my comfort, my needs being met...not even my health or my life. Every martyr for God was cut off from this earth by their enemies and not rescued. Does this mean God switched channels during a commercial and forgot to come back to the show? Does this mean those martyrs had somehow backsliden and, therefore, deserved their death as chastisement from the Lord? This is the thinking of many. This was the thinking of Job's friends, who just knew he'd done something bad to deserve his many trials and tribulations.

One thing we must never do -- never underestimate God's power to deliver you. Believe in Him to save! But allow Him the sovereignty not to deliver you from whatever you're going through. Let Him be God, and you be the servant. Trust and obey, that's the bottom line. Let Him be in charge. He's very capable, you know. :-)

And yes, God does delight in His children, in those who turn their eyes toward His face and seek to serve Him in love. He loves to see their smiles and wants to give good gifts to them. But they are also bound to this sin-sick world and are needed in service to Him. This calls for action and self-sacrifice now, in this world.

I saw a funny t-shirt the other day that said, "Support your local Search and Rescue...get lost!" Well, if you are a Christ follower, you are part of God's Search and Rescue Team! You're gonna get cold and dirty and scratched up doing God's business, but don't forget that you're on mission...and your life is "mission-critical" to God's plan to rescue the world.

Love,
Joelene