Verse of the Day - Psalm 104:4-5

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done... ~ Psalm 104:4-5 (NIV)

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I'm part of a small group on Thursday nights, and we place a heavy emphasis on prayer. One of our former members gave us all prayer journals for Christmas last year, and it's been neat to jot down our prayer requests, and subsequently look back and be able to declare God's provision for those requests! Sometimes, it's easy to forget these needs from week to week, but when you can look back on paper, often we are blessed to realize that God did a wonder in that situation. Praise the Lord!

Last night, I was able to give great praise for a couple of situations that I knew about where God provided for people -- a new place to live for one, and provision and protection in a difficult domestic situation for the other. Oh, Lord, thank You for meeting needs sometimes unexpectedly and sometimes exactly when the crisis requires.

If you have faith in the Lord God, you will go to Him in prayer. But sometimes...or rather, often...God's timeline and method don't match ours, amen? Whether it's a lengthy illness or laborsome relational issues that drag on endlessly, we wonder where God is and what in the world He's doing. We want relief but none seems to come. We want answers but don't hear any. At these times, it is vital to remember what God has done in the past, how He has not fallen asleep at the wheel in your life in the past, and how you really can trust Him to manage your current situation in just the right way. That's what the psalmist did in Psalm 105. Read for yourself the way he reminds people of God's provision... http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20105&version=31

Our pastor last Sunday talked about how and when God "remembered" people, and one of the references was when the Bible records that God remembered the people of Israel when they were in slavery in Egypt. If you remember the story, he called Moses to rescue them from the hands of Pharaoh. But I thought about that and realized that those people were in Egypt for 400 years! Four-hundred years. Talk about delay! We pray for a month about an issue that begs for resolution or healing, and when we don't see any progress, we get weary and frustrated and angry and depressed. Can you imagine how they felt when generation after generation died in captivity, with no end in sight? Where was God in all of that?

As the psalmist chronicles, God was right there, before they ever went to Egypt and after they left. Lessons were learned all along the way, even when things didn't go the way they wanted them to. We don't hear about the millions of life lessons that God taught to each individual, but I know that they're there -- buried in the untold stories of the individuals that lived it. God does wonders in people's lives continually, whether we can see the forest for the trees, or not.

Let's keep sharing the wonders that God is doing, to encourage those who can't see what He's doing. He is a great God and greatly to be praised! For all we don't see Him doing, there are millions and billions of things He is doing. I pray we can recognize His sovereignty and power over all things, especially the circumstances we're dealing with today.

Love,
Joelene