There is One that always remembers.

    We try hard to remember. We have to remember certain aspects of our lives. We have certain responsibilities we need to remember.  We have appointments that we need to remember. There are dates in our relationships that we need to remember.

    We know that some people are much better at remembering than others. They are better at schedules and appointments. They are better at remembering the birthdays and special occasions of those important in their lives.

    Still, each and every one of us, forget at times.  We forget promises made to others. We forget appointments at times. We may even get busy with our own lives and forget the responsibilities we have in our lives. We can even forget the important people in our relationships with others. We make promises to remember but we may forget those promises. We can remember our child in one moment and in the next forget them.

    There is One that always remembers.  The Lord never forgets us. He remembers every facet and part of our lives.  He remembers our days and every promise He had made to us. He doesn’t have to see us to remember us. He remembers us because He has engraved us on the palm of His hand. He does not for a moment forget us. He never forgets His children.  In His eternal and steadfast love, He always has us before Him and He always remembers each and every one of us

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;  your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

Suggested Reading Isaiah 49

Waiting for understanding.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” 

(Psalm 27:13-14 NIV).

  As followers of Christ, we at times think and feel we must speak for God.  When others question whether God is with them or knows of their difficulties … we feel we must defend God.  If someone longs for a healing or a deliverance and God does not heal or deliver … we feel we have to try in some way to speak about the timing of God’s work, the release of the situation to God’s sovereignty and God’s care even in midst of their pain.

    In our own lives … we speak to ourselves trying to negotiate the same territory, attempting somehow to persuade our hearts to remain trusting while we struggle to understand.  It is the reality of our faith in God that we dwell in the territory of this tension between trusting and understanding.  We walk by faith but our steps of trusting in faith are tenuous at times even though we should be confident in our faith.  We need our faith to be mighty and strong as we have a relationship with the Mighty God but we pull back wandering around a bit, trying to understand.

    We can blame much of this wandering, on our leaning on our own understanding.  It is our trusting upon our own understanding that allows us to be anxious in this place of unknowing.  It is our lack of being able to truly wait on God, on not letting God be God, on expecting God to follow our plans or deliver in ways that make sense to our understanding that keeps us here struggling and trying to speak about God.

    We do not have to answer for God’s healing or His presence in difficulties.  We simply need to trust Him.  In the waiting, we prayerfully trust in the promises of His Word and the abiding guidance of the Holy Spirit. .

    Trust is a small word with vast meanings. It is really a word that is easily spoken but elusive to live out in a complete way.  Still it is the word that defines faith as we trust even as we seek understanding over and over again.  Trusting in God is the only way into the promised land, the place where He delivers us and abides with us even as we seek understanding of Him.

“So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:4-6 KJV).

Suggested Reading Proverbs 3 & Psalm 27

   

What remains ...

  It is remarkable to me, as I ponder life.  There are common threads to our existence on the earth. In the ancient and in the modern, certain themes seem to hold true through time.  Human beings can build massive buildings, exquisite homes and beautiful structures for numerous uses which can be geometrically designed and perfected and ascetically purposed. Some stand throughout time and are timeless and some stand out in time as skelatons and reminders of the elusiveness of wealth, power and prestige without being used for anything except to serve as a design or an architectural example for the following ages.

    

     All these buildings and homes represent the power, prestige and wealth of the person or of  the age and yet these same structures seem to stand more importantly as examples of the futility of wealth and position to secure anything permanent in their intended purpose and fulfillment.  From the military realm to the political realm, to the countless other realms that occupy our daily living … none are completely and timelessly worthy of our trust in the deepest parts of our souls.  None of them stand for very long and cannot be completely trusted.  It is only the Lord God and His ways that can be trusted.  So trust completely in Him.

“Now know I that the LORD saves his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright” 

(Psalm 20:6-8 NIV).

Suggested Reading Psalm 20

The mountains that are moved around us.

 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:22-24 NIV).

  It is a common occurrence that believers are often elated, excited and overjoyed with miracles giving evidence of the power of God.  These miracles and interventions by our Gracious God include victories over bondages, sin, sicknesses and even over impossible difficulties and circumstances that followers have faced in the past or are dealing with right now in the present.  How can we not rejoice and celebrate these gracious gifts from our Lord?

    

    We should celebrate the mountains that have been moved in our lives and that we see moved in our world. We should offer to our Lord: praise, honor and thankfulness for His coming to our aid and deliverance but in our joy over the mountain that have been moved, we must never lose sight of the greater joy.  The greatest joy in our lives, is our relationship with our God. He redeemed us from living in hopelessness in a lost world. He fills our lives with wonderful blessings.  He cares so deeply about us that He remakes, refines and transforms us into new creations that reflect the image of our Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do.

    

     Celebrate the mountains that God moved in your life and in the lives of those around you but celebrate even greater, the joy that you know the Almighty Living God as your Father in heaven.  The greatest joy of our lives is knowing the Father that loves us as His children.  He is far greater in all that He is and all that He does, than the mountains He moves in our lives.   Celebrate and be thankful that you are His child and in His care. 

"Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).
Suggested Reading Luke 10 & Mark 11

As they were … we can be.

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you” (Jeremiah 7:23 NIV).

  We can all do things for many reasons.  You can go on a diet to lose weight.  You can work hard to accomplish your goals.  You can save money in order to purchase things that you think you want or need.  We do some of the things we do with expectations as to the results that come from doing them.

     What happens if the diet fails or your savings have to be spent on the unexpected?  Sometimes we get upset and might give up on diets or we may just quit our savings plan when things don’t go the way we expected them to. There just are times when we find our expectations not coming true or watch as our hopes fade away. 

     The people that surrounded Jesus as He lived on the earth followed a course of actions in their religious faith in much the same way.  They did things for God and unto God basically trying hard at times, following the rules, expecting blessings and rewards from their efforts.  They saw themselves as God’s people and they expected Him to bless them because of their birthright and also because of religious works and piety. Of course, obedience does bring blessing but didn’t want to learn about what God desired, they wanted Him to give them what they thought they deserved for living as a good Jewish person should.

     Christians today can fall into the same trap. Christians can look at Jesus Christ as a means to meet our expectations for our desires and wishes as we do religious things for Him.  When our expectations  for blessings don’t quite work out or the faith road turns out a bit different than what we expected, it might be tempting to  lose hope because we put our trust in a system of religious effort and piety just like the people in the time of Jesus.

    Our hope is in trusting God and the saving grace filled relationship we have with Him through Jesus Christ.  It is a matter of giving God your whole heart.  Our efforts in regards to faith … rest in loving Him, following Him and loving others with His love. We can expect His care, His provision, His abiding and our salvation as absolutes and secure as rock.  The blessing of knowing Him and know He will change us by His Holy Spirit is and never abandon us now or for eternity are the best expectations in the world and the only ones that will always be true.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV).

Suggested Reading Deuteronomy 6 & Jeremiah 7

Seeing ourselves as we are.

“The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:6-8 KJV).

  

We all have a tendency at times to fail to see our true fragility as a human being.  We expect our health to good in spite of our diet, routine or exercise. We tend to think that generally things will roll along in our lives following a smooth path with hardy a bump or glitch along the way.  We tend to think our possessions are ours alone and that we will accumulate more and that all of the stuff whether needed or unneeded will remain alongside us in the semi-permanent manner in which we live our days.  The truth is vastly different if we really are aware of the frailty of life.

Our lives are really like a vapor (James 4:14) or the grass of the field (Matthew just as the Scriptures so often speak.  The fact that the Prophets, Psalmists, Writers and even the Savior proclaim this truth, that doesn’t alleviate our tendency to drift into thinking otherwise.

We must be able to acknowledge our frailty in order to see God as God and ourselves as we really are. This acknowledgment is foundational in our true self-awareness and humbleness before God as we seek Him, need Him and walk with Him each and every day.  Our health or our homes can be like vapors that floats away but God is with us. Our pathways in life may include rough spots but He will carry us.  We may lose all our possessions and things may rust and wear out but  we have the treasure of our lives in the palm of His hand.  Our lives are like the grass of the field but He tenderly nourishes it, cares for it and renews it after the seasons of life.  Only God is eternal and only our relationship with Him will span eternity, all else will fade away. Every day that we live, He gracefully gives to us … so don’t forget to simply thank Him  all of your days.

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.

(Psalm 25:4 & 5)

Suggested Reading Psalm 24 & Isaiah 40