God and God alone!
This is a major concept and it is nothing short of miraculous when one
has something placed on their hearts so greatly that they will spend three days
trying to perform the deed to find out on the fourth day it is speaking to them
in black and white as well as the author speaking it out loud in a video. This particular lesson screamed out to my
heart and I wanted to put it in print so that I could let it soak into my brain
down to my heart and hopefully remember what I heard and read. And today it is putting the lesson into
action not just a lesson learned. If
this lesson could touch my heart so much then just maybe it will touch someone
else as it has me.
Most of the following lesson is quoted directly from Session
3’s video by Beth Moore’s study “David”, Seeking a Heart like His.”
Sowing seeds of jealousy
I Samuel 18:5-9 then pick up at verse 12 and give a little reflection
over it, to give some back ground to
where we are going. Verse 8 will be key for us for the entire study. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was
with him. I just want to camp here, I realize you have already seen this in
your homework, but I want us to launch from this place because I want to ask
you face to face and screen to screen with you..is there any more unpleasant
emotion or feeling that you know of than jealousy? Is there anybody ..is there anything you hate
worse than that? Jealousy always
perceives a threat of some kind. And a
threat is steeped in fear. When you feel
like you’re overwhelmed by a sense of jealousy ask yourself right at that
point—I have to ask myself right at that point, “What is it I am afraid
of?” Because it is spurred on by the
power of fear itself. What is it that is
driving that kind of jealousy? I want
you to think about the relationship between these two men, because this man is
who David would have played that he was as a child, the first king of
Israel. And here he is suddenly the
object of such jealousy and disdain that it has turned murderous. And even though that kind of circumstance may
be so dramatic to us, and we can’t
relate to the extremities of what has happened between David and Saul, we get
jealousy, we get gall, we get displeasure.
We understand what it means to feel threatened and displaced. Anybody?
So here’s what we are going to do.
I want you to turn with me to Psalm 62, the 62nd Psalm. It says in verse 1, “My soul finds rest in…”would
you complete that sentence for me please?
God alone. My salvation comes
from him “He alone is my rock and my salvation;
“he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. “How long will you assault a man? “Would all of you throw him down—“this leaning
wall this tottering fence. “They fully
intend to topple him from his lofty place; “they take delight in lies. “With their mouths they bless, but in their
hearts they curse. Find rest, O my soul,
in who? Audience.. God alone. “He alone
is my rock and my salvation; “he is my fortress, I will not be shaken . “My salvation and my honor depend on God; “he
is my might rock, my refuge. “Trust in
him at all times, O people; “pour out your hearts to him, for God is our
refuge. “Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie; “if I weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
“together, they are only a breath. “Do not
trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; “though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them. “One
thing God has spoken, two things..”I heard that you, O God, are strong, “and
that you, O Lord, are loving. “Surely
you will reward each person according to what he has done.”
What kind of man writes a song like that? I’m telling you that this is a chapter begging for memorization. If you’re just looking to have your mind freed from the bondage of all sorts of turmoil around you that just begs for your attention and your focus, this is a psalm that needs to be memorized.
You know what I was thinking about today when I was reflecting on it? I thought about the verse in Luke 6:45 that says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Because this is a very interesting parallel that David has placed upon paper because here is what happens. He begins by talking to himself. He then addresses his foe. He then addresses his own soul. So he goes from talking to himself to talking to the depths of himself. He then turns and talks to the congregation. Now, this is all with his pen. And then finally toward the very end of the psalm, he directs his words directly to God. He is making a confessional to remind himself Who is the object of his trust. Now I want you to begin a series of point with me because this so spoke to me.
What kind of man writes a song like that? I’m telling you that this is a chapter begging for memorization. If you’re just looking to have your mind freed from the bondage of all sorts of turmoil around you that just begs for your attention and your focus, this is a psalm that needs to be memorized.
You know what I was thinking about today when I was reflecting on it? I thought about the verse in Luke 6:45 that says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Because this is a very interesting parallel that David has placed upon paper because here is what happens. He begins by talking to himself. He then addresses his foe. He then addresses his own soul. So he goes from talking to himself to talking to the depths of himself. He then turns and talks to the congregation. Now, this is all with his pen. And then finally toward the very end of the psalm, he directs his words directly to God. He is making a confessional to remind himself Who is the object of his trust. Now I want you to begin a series of point with me because this so spoke to me.
1.
No one has ever fully embraced the concept of “God
Alone” apart from grave disappointment (Psalms 62:5)
I would submit to you that no one on the planet has really
ever embraced to the very heart the whole concept of God alone except through
grave disappointment. Listen, humanity
was created to find God. Whether or not
they know anything of Christ, no matter what remote part of the world they live
in, we were created by God with a soul, with a spirit that longs to worship,
that is looking for its God continually.
From the time we’re children to our old age, if we live that long, we
are looking for God. Only if we do not
acknowledge that there is only one true God then we’ll just spend our life
looking for little gods and trying to make one god out of a person after
another. Does this make sense to
anybody? So this whole life-long
struggle of trying to make a god out of man and the misery of it, the bondage
of it, finally can bring us to a place where we say, “I give up on making a
human my god, and I will bend my knee before God alone.” Anybody understand what I’m saying? I’m saying that if you come to a place to
fully accept this concept, you’ve got a story.
You can tell another person what brought you here. Because if I were a betting woman, I would
bet you have had one huge disappointment after another to finally bring you to
a place to admit that you put your stakes too high on humanity and looked away
from the True One and only, God Himself.
Now, here’s what I want to just throw out to you. Goliath was nothing of the giant that Saul was. After David had fought such a giant foe he turned around, and what was suppose to be his friend, what was supposed to be his side, his teammate, his king his hero became his enemy. There is nothing like this. And what began to occur to me is that there is never a person who can let us down that has not somewhere along the way lifted us up. Think about it, think about it. It’s not your foes that let you down. It’s been someone important to you, or they would have not had such a capacity to get to you. It’s only people we are vulnerable to, that we’ve opened our hearts to, that we’ve opened ourselves to respect and esteem that can bring us down because somewhere along the way they lifted us up.
Anybody been let down by somebody who perhaps for a very long time had lifted you up? A friend, a family member, a parent, a spouse, a leader? Somebody you were supposed to be able to look up to? I’ll tell you this. This place of God alone is a painful place to get, but it is a wonderful place to stay. Nobody gets to that place without a tremendous amount of pain and disappointment but I do want to submit to you today that we could get there and stay. We could either learn this lesson over and over and over again with one tumultuous relationship after another with a life full of disappointment, or we could just like get it down pat. There is no one like Jehovah. There is God alone, and no one can match Him, and no one can be a savior to me. No one can be God to me. He alone, He alone.
I started thinking, the injury of this kind of complex is inestimable. Because what happens when someone that we have esteemed or someone we’ve looked greatly up to, somebody that we have made our unparalleled hero, and I believe in heroes. But when we set them up in a place where only God belongs, they’re going to come toppling down. Whether they do in their lives or not, they will come toppling down before our eyes. Does that make sense to anybody? And here’s what happens when they come tumbling. We decide, “Listen if they’re not real, this thing is not real.” I wonder if anybody has ever had such an impact on you that perhaps it has been years since you have been in church, because somewhere along the way, a leader that you respected, someone you had so highly esteemed, came tumbling down, just crumbled before your very eyes, and you thought, “You know what? If that’s not real to him it can’t be real at all.” And then here’s what else can happen. We can think to ourselves, “Listen, if they can’t do it no one can.” We can find out that someone we’ve believed that had such strength and power of God, such an anointing upon their lives that they seemed unique and set apart from everybody else you knew, and we see them tumble. Then we’ll decide, “You know, I promise you, if they can’t do it, I can’t do it.” And we determine from that that all of us are subject to pathetic lives of defeat until we get to heaven.
And that is not what God had in mind. But this is a lesson that has to come, and if it does not come we will stay in a spiral of bondage until we are so devastated. Our disappointment will move to devastation, where we can hardly lift up our heads before God, because we’ve been so let down by men, so let down by women. I really believe that there are people that go to such extremes of the concept that we’re talking about that others will decide that no one is worthy of respect or esteem at all. And I want to say to you today let’s not misunderstand the concept of God alone and determine that exaltation equals esteem. We’re called to esteem one another. We’re called to esteem our leaders.
We’re called--I was seeing in 1 Corinthians 15;18 when the Apostle Paul was talking about recognizing people who’ve refreshed our spirits. Big difference between appreciation and exaltation; big difference between esteem and exaltation. (She repeated to emphasize her point).
Now, here’s what I want to just throw out to you. Goliath was nothing of the giant that Saul was. After David had fought such a giant foe he turned around, and what was suppose to be his friend, what was supposed to be his side, his teammate, his king his hero became his enemy. There is nothing like this. And what began to occur to me is that there is never a person who can let us down that has not somewhere along the way lifted us up. Think about it, think about it. It’s not your foes that let you down. It’s been someone important to you, or they would have not had such a capacity to get to you. It’s only people we are vulnerable to, that we’ve opened our hearts to, that we’ve opened ourselves to respect and esteem that can bring us down because somewhere along the way they lifted us up.
Anybody been let down by somebody who perhaps for a very long time had lifted you up? A friend, a family member, a parent, a spouse, a leader? Somebody you were supposed to be able to look up to? I’ll tell you this. This place of God alone is a painful place to get, but it is a wonderful place to stay. Nobody gets to that place without a tremendous amount of pain and disappointment but I do want to submit to you today that we could get there and stay. We could either learn this lesson over and over and over again with one tumultuous relationship after another with a life full of disappointment, or we could just like get it down pat. There is no one like Jehovah. There is God alone, and no one can match Him, and no one can be a savior to me. No one can be God to me. He alone, He alone.
I started thinking, the injury of this kind of complex is inestimable. Because what happens when someone that we have esteemed or someone we’ve looked greatly up to, somebody that we have made our unparalleled hero, and I believe in heroes. But when we set them up in a place where only God belongs, they’re going to come toppling down. Whether they do in their lives or not, they will come toppling down before our eyes. Does that make sense to anybody? And here’s what happens when they come tumbling. We decide, “Listen if they’re not real, this thing is not real.” I wonder if anybody has ever had such an impact on you that perhaps it has been years since you have been in church, because somewhere along the way, a leader that you respected, someone you had so highly esteemed, came tumbling down, just crumbled before your very eyes, and you thought, “You know what? If that’s not real to him it can’t be real at all.” And then here’s what else can happen. We can think to ourselves, “Listen, if they can’t do it no one can.” We can find out that someone we’ve believed that had such strength and power of God, such an anointing upon their lives that they seemed unique and set apart from everybody else you knew, and we see them tumble. Then we’ll decide, “You know, I promise you, if they can’t do it, I can’t do it.” And we determine from that that all of us are subject to pathetic lives of defeat until we get to heaven.
And that is not what God had in mind. But this is a lesson that has to come, and if it does not come we will stay in a spiral of bondage until we are so devastated. Our disappointment will move to devastation, where we can hardly lift up our heads before God, because we’ve been so let down by men, so let down by women. I really believe that there are people that go to such extremes of the concept that we’re talking about that others will decide that no one is worthy of respect or esteem at all. And I want to say to you today let’s not misunderstand the concept of God alone and determine that exaltation equals esteem. We’re called to esteem one another. We’re called to esteem our leaders.
We’re called--I was seeing in 1 Corinthians 15;18 when the Apostle Paul was talking about recognizing people who’ve refreshed our spirits. Big difference between appreciation and exaltation; big difference between esteem and exaltation. (She repeated to emphasize her point).
2. We are never in greater need of humility
than when we are confident someone else is wrong. We continually think about needing humility when we come to
a place where we realize that we ourselves are wrong.
“I just need to humble myself and I need to admit that I’ve really messed up here.” But then there is a much more complicated estate when we are absolutely confident that someone else is. And here‘s the thought process I had today. What happens when we get in a conflict, And David was certainly in it. He was in a situation where someone had turned on him. Saul literally lost his ever loving mind and focused every bit of that insanity upon the man after God’s own heart. That was an occasion to know that he was completely wrong and David was in the right and I want to submit to you that when David says—I want you to glance into Psalm 62 when he says in verse 3, “How long will you assault a man?” “would all of you throw him down—this leaning wall, this tottering fence?” And he’s talking about himself. And he’s saying, “Listen, I mean like that would be the big deal about knocking me down, I mean, all you’d have to do is like just push one more time.” Anybody feel like they’re just a leaning wall, a tottering fence? I mean, what would it take? And what would you gain? I’m weak flesh and blood. What do you want from me? You keep pushing, and I’m going to fall, because that’s the nature of my humanity and the humility he brings to the mix.
And I started thinking that what happens when we get in a huge conflict with someone where we are absolutely convinced that they are wrong and we are right, and it does on occasion happen. Then we begin getting the ego thing and the arrogant thing until somewhere we come to a place where we realize we are not any longer near as right as we used to be. Anybody?
That we come to a place Where we decide that maybe the objective is to be less wrong than he or she is. Anybody? Because I ask you, how well have you dealt with a situation, a conflict where you actually were right and they actually were wrong? How long was it before you were wrong, too? I’m just telling you it was break neck speed for me. It’s not long. If I can figure out that, “You know what? I’m really in the right here,” then about the time I’m thinking I’m really in the right I start feeling proud of being in the right place.
I started thinking over and over again about humility in conflict, humility in conflict. Life is full of conflict. And you will come against people and I will come against people, that are simply overwhelming in their capacity to cut us to the quick. And that we’ll know very often that we have been wronged. And what do you do with that? What stance do we take? And I want to submit to you, we bow down low so God can deal with it.
Humility for a number of reasons. Humility because we have the same capacities for wrong as anybody else does. Somebody amen that?
Jot down—you can turn with me if you want to, or you can stay right there in Psalm 62, but I’m going to read to you out of Galatians. I’m already there so I’m going to just let you sit tight. (Galatians 6:1) Listen to these words. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, “you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted.” The Word of God is very clear that a person, and when it says “overtaken by a sin,” it’s like a tidal wave of temptation coming upon a person. And it said, “Listen, when somebody falls into sin, you who are spiritual,” and what it means by that is someone that is walking in the Spirit, that is full of the Spirit of God, somebody submitted to His power, to his authority, and to His affection. “Let it be that person that goes to restore him, “and let it be gentle, “lest he find himself in exactly the same situation or something of equal depravity and shame.” Because everybody is capable of failure. Everybody. Everybody is capable of losing their grip on reality. Would anybody say that’s true?
As I was listing reasons for humility in a situation like this, particularly when we’re dealing with somebody irrational. Anybody ever had an irrational person in her life? I want to see your sweet hand. Some of you are going…(she holds up her hand and points to it with that funny it is them look) laughter and then has the hand pointing back toward her) more laughter. Amen? What you don’t know is they’re going (and the gesture again.) laughter. There is nothing just like it because you can’t reason with them. We want to talk it through, but there’s no talking it through because they’re just irrational.
And I jotted down humility because we are not exempt from mental fragility, from being mentally fragile. Listen, girls, I want to say something to you. I know this for a fact, I’ve watched it happen. I’ve experienced it in times in my life. We are the next crisis away from a broken mind if that’s the way our psyche responded to that crisis. One crisis away. ( She holds up her finger to indicate 1). All of us can have a broken mind. All of us have the capacity to lose temporarily a grip. I love the wording. I certainly do want you to jot it down out of 2 Timothy, Chapter 1, that says to us, and I’m going to read it to you—it’s verse 7, 2 Timothy 1:7. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” I love this verse in the King James Version that tells us that “He did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, of love and of a sound mind,” a sound mind. Over and over I asked God to help me love Him with my mind, to protect my mind. I don’t know how many of you have a propensity toward obsessive thinking. It would do your teacher a lot of good for you to act like you have had lots of trouble with it. This is something that I would like to have some company in if you would be so gracious.
Anybody but me just like obsess on something? Just something happens, and I mean, I mean, just gets a mental grip. And it is just—it’s tormenting day and night. I mean, I’ll just think it to death, think it to death. I will have—I can’t tell you what kind of fights I’ve had with people in my mind. Anybody? I need to know! I mean just like a full dialogue, and then they say this, and then I say this! And I go back—I’m going to say this, and I’m going to say, I mean, and I win every time in my mind! Laughter everywhere….Everytime. Anybody? And her body language is a scream, difficult to put in print.) It’s just awful.(Repeats) It’s just awful. Just like it’s just I just over and over, “Stop it! Just stop it!” I mean, I have been on an elevator full of people, and been doing this whole thing in my mind and out loud going, “Stop it,” and everybody goes..(she turns her head as if they stare at her) laughter). Just torment. I try not to judge, because I’m afraid that the very next thing that happens that could be me. And listen, there’s nothing that can bring the maniac out of you like jealousy. There’s a threat on your marriage, a threat on a dear relationship to you, when we just start taking all ownership over the situation, and we feel threatened by it, we begin acting in a way that we have never acted in our lives. When was the last time you thought about a particular person, “I only ever act this way with them”? Anybody? Then you feel threatened somehow. Something is making us feel insecure in that area. We’ve got to get a grip because they are probably not going to give it to us. Anybody agree with that? Humility. Because pride goes before a fall. That’s why. That’s why we need a little humility.
“I just need to humble myself and I need to admit that I’ve really messed up here.” But then there is a much more complicated estate when we are absolutely confident that someone else is. And here‘s the thought process I had today. What happens when we get in a conflict, And David was certainly in it. He was in a situation where someone had turned on him. Saul literally lost his ever loving mind and focused every bit of that insanity upon the man after God’s own heart. That was an occasion to know that he was completely wrong and David was in the right and I want to submit to you that when David says—I want you to glance into Psalm 62 when he says in verse 3, “How long will you assault a man?” “would all of you throw him down—this leaning wall, this tottering fence?” And he’s talking about himself. And he’s saying, “Listen, I mean like that would be the big deal about knocking me down, I mean, all you’d have to do is like just push one more time.” Anybody feel like they’re just a leaning wall, a tottering fence? I mean, what would it take? And what would you gain? I’m weak flesh and blood. What do you want from me? You keep pushing, and I’m going to fall, because that’s the nature of my humanity and the humility he brings to the mix.
And I started thinking that what happens when we get in a huge conflict with someone where we are absolutely convinced that they are wrong and we are right, and it does on occasion happen. Then we begin getting the ego thing and the arrogant thing until somewhere we come to a place where we realize we are not any longer near as right as we used to be. Anybody?
That we come to a place Where we decide that maybe the objective is to be less wrong than he or she is. Anybody? Because I ask you, how well have you dealt with a situation, a conflict where you actually were right and they actually were wrong? How long was it before you were wrong, too? I’m just telling you it was break neck speed for me. It’s not long. If I can figure out that, “You know what? I’m really in the right here,” then about the time I’m thinking I’m really in the right I start feeling proud of being in the right place.
I started thinking over and over again about humility in conflict, humility in conflict. Life is full of conflict. And you will come against people and I will come against people, that are simply overwhelming in their capacity to cut us to the quick. And that we’ll know very often that we have been wronged. And what do you do with that? What stance do we take? And I want to submit to you, we bow down low so God can deal with it.
Humility for a number of reasons. Humility because we have the same capacities for wrong as anybody else does. Somebody amen that?
Jot down—you can turn with me if you want to, or you can stay right there in Psalm 62, but I’m going to read to you out of Galatians. I’m already there so I’m going to just let you sit tight. (Galatians 6:1) Listen to these words. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, “you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted.” The Word of God is very clear that a person, and when it says “overtaken by a sin,” it’s like a tidal wave of temptation coming upon a person. And it said, “Listen, when somebody falls into sin, you who are spiritual,” and what it means by that is someone that is walking in the Spirit, that is full of the Spirit of God, somebody submitted to His power, to his authority, and to His affection. “Let it be that person that goes to restore him, “and let it be gentle, “lest he find himself in exactly the same situation or something of equal depravity and shame.” Because everybody is capable of failure. Everybody. Everybody is capable of losing their grip on reality. Would anybody say that’s true?
As I was listing reasons for humility in a situation like this, particularly when we’re dealing with somebody irrational. Anybody ever had an irrational person in her life? I want to see your sweet hand. Some of you are going…(she holds up her hand and points to it with that funny it is them look) laughter and then has the hand pointing back toward her) more laughter. Amen? What you don’t know is they’re going (and the gesture again.) laughter. There is nothing just like it because you can’t reason with them. We want to talk it through, but there’s no talking it through because they’re just irrational.
And I jotted down humility because we are not exempt from mental fragility, from being mentally fragile. Listen, girls, I want to say something to you. I know this for a fact, I’ve watched it happen. I’ve experienced it in times in my life. We are the next crisis away from a broken mind if that’s the way our psyche responded to that crisis. One crisis away. ( She holds up her finger to indicate 1). All of us can have a broken mind. All of us have the capacity to lose temporarily a grip. I love the wording. I certainly do want you to jot it down out of 2 Timothy, Chapter 1, that says to us, and I’m going to read it to you—it’s verse 7, 2 Timothy 1:7. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” I love this verse in the King James Version that tells us that “He did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, of love and of a sound mind,” a sound mind. Over and over I asked God to help me love Him with my mind, to protect my mind. I don’t know how many of you have a propensity toward obsessive thinking. It would do your teacher a lot of good for you to act like you have had lots of trouble with it. This is something that I would like to have some company in if you would be so gracious.
Anybody but me just like obsess on something? Just something happens, and I mean, I mean, just gets a mental grip. And it is just—it’s tormenting day and night. I mean, I’ll just think it to death, think it to death. I will have—I can’t tell you what kind of fights I’ve had with people in my mind. Anybody? I need to know! I mean just like a full dialogue, and then they say this, and then I say this! And I go back—I’m going to say this, and I’m going to say, I mean, and I win every time in my mind! Laughter everywhere….Everytime. Anybody? And her body language is a scream, difficult to put in print.) It’s just awful.(Repeats) It’s just awful. Just like it’s just I just over and over, “Stop it! Just stop it!” I mean, I have been on an elevator full of people, and been doing this whole thing in my mind and out loud going, “Stop it,” and everybody goes..(she turns her head as if they stare at her) laughter). Just torment. I try not to judge, because I’m afraid that the very next thing that happens that could be me. And listen, there’s nothing that can bring the maniac out of you like jealousy. There’s a threat on your marriage, a threat on a dear relationship to you, when we just start taking all ownership over the situation, and we feel threatened by it, we begin acting in a way that we have never acted in our lives. When was the last time you thought about a particular person, “I only ever act this way with them”? Anybody? Then you feel threatened somehow. Something is making us feel insecure in that area. We’ve got to get a grip because they are probably not going to give it to us. Anybody agree with that? Humility. Because pride goes before a fall. That’s why. That’s why we need a little humility.
3. We will
either wrestle all our lives with unmet expectations or
intentionally decide to rest our souls in God.
Are we are going to continually wrestle with people the rest
of our lives or at some point are we going to intentionally turn our souls? In
the Hebrew there is this sense of turning the soul to face God alone and find
our expectations met in Him. You would
hear it in the King James Version when it says in Psalms 62 verse 5, “Find
rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.” That word in the King James version is
expectation. My expectation comes from
Him. Something I learned years ago that
I’ve said over and over to myself, and prayed over and over to my God, and tried to
remember every single time I fell back into the trap is that you cannot expect
of people what only God can deliver.
It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to you. People are worthy of our esteem, but not our
exaltation. We can trust them to be
people, but we cannot trust them to be gods.
We can either wrestle with a life full of unmet expectations or
intentionally rest our souls in God.
OK, remember when we wrote down Samuel and Saul right on top of one another and saw the letters that corresponded? I want you to write down—I know that it’s in your notes, but I just want you to go to the margin, and I want you to write down the word wrestle, the word wrestle. You have it right here to see whether it has a “w” or an “r” to start with. There you’ve got it, right there in your notes, wrestle. Right under it I want you to write the word rest, rest. I kept staring at it and then I looked it up in the dictionary hoping there was some kind of connection between the two. Alas there was not.
But listen, it missed a great opportunity. Laughter. It really, it really would’ve been great. But I thought there really is a connection because rest is never sweeter than right after you have wrestled with something. I mean there’s something about coming out of a wrestling match when you finally just lay back, rest your weary bones, and give it up. That’s a sweet place to be.
I wonder if you’re wrestling. I wonder if you’re wrestling. I wonder what thing or what person you are wrestling with. There is never sweeter rest than when you just decide I’m going to give this up to my God. I’m going to give it up to my God. No rest on earth that feels any better than the rest that comes right after a wrestling.
I want you to see a couple of bullet points because I thought these were the coolest things..Notice—I want you to go back to your Bibles and look at the Psalm. Notice—I would imagine in every one of your translations you’re going to find the word Selah, the word Selah (she repeated) right after verse 4. It says that—David’s talking now, he’s talking about his opposers. “They fully intend to topple him from his [and] in their hearts they curse.”
The Message, Eugene Peterson say it like this, “They talk a good line.” Know anybody that just talks a good line? But they also talk a good line about you behind your back. And then he has this moment You see right there between verses 4 and verse 5, you see a word, and what is that word again? (audience) Selah. You would find it in the Psalms about 71 times. And there are a number of scholars that say they have no idea what it means, but others settle on this meaning:
OK, remember when we wrote down Samuel and Saul right on top of one another and saw the letters that corresponded? I want you to write down—I know that it’s in your notes, but I just want you to go to the margin, and I want you to write down the word wrestle, the word wrestle. You have it right here to see whether it has a “w” or an “r” to start with. There you’ve got it, right there in your notes, wrestle. Right under it I want you to write the word rest, rest. I kept staring at it and then I looked it up in the dictionary hoping there was some kind of connection between the two. Alas there was not.
But listen, it missed a great opportunity. Laughter. It really, it really would’ve been great. But I thought there really is a connection because rest is never sweeter than right after you have wrestled with something. I mean there’s something about coming out of a wrestling match when you finally just lay back, rest your weary bones, and give it up. That’s a sweet place to be.
I wonder if you’re wrestling. I wonder if you’re wrestling. I wonder what thing or what person you are wrestling with. There is never sweeter rest than when you just decide I’m going to give this up to my God. I’m going to give it up to my God. No rest on earth that feels any better than the rest that comes right after a wrestling.
I want you to see a couple of bullet points because I thought these were the coolest things..Notice—I want you to go back to your Bibles and look at the Psalm. Notice—I would imagine in every one of your translations you’re going to find the word Selah, the word Selah (she repeated) right after verse 4. It says that—David’s talking now, he’s talking about his opposers. “They fully intend to topple him from his [and] in their hearts they curse.”
The Message, Eugene Peterson say it like this, “They talk a good line.” Know anybody that just talks a good line? But they also talk a good line about you behind your back. And then he has this moment You see right there between verses 4 and verse 5, you see a word, and what is that word again? (audience) Selah. You would find it in the Psalms about 71 times. And there are a number of scholars that say they have no idea what it means, but others settle on this meaning:
Selah is a musical term that means to pause or bring
a suspension. Here he pauses.
The psalmist comes to a place where he pauses in the middle
of what he’s singing. And he’s kind of
on a roll about all that has been done to him, We’re going to see in just a
little while exactly what he should’ve done.
But somehow in listening to his own words he takes a pause, and there’s
a suspension in the music, and he thinks it through, and changes his chorus,
and begins the very next verse with, ‘Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; [For]
my [expectation] comes from him.” That
word find rest,
“Find rest” in verse 5 comes from a term that means “to stop…cease…hold
peace, quiet self, rest…tarry, wait.”
I’ve got it in your listening guide for you. It’s a Hebrew term that means” to stop it
means to cease, it means to hold your peace, it means to quiet yourself, it
means to rest to tarry, and to wait. It
was the psalmist bringing himself to a point—he’s pouring out his heart before
God just as he should be. But he comes
to a place where he just says, “Stop.
Turn your soul toward God, and find rest.” I want to say something to you today.
This occurred to me in preparation a few hours ago. Your enemy is not going to take a rest. I promise you, your enemy is not going to take a rest. So you have to determine that instead of waiting till you both go to your separate corners a get your water bottles that while he is slamming his battering ram against the fence that you can determine to rest yourself in your God. We gotta learn to rest whether or not our enemy rests, whether or not our opponent rests, whether or not someone who has risen up against us ever dreams of resting. If they never take a break, can we rest? Can we rest?
So here’s the balance because you’ve got this next bullet point. Because ok, so like we see in verse 6, (psalm 62:6-8 “He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” “My salvation and my honor depend on God [we are coming back to that] “he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” It says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is [your] refuge.” Pour out your hearts to Him. So what is the balance? I mean, do we pour it out, or do we pause it? I just want you to think this through, and I want you to jot it down because it’s exactly what the psalmist did. I want you to notice the balance here:
This occurred to me in preparation a few hours ago. Your enemy is not going to take a rest. I promise you, your enemy is not going to take a rest. So you have to determine that instead of waiting till you both go to your separate corners a get your water bottles that while he is slamming his battering ram against the fence that you can determine to rest yourself in your God. We gotta learn to rest whether or not our enemy rests, whether or not our opponent rests, whether or not someone who has risen up against us ever dreams of resting. If they never take a break, can we rest? Can we rest?
So here’s the balance because you’ve got this next bullet point. Because ok, so like we see in verse 6, (psalm 62:6-8 “He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” “My salvation and my honor depend on God [we are coming back to that] “he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” It says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is [your] refuge.” Pour out your hearts to Him. So what is the balance? I mean, do we pour it out, or do we pause it? I just want you to think this through, and I want you to jot it down because it’s exactly what the psalmist did. I want you to notice the balance here:
The balance is this:
We can’t put it up until we have poured it out.
We can’t put it up until we have poured it out. Listen if your heart is full of toxins toward
someone, and you are about to explode with frustration, with disappointment,
with anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness. Listen if that thing keeps turning inside, it
becomes a spiritual cancer to us. It’s
got to get poured out. And if we just go
telling it to one another how does that differ from gossip? And how often can we tell someone, I’m only
telling you this so that you can pray about it”? Really was that what we were
saying? Or were we just needing to get
it off our chest?
Because there is a legitimate health of soul that comes in just getting something off our chest, but this is where we do it. This is where we can say, “you know what? “They’re nothing but liars. “They bless with one side of their mouths and curse with the other.” This is where we get the chance to say, “God, I don’t get it. This is a safe place. Pour out your heart before God, for He is a refuge for you. But when we come to a place where we can say, “Enough is enough, “that’s when we can take a Selah moment and we speak over our own souls. “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
[for] my [expectation] comes only from him.”
I told you last week that our sweet granddaughter, Anna Beth, was turning 1. She turned 1 the very next day after our last lesson, and we had a great time of celebration over that precious life. And she’s going through a little bit of a stage with her mom where she has to cry herself to sleep. Now this is not new. Many of us have had babies that just would not give it up and go to sleep. I have a friend here in this very class that has an infant son, and she said, “you know, this is where he takes after our Lord. He neither slumbers; nor does he sleep.” Many of us understand that. But with Anna Beth, the thing of it is, Amanda said she just sits down there, downstairs, and she’s got a monitor, so she’s listening to her constantly. She’s even got a little TV screen so she can watch her constantly, but she said she just stands down there and goes, “Baby girl, give it up. Why do you have to cry yourself to sleep?” And here’s what presses on my heart about this point. That the goal of crying out before God is to come to a place of rest, not just crying for the sake of crying. There are times that we just like don’t get on with it. It never goes anywhere. Am I talking to anybody? That we just keep on in the same thing. We never move on to the next place that it was meant to bring us. That’s what meant something to me. We don’t just cry ourselves to rest; we cry ourselves to trust, to trust.
The goal is we pour our hearts out before God so that we can bring ourselves before Him in such a way that we place our trust in Him “Trust in him at all times, [you] people.” Look where it say in your listening guide, it has the rest of the definition to pouring out the heart where it says “Pour out your hearts before Him. He is a refuge for you.” Look at this definition.
Because there is a legitimate health of soul that comes in just getting something off our chest, but this is where we do it. This is where we can say, “you know what? “They’re nothing but liars. “They bless with one side of their mouths and curse with the other.” This is where we get the chance to say, “God, I don’t get it. This is a safe place. Pour out your heart before God, for He is a refuge for you. But when we come to a place where we can say, “Enough is enough, “that’s when we can take a Selah moment and we speak over our own souls. “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
[for] my [expectation] comes only from him.”
I told you last week that our sweet granddaughter, Anna Beth, was turning 1. She turned 1 the very next day after our last lesson, and we had a great time of celebration over that precious life. And she’s going through a little bit of a stage with her mom where she has to cry herself to sleep. Now this is not new. Many of us have had babies that just would not give it up and go to sleep. I have a friend here in this very class that has an infant son, and she said, “you know, this is where he takes after our Lord. He neither slumbers; nor does he sleep.” Many of us understand that. But with Anna Beth, the thing of it is, Amanda said she just sits down there, downstairs, and she’s got a monitor, so she’s listening to her constantly. She’s even got a little TV screen so she can watch her constantly, but she said she just stands down there and goes, “Baby girl, give it up. Why do you have to cry yourself to sleep?” And here’s what presses on my heart about this point. That the goal of crying out before God is to come to a place of rest, not just crying for the sake of crying. There are times that we just like don’t get on with it. It never goes anywhere. Am I talking to anybody? That we just keep on in the same thing. We never move on to the next place that it was meant to bring us. That’s what meant something to me. We don’t just cry ourselves to rest; we cry ourselves to trust, to trust.
The goal is we pour our hearts out before God so that we can bring ourselves before Him in such a way that we place our trust in Him “Trust in him at all times, [you] people.” Look where it say in your listening guide, it has the rest of the definition to pouring out the heart where it says “Pour out your hearts before Him. He is a refuge for you.” Look at this definition.
Sapak means “to spill forth, to pour out, to bare one’s soul
in sorrow or anger. Used
to denote pouring out the contents of a vessel.”
It says it has the Hebrew lexical transliteration: and it
means to spill out and it is meant in the context of a drink offering, to bear
ones soul, in sorrow or anger. That we can bring every bit of that before God.
It’s the pouring out of the contents of the vessel to literally take the
vessel—think of your heart, I’ve got to think of my heart as a vessel, and that
every single day I’m pouring my heart out before God so that He can then fill
it up. When the scripture tells us to be
filled with the Spirit of God, he can’t fill something or he won’t fill
something that is already full. And it’s full of bitterness, full of
unforgiveness, full of anger, lust, greed, covetousness, full of all those
kinds of inner turmoil and rage, there’s nothing left to fill up.
We have to pour out our hearts before Him. Even in covetousness there’s something that is at the bottom of it. Even with greed, with lust there is something that is driving it down deep in the soul . Pour it out! Pour it out. “Lord I just want somebody to love me”, I love you. I love you, and I can give you dignity with My love,“ he says. What is it? What is it? Pour it out he’s a safe place. The rest of the dictionary definition says this. I loved it.
We have to pour out our hearts before Him. Even in covetousness there’s something that is at the bottom of it. Even with greed, with lust there is something that is driving it down deep in the soul . Pour it out! Pour it out. “Lord I just want somebody to love me”, I love you. I love you, and I can give you dignity with My love,“ he says. What is it? What is it? Pour it out he’s a safe place. The rest of the dictionary definition says this. I loved it.
Strong’s dictionary adds: “to mound up…to sprawl
out..to gush out.”
Anybody? When was the
last time you just sprawled out before God?
The bigger the feeling, the wider the sprawl, amen? Just like lay it
out, just lay it out. This is where fear
of the Lord comes in handy. Because God,
I want my heart to change.” How many of us on this side of the screen and on
that side of the screen feel something we do not want to? How many of us are dealing with an emotion
that we absolutely hate? “Lord, I feel
this way like 24/7, but I don’t even want to!”
The very objective of the present series we’re in is that we need a new
heart. We’re looking for a fresh heart
before God, a heart that resembles His own.
Sprawl out, gush out, then get up.
Look at one another and say “Then we have to get up.” Audience “then we have to get up. We have to get up.
Alright. I want you to look at verse 7 with me. “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” Girls, look here just a second. Can you imagine how life would change if we said this Psalm every day? If we made a confessional of “My soul finds rest in God alone; “my salvation comes from him. “He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken”? What if we made that kind of confessional before God? What if we said to Him, “My salvation..” and it’s a word Yeshua in the Hebrew that means not only what we think of in a New Testament doctrinal sense of salvation, but it also means, just as it does in the Greek, “deliverance.” Deliverance. That we are saved to the uttermost, as the Word of God would tell us. It’s to be delivered from peril, delivered from ourselves delivered from our enemies. It’s deliverance. And it says, “My salvation and my honor depend on God.” I want you write down number four. And this one kept screaming and screaming in my heart to plant ourselves on this one for just a few moments.
Alright. I want you to look at verse 7 with me. “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” Girls, look here just a second. Can you imagine how life would change if we said this Psalm every day? If we made a confessional of “My soul finds rest in God alone; “my salvation comes from him. “He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken”? What if we made that kind of confessional before God? What if we said to Him, “My salvation..” and it’s a word Yeshua in the Hebrew that means not only what we think of in a New Testament doctrinal sense of salvation, but it also means, just as it does in the Greek, “deliverance.” Deliverance. That we are saved to the uttermost, as the Word of God would tell us. It’s to be delivered from peril, delivered from ourselves delivered from our enemies. It’s deliverance. And it says, “My salvation and my honor depend on God.” I want you write down number four. And this one kept screaming and screaming in my heart to plant ourselves on this one for just a few moments.
4. Significant rest comes to the soul when we
accept that God alone is in charge of our honor.
God alone is in charge of our honor. Oh! This is when I wish so much we could talk
one on one. Because I wonder who this is
going to speak to. Because I want you to
just camp on that word honor for just a second and see what begins to resonate
with you. Does anyone feel like you have
been shamed in front of someone that you somehow cannot get out of bondage, to,
whether it is in your work place or in a relationship? Maybe you had a dating
relationship with a guy at work that somehow you feel like you came out of it
looking like an idiot, and now there you are left to deal with it.
Maybe it was a superior at work, a co-worker, maybe a relationship in your extended family, in your neighborhood, whatever it may be, we can get in a situation where we feel, even somehow indefinable, but we feel ashamed.
Sometimes we know exactly what it is. Other times we just think, “You know what? I don’t feel any dignity with that person.” Am I telling the truth? And it’s haunting. And sometimes the person is like really aware, really aware, and just won’t give us what we think we need from them.
They’re not going to give us our dignity back. They’re not going to give us our honor back because either they don’t care or its power. Now what are we going to do with that? What are we going to do with that? My salvation and my honor come from God.
I jotted down on my notes that some of our biggest conflicts with people will be over personal matters of honor, loss of dignity. Daily wrestling we’ll have with people will be an inability to get from them the esteem we think we need. Am I telling the truth to anybody? Just we want to be esteemed by them. I mean it’s just like fair, it’s right, but we feel like they won’t give it to us. Maybe they really won’t. Maybe it’s our imagination entirely. Just personal honor is at stake. The relief of being able to say, “My honor comes from God. My honor comes from God.” What if you got to release the wrestling over your own honor? What if we got to rest that one? What if we got to say no matter who else esteems me or treats me with dignity my honor is found in my God; I’m created in His image and saved and redeemed by the blood of His Son”? I had this occur to me: that God does not just defend our honor. He defines it.
Maybe it was a superior at work, a co-worker, maybe a relationship in your extended family, in your neighborhood, whatever it may be, we can get in a situation where we feel, even somehow indefinable, but we feel ashamed.
Sometimes we know exactly what it is. Other times we just think, “You know what? I don’t feel any dignity with that person.” Am I telling the truth? And it’s haunting. And sometimes the person is like really aware, really aware, and just won’t give us what we think we need from them.
They’re not going to give us our dignity back. They’re not going to give us our honor back because either they don’t care or its power. Now what are we going to do with that? What are we going to do with that? My salvation and my honor come from God.
I jotted down on my notes that some of our biggest conflicts with people will be over personal matters of honor, loss of dignity. Daily wrestling we’ll have with people will be an inability to get from them the esteem we think we need. Am I telling the truth to anybody? Just we want to be esteemed by them. I mean it’s just like fair, it’s right, but we feel like they won’t give it to us. Maybe they really won’t. Maybe it’s our imagination entirely. Just personal honor is at stake. The relief of being able to say, “My honor comes from God. My honor comes from God.” What if you got to release the wrestling over your own honor? What if we got to rest that one? What if we got to say no matter who else esteems me or treats me with dignity my honor is found in my God; I’m created in His image and saved and redeemed by the blood of His Son”? I had this occur to me: that God does not just defend our honor. He defines it.
I want someone to defend my honor and God does that but he
does more than that God will define your honor He tells you who you are. He tells me who I am. And at the end of the day it’s we who have
surrendered it, not someone else who has taken it from us. My salvation and my honor depend on my
God. I want you to say that out
loud. (Audience) My salvation and my honor
depend on my God.
To cease trusting altogether is more
harmful for the soul than trusting in man. See, this is a trap we can get into. Now, there’s the rest of a sentence there
that we all need to fill in don’t let me forget it. But I want to camp here for just a moment
because I want you to think about it.
When you and I go through life and have inevitable disappointments, and
we’ve already established from the very beginning of our lesson that the only
way we’re going to come to a place where honestly we have embraced the concept
of God alone—He alone is my God. He alone
is my Savior. He alone is in charge of
my salvation and my honor.
The only way we are really going to get there and embrace the concept, because we are human, is that we are going to be disappointed enough to finally give it up. So we’re going to let someone let us down and somebody else let us down till we go, “You know what? “This really, assigning godship to man is not working for me. It’s bondage, and it’s miserable.” So here’s what happens. We can just decide, “You know what? “Nobody’s trustworthy. I’m not trusting anyone.” The problem is our souls were fashioned to practice faith. It’s part of what we love about life. It’s where the adventure is in our human journey is that we have the joy the fulfillment of walking by faith. Listen, we practice faith continually. Our souls were fashioned for it but we can be disappointed over and over again until we decide, “You know what? Nobody’s trustworthy. I’m not trusting anyone.” We’d be better off trusting in man, because not to trust at all will cause us brokenness of soul that it will rob us of every shred of joy that we have.
The answer is not to cease trusting. The answer is we have got to shove every bit of our trust for our salvation, our honor, our deliverance, and our expectation and our hope in God alone. And the Word of God says trust in God at all times.
The only way we are really going to get there and embrace the concept, because we are human, is that we are going to be disappointed enough to finally give it up. So we’re going to let someone let us down and somebody else let us down till we go, “You know what? “This really, assigning godship to man is not working for me. It’s bondage, and it’s miserable.” So here’s what happens. We can just decide, “You know what? “Nobody’s trustworthy. I’m not trusting anyone.” The problem is our souls were fashioned to practice faith. It’s part of what we love about life. It’s where the adventure is in our human journey is that we have the joy the fulfillment of walking by faith. Listen, we practice faith continually. Our souls were fashioned for it but we can be disappointed over and over again until we decide, “You know what? Nobody’s trustworthy. I’m not trusting anyone.” We’d be better off trusting in man, because not to trust at all will cause us brokenness of soul that it will rob us of every shred of joy that we have.
The answer is not to cease trusting. The answer is we have got to shove every bit of our trust for our salvation, our honor, our deliverance, and our expectation and our hope in God alone. And the Word of God says trust in God at all times.
The message of the psalm; Trust in God at all times.
See what can happen is that we can get cynical after enough
disappointment. Am I telling the
truth? Anybody just getting
cynical? And you can tell it in us. Cynicism is not pretty. And that’s what happens with enough
expectation that has gone awry and get to a point where we just cast up our
hands.
And I was looking—God reminded me of the psalmist’s words Psalm 116, verse 11. Where this same psalmist said “In my dismay I said, ‘All men are liars.’” Some of you are going, “That is my new life verse.” Laughter, That is my life verse! All men are liars. That’s all there—but you see that is the epitome of cynicism. In my dismay I said, “Everybody lies. Nobody’s worth trusting.” I was thinking just in terms of trust, the appropriate trust. There is appropriate trust we place in people to be people. You can trust many people to be very fine people. They just don’t make fine gods.
My husband is a fine husband, but he has been a poor god to me, a poor savior to me. Anybody stepping in that with me? I hope I have been a decent wife to him, but I have been an even poorer god to him than he has been to me. I’m thinking about all the times I’ve wondered to myself, “Lord, I just don’t know if I can trust this situation. I don’t know if I can trust this person.” And God over and over speaks back to me,” But can you trust Me with that person? “Can you trust Me with that person?” Can you get out of My way and trust Me with that person?”
Pour out your hearts before Him, for He is a refuge for you. Trust in Him at all times, O people. Trust at all times. I want you to see that last quote I have for you in your listening guide. It so ministered to me form a commentary by Dr. Wiser, and it says this;
And I was looking—God reminded me of the psalmist’s words Psalm 116, verse 11. Where this same psalmist said “In my dismay I said, ‘All men are liars.’” Some of you are going, “That is my new life verse.” Laughter, That is my life verse! All men are liars. That’s all there—but you see that is the epitome of cynicism. In my dismay I said, “Everybody lies. Nobody’s worth trusting.” I was thinking just in terms of trust, the appropriate trust. There is appropriate trust we place in people to be people. You can trust many people to be very fine people. They just don’t make fine gods.
My husband is a fine husband, but he has been a poor god to me, a poor savior to me. Anybody stepping in that with me? I hope I have been a decent wife to him, but I have been an even poorer god to him than he has been to me. I’m thinking about all the times I’ve wondered to myself, “Lord, I just don’t know if I can trust this situation. I don’t know if I can trust this person.” And God over and over speaks back to me,” But can you trust Me with that person? “Can you trust Me with that person?” Can you get out of My way and trust Me with that person?”
Pour out your hearts before Him, for He is a refuge for you. Trust in Him at all times, O people. Trust at all times. I want you to see that last quote I have for you in your listening guide. It so ministered to me form a commentary by Dr. Wiser, and it says this;
“Trust in God is not a place of refuge to which the believer
can retreat from the turmoil and the disappointments of the world in order to
find there his satisfaction and rest.”
Now let me explain that for a minute, because it is talking
about God being our refuge. And yet the
commentator is saying it is not the kind of refuge where you can disconnect
from all of life and run in and be completely away from all turmoil and harm. Because somewhere or other we have to reenter
the stuff of human existence, and our feet have to get back down on the
pavement of planet earth. So that is his
point. Our fill in the blanks It says:
5. Trust in God is a cell of organic life, a
power-centre which does not remain in isolation, but cannot help bearing
fruit because it feels inwardly constrained to prove its living reality through
acts of faith.”
OK, listen carefully to what he is saying because those are
big concepts and big words, but it boils down to this. What he is saying is we can’t just run from
life and find refuge in God not for more than a few moments at a time.
Our faith is meant to be lived out there. We run into our refuge in the early part of the morning if that’s what you love like I love. I may run back and forth into that refuge in the course of the day, but I’ve still got parenting to do, grand parenting, a job, I have to drive in Houston traffic, and that in itself is life in your own hands. We’ve got life to live, and he is saying trusting God is what you do out there on the real life pavement, a cell of organic life, not something that is in the hiddenness, away from the turmoil of life, but you are called to trust God at your present time.
What are you going through? Because now is the time of your trust. Now is the time, not when you are in a better place. Not when you haven’t been in that much sin the last 24 hours. But right now, at all times. At all times means this time, this moment, this action. This is the place of our trust. This is the place of my trust. We keep waiting for an opportunity to show how much we trust God with that which does not take much trust. Said, “You keep waiting to show our faith in Me in that which takes very little faith.” No, its right here, right here and now. In the situation your in, this very situation, this very illness, this very broken relationship, this very chronic situation, this very turmoil, this very crisis. This is the place to practice your faith. Trust in God at all times. All it takes for a life-altering victory in your situation and mine is that we come out of our present season and say, God alone, God alone.“ Painful place to get; beautiful place to stay. For the rest of your days you don’t have to expect of others what only God can deliver. We place our trust in Him. Would you pray with me? Beth ends the lesson in prayer.
Our faith is meant to be lived out there. We run into our refuge in the early part of the morning if that’s what you love like I love. I may run back and forth into that refuge in the course of the day, but I’ve still got parenting to do, grand parenting, a job, I have to drive in Houston traffic, and that in itself is life in your own hands. We’ve got life to live, and he is saying trusting God is what you do out there on the real life pavement, a cell of organic life, not something that is in the hiddenness, away from the turmoil of life, but you are called to trust God at your present time.
What are you going through? Because now is the time of your trust. Now is the time, not when you are in a better place. Not when you haven’t been in that much sin the last 24 hours. But right now, at all times. At all times means this time, this moment, this action. This is the place of our trust. This is the place of my trust. We keep waiting for an opportunity to show how much we trust God with that which does not take much trust. Said, “You keep waiting to show our faith in Me in that which takes very little faith.” No, its right here, right here and now. In the situation your in, this very situation, this very illness, this very broken relationship, this very chronic situation, this very turmoil, this very crisis. This is the place to practice your faith. Trust in God at all times. All it takes for a life-altering victory in your situation and mine is that we come out of our present season and say, God alone, God alone.“ Painful place to get; beautiful place to stay. For the rest of your days you don’t have to expect of others what only God can deliver. We place our trust in Him. Would you pray with me? Beth ends the lesson in prayer.
Taking down the message from the sub titles is not always
that easy and it may not make as much sense in places as it should, however, I
feel it is worth the challenge to follow the text. It was a great lesson and one I want to
permeate my heart and change my heart to be a heart more like His. I hope He will send someone to read this that
needed it as I do. It once again was
timed with my need. And that gives me
faith. God always seems to have a
message there for me in my times of deepest despair. I hope it will be the same for someone out
there.
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