Beyond Common Sense

The day started with Mom, confused and sadly disoriented. No, the day started in prayer, quickly becoming overwhelmed with “the cares of this world”—Ukraine, Supreme Court nominee, our borders, gas prices, burdens for the loss, and the feeling of utter helplessness as my days slip by faster than I can count.

I came to my Lord, reading His Word, searching for something, anything! So, I plugged the word “tears” into Blue Letter Bible’s search engine. It led me to so many wonderful verses. It was as though each verse did its part to dispel the darkness in my soul, ending with Psalm 63:

1 ¶ A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah (Thank you, God, that you are with me in my wilderness).

• God, You are my God (Praise the Lord that He is!);
•  Early will I seek You(Did that!);
• My soul thirsts for You (Have you ever noticed how much more you find in God’s Word when you are thirsty?!!);
•  My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water (There is NOWHERE else to go—it is a dry and barren land we live in!).

Look at all the wonderful attributes of God:

 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.

 3 ¶ Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

And here it is!! This is where David, as is his habit, shifts his gaze from his troubles, fears, and discomforts of living in a howling wilderness to His God:

• My lips shall praise You.
• 4 Thus I will bless You while I live;
• I will lift up my hands in Your name.
• 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
• And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

HERE’S THE KEY! DON’T MISS IT:

 6 When I REMEMBER You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. (Have you been there—in the “night watches?” Dear reader, those are the times when we need to REMEMBER all the times that God has rescued us in the past.)

 7 ¶ Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice (Beautiful place to be!! The necessary place to be to find rest: spiritual rest for your soul, which trickles down and gives physical rest—your heart stops racing and your head stops hurting; mental rest—your mind clears; emotional rest—your heart aches a little less.)

 8 My soul follows close behind You (Don miss this either: we are behind Him, not pushing ahead of Him, and close to Him because we don’t want to miss a thing!); Your right hand upholds me. (AMEN!!)

Now David can stand against his enemies. He has bolstered his faith, knowing that the promises of God are true. Even though he may die before he sees the following happen, he knows it will because God’s promises are true, and His Word will not fail. Truth wins. This alone brings comfort to those refugees who are on the run and those martyrs who are dying by the hundreds at the hands of radical extremists.

 9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

 10 They shall fall by the sword; They shall be a portion for jackals.

At this point, David has renewed faith in God’s promise through Samuel that he would one day be king; however that day is years away, and David will fall again—so much so that he flees to the Achish, the king of his enemies. But even this is an encouragement. We will fall again. We will fail in our faith, but God is ALWAYS faithful, ALWAYS loving, ALWAYS teaching and directing my steps to make me more like Him!

 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. (NKJV)

 So often our mindset, our attitudes, our outlook on life becomes tarnished. Life becomes dreary and overwhelming. That’s when these words are so important: I choose…

I choose to seek my Lord

I chose to read His Word,

 I choose to throw myself at His feet and weep out my misery,

I choose to turn my gaze away from all the cares and worries

I choose Christ,

I choose to trust Him alone,

I choose to praise Him for all His goodness, and strength, and love, and peace…

And JOY—the joy of my precious Lord returns to me.

Oh Father, if only I had the words to express my heartfelt gratitude. I will serve You forever!

I am You bondslave. My life is Yours. Please, help me to remember that when the way is hard.