After the difficult end of 2016 I started the New Year with a renewed sense of hope and the feeling that things were finally about to change. We booked flights to Guatemala, something we have hoped for since we were just engaged, and maybe before then. I can't believe that in just over two weeks we at going to spend five weeks with the missionary family Roy spent a month with back when we were both 19. In those hard months previous to now if I had got the answer to my prayers I would have found it really hard to go away again. God is faithful.
I handed my notice in at work since I knew I wouldn't be allowed 5 weeks off. I explained that we were going to help out at a school in Guatemala and said I was going to wait till I got home to look for a new job. A few days later they offered me a part time admin job for when I get back. God answers our prayers in ways we can't imagine. God is faithful.
'Trust in the Lord and do good.
Dwell in the land and feed on faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
Trust him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as a light,
and your justice as the noonday sun.'
Psalm 37v3-6
I was reading these verses this week and my heart connected to verse 3 so much where it says 'feed on his faithfulness'.
If we are feeling far from God, especially when we are going through a difficult time or dealing with what we see with our earthly perspective as unanswered prayer, we have to feed on His faithfulness. Every moment of every day. His word tells us that He is closer than the air we breathe, yet we really need to keep reminding ourselves of this, like, all the time. Whenever we feel spiritually 'hungry' e.g. worried, fearful or doubting His goodness, we need to feed on the fact that He is FAITHFUL.
This may look like whispering to yourself 'God is faithful'. It might be thinking on a verse that applies to your situation over and over. It means taking captive every thought and making it obedient to the Lord. Sometimes I can suddenly be aware that I feel sad or defeated (shout out to hormones!), and I have found myself praying for God to restore to me the joy of my salvation. And He will because He is faithful.
This week a few health issues began to crop up again (minor but distressing) and I had to remind myself to feed on His faithfulness. I was at work thinking on this and He reminded me of Psalm 61v2, 'From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I'. It reminded me of the lesson he taught me last year, that His ways are not like my ways. I don't know why I get poorly, but I KNOW He is faithful, and that is enough.
'Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart'. Psalm 37v4
If you desire to feel God's closeness then delight in Him! What does that look like? Praying and reading your bible? Yes, but I think truly delighting yourself in the love of Jesus means inviting Him into every moment of Your life.
This week God has blessed me with such a deep sense of His presence. I don't know how it started or when, but the more I've got of it the more I have wanted! It's so easy to get home from a long day and veg out watching rubbish TV. It can feel like hard work to read your Bible. But one of these things leads to true rest and the other really doesn't. This week has been full of listening to God's Word preached while cooking or cleaning, reading the Bible with Roy after we eat, playing Christian music while we hang out and avoiding the temptation to listen to the radio on the drive home and instead playing some worship music and meaning every word that I sing. It has been praying out loud in the car with victory, and bubbling over with Bible verses that I thought I had forgotten!
Put simply the more we invite Jesus in and give to Him of our time and thoughts, the more we receive. He delights in having our full attention, and we delight in receiving His perfect love and peace. It's what we were made for!
And what else does he ask of us then verse 5? To commit our ways to Him and trust Him. And He will act. He will. He cares for us very much. He is never far away and He doesn't look on us with anger or disapproval. He looks at us, His followers, and sees the blood of His son Jesus. He looks at us and sees the child He died for. He sees us the way he created us to be.
Feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in Him. And He will act.
Ps This fella keeps amazing me. He is my
most favourite gift.
This week I'm also loving that feeling after
a headache finally goes away, that I finish
work on Wednesday, and cuddles with my
nephew Judah. He is just tooo much.
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