The Triumphant Believer

"What Much-Afraid was shouting up there on the old sea wall was this:
  'And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about; therefore
I will sing praises unto the Lord; yea I will offer the sacrifice of joy and will praise
the Name of the Lord' (Psalm 27:6).
  "As she sang she thought to herself, 'It must be really dreadful to be the Shepherd's
enemies.  Always, always to find themselves frustrated.  Always, always to have
their prey snatched away.  How simply maddening it must be to see even the silliest
little weaklings set up out of reach on the High Places and made to triumph over
all their enemies.  It must be unbearable.'" ~from "Hind's Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard

He has Leaned

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

Inclined-having a physical tendency; leaning. dictionary.com

What an encouragement this verse is to me. The Lord has leaned towards me making Him closer to me. He's near to me for He has placed Himself closer to me, but why? Why should He incline Himself to me, why should He tilt His head so that His ear is closer to me than before? So that He can hear what I have to say!

He has not been forced to hear me. God was not sitting on His throne and, because I was near to Him, He happened to hear what I had to say. Nay, but He has positioned Himself so that He may hear me. He loves and is concerned with what I have to say. He delights in hearing my voice therefore, He has positioned Himself to be nearer to me; as a parent bends over closer to a child's mouth to better hear what the his beloved child should want to say.

Oh, joy above all joys, My God, My Savior, My Friend, longs to be nearer to me and to speak with me. Oh, That I might not take this precious treasure for granted, but that I might cherish and come before the One who is so willing to hear my cries.

Ezekiel 37

""The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”" Ez 37:1-2

"O Lord God, You know that these bones can not live! They are not just dry, but they are very dry! Perhaps You could cause them to live if they were just men who died a few hours before, or even if the flesh had still been on them, You could possibly breathe life into these dead men, but no, Lord, these bones can not live. There is not even the remotest possibility that these bones can live!"

The above would have been my response had the Lord come to me with the question of whether or not these dry bones could live. I have put God into a box, thinking that He can only do that which is in the ordinary or that He works only through things that can be explained. It is true that God is a god of order and reason, but just because He has set the world up in that way does not mean that He can not do the impossible. He has made the heaven's and the earth, nothing is to difficult for Him! (Jer. 32:17) Ezekiel was a man of faith, humility, and honesty; his answer was not what mine would have been, but one of faith. Ezekiel knew that the Lord could cause these dry bones to live if He but said a word.

May our faith in the Lord be like that of Ezekiel's. May we learn to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding.. When all seems impossible, may we learn that we serve a very big God, and He alone knows what the outcome will be.

Perfect love casts out fear

"Anxiety and misgivings proceed solely from love of self. The love of God accomplishes all things quietly and completely; it is not anxious or uncertain. The Spirit of God rests continually in quietness. Perfect love casteth out fear. It is in forgetfulness of self that we find peace. Happy is he who yields himself completely, unconsciously, and finally to God. Listen to the inward whisper of His Spirit and follow it--that is enough; but to listen one must be silent, and to follow one must yield."

~François Fénelon

"The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting..." Ps. 138:8 (NASB)

"For thus the Lord GOD...has said, '... In quietness and trust is your strength.'” Isaiah 30:15 (NASB)