Open Invitation to Grace
Everything Beautiful
His Ways are Higher
When God seems to make no sense and His ways seem to lead us in a direction we don’t want to go, it helps to know that His ways always align with His character; His plan never deviates from His revealed will; His directions are always perfect; and His thoughts and actions toward us are always loving.
Blessing
Be Strengthened
Near to God
Do you ever get homesick? Maybe you’ve been on the road and you’re yearning for home so you can rest your head at the end of a long journey. Or perhaps you’ve been looking for a space that feels so comfortable that you can finally let your guard down. Or could it be you’ve been scared or vulnerable and all you want is some place where peace reigns and safety and security rule?
Near to God is such a place.
It is a place Christians can call home because certainly we feel like aliens and strangers on this earth. Near to God is a space where we can take comfort in knowing that we are fully known and yet there is no judgment for the shortcomings we have. It is a place where we experience the rest and peace of God –we can dwell with absolute safety and security because God tells us that He is our refuge in times of trouble.
I always enjoyed watching the show Cheers! but it was more for the opening song and less, I suppose, because the plot was excellent or the acting was believable. The theme song touched a sentiment of comfort for the weary:
“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows Your name.”
Being near to God is better than that. He knows our names, intimate details of how many hairs are on our head, and moreover, He knows our hearts.
Being Near to God is comfort food for the soul.
The LORD is My Shepherd
Those Who Wait Upon the LORD
Waiting isn’t most people’s favorite activity. As a matter of fact, I hate waiting. I will take alternate routes to avoid waiting at stoplights or being stuck in traffic. I will treat the checkout lanes like a NASCAR event in which I–like so many others–rapidly scan all the lanes to assess which has the shortest line and develop a quick algorithm to determine which clerk is the fastest and whose items are the smallest quantity. Then, to make matters worse, I get in a lane and second-guess myself as I watch my competitors achieve checkout status sooner than I do. Waiting is something that seems to be a waste of time.
Waiting upon the LORD is different. That’s because the results aren’t up to people. The results are up to God. When we wait upon people, we encounter price checks and coupons and no UPC codes. When we wait upon God, we wait upon One whose timing is always perfect. What seems to us as a delay is actually the parenthesis in which God continues His work unseen to us. While He continues to work, He tells us that we will regain our strength. We will be renewed, refreshed, and recharged. Frankly, the battle many of us face on a daily basis is beyond our ability to endure. But when we wait upon the LORD, He fights the battle because these spiritual battles are His to fight. Yet, there are useful activities we can do during the parenthesis of God’s solo effort which will refresh us until we can rejoin Him in the work He is doing. We can worship God in song, read Scripture, pray, or engage in other spiritual disciplines such as fasting while we wait upon Him. He needs no parenthesis of refreshment because He is God. Our humanity makes us frail but a testimony to God’s love and grace is that He refreshes us when we wait upon Him.
He is Close to the Brokenhearted
I don’t know about you, but it seems there are times in my life when it rains and it pours and it rains some more. While it is tempting to sink into depression, it is better to trust in the LORD. It is not a vain trust. Nor is it a fruitless one. Even though we might not see immediate fruit from our faith, we can be assured that looking to Jesus will be its own reward someday. There are only few things that we can bring with us to heaven. Among those are: other people, our faith, and our personal knowledge of Jesus. Let this sustain you as you persevere: He is Close to the Brokenhearted.
