Prone to Wander

(wander like a giraffe? I don’t know, just went to the zoo and wanted to post a picture…)

God is so good. You know? There’s no comparison to the beauty He gives and the love He has. Even though we are so conflicted and confused and have so many questions, He’s still there. He still allows the sun to shine, allows the birds to sing, allows the day to end. There’s no question for Him too big, too insignificant that He can’t come in and let you know He’s there. Amazing! Sometimes I have no peace whatsoever about situations, relationships, and then the Holy Spirit gives me peace like a gorgeous sleep and I know God still walks with me. In moments when I’m prone to wander and doubt God’s power and love for me, I’m thankful that He’s already taken my heart and won’t ever let go – no matter what.  

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise His Name I’m fixed upon it
Name of God’s redeeming love.Hither to thy love has blessed me
Thou has brought me to this place
And I know thy hand will bring me
Safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

 

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Waiting

Been thinking about waiting. I was reading 1 Kings 8 and remembered a talk a while ago. It was about the resurrection of Jesus and the point was made that Mary, in all her helplessness, simply waited for Him at the tomb. I can imagine the hopelessness, the worry, the exhaustion. But God asks us to wait. He went through the same thing. He goes through it everyday – with me, with everyone. Just wait for me, I can imagine He insists. I have a plan. I am better. I have called you out and separated you. Wow.

All Rain and No Sunshine Make a Desert

This was a wonderful devotional I was reading this morning. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m not getting what I want – kinda like a child who’s being corrected. I don’t like the idea, but Proverbs 3:11-12 help: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be wary of his correction: for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights.” At least God isn’t hiding – he’s clearly working in a lot of things I’m going through (he got me through a semester of graduate school without filing for bankruptcy). But I’m definitely not being spoon-fed the ‘desires of my heart’ like I’m expecting. Anyway, the devotion is taken from RBC Ministries, Our Daily Bread: http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/04/07/devotion.aspx.

“April 7, 2008

Why? Why? Oh, Why?

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. —Hebrews 12:7

Why must I suffer disappointment, sorrow, and tribulation? What have I done that God should send me trials? Is He displeased with me? These questions are constantly asked by God’s dear children.

Much of this fear and questioning is due to our misunderstanding of God’s dealings with His own. He has His good reasons. And one of those reasons is for our spiritual discipline. We should be far more afraid of being left alone than of God’s chastening, for He wastes no time on worthless objects that give no promise of fruitfulness.

On the shores of Lake Michigan are great barren sand dunes that have never felt the point of a plow. But in the rich lowlands beyond them, the farmer is constantly cultivating the soil. The farmer knows what he is doing, so he keeps on breaking up the soil. The deeper the plow works and the more the sharp harrow, the more precious the crop will be when harvest time comes.

God’s plow goes deep, but it is only that in the end we may forget the plowing and rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him. “No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).  — M.R. De Haan

When blades of distress cut deep in the soul,
Breaking up ground that was untouched before,
The Lord is preparing soil to bear fruit
Fit for the harvest to feed many more. —Hess

All sunshine and no rain make a desert.”