As I glean from the past today I hope you will glean from His wisdom as we revisit 9-12-2005
If your life was washed away in an instant, and all you had was gone… where would you go? What would you do? If you were suddenly told your job was moving you across the country and life as you knew it would never be the same, to whom would you turn to help you find the right place to live? How would you know the people you were moving in by would be safe neighbors? What if they didn’t believe the way you did? I know where I would start!
For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be
lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore, I will offer sacrifices of
joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. Hear,
O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You,
"Your face, LORD, I will seek."
Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O' God of my salvation. When
my father and my mother forsake me. Then the LORD will take care of me.
Psalm 27:5-10
The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the LORD.
Proverbs 29:25-26
While thinking on all that these
people went through I wondered how I would fare in such a calamity as this.
Then I realized something I had not heard during this week… no one had given
God thanks for keeping them alive. No one had given God thanks for finding them
when they were cut out of the roof of a house or any of the other situations
these people went through. Oh, I did hear once God’s name mentioned when the
news anchors where discussing if this would be considered an Act of God in the
insurance and such. I have heard a lot of people blaming God for bringing the
storm on these people too.
I have to wonder; did they cry out
to God? In such a city as New Orleans, did they even know that He would help
them? Did they know that God was their refuge? Was anyone brave enough to
launch a mission trip to New Orleans? Or do they only do that to other
countries?
Did they seek His face?
In Psalm 27 it tells me that God cried out to the psalmist “Seek my face.” And even his heart cried out “Your face will I seek”! Though he went through a lot trouble with sin and other things, even then David knew to cry out to God and seek His face.
The people were crying out to other people for their safety, for their help and for their needs to be met, but were they crying out to God? Would I remember to cry out to my Lord in such an event?
Those people were in so fear for
their lives and their dwellings and their things that they were stopped in
their tracks. Yet there were a few who took to their feet and hiked out of town
to the nearest freeway and sought help outside the city. Even in these stories
I did not hear one person say, “The Lord God was my strength!” Why not?
When we are overcome with fear and the problems we face in a climate or in our day to day lives we allow fear to take control of our lives. When someone is robbed, or assaulted they change what they do to keep it from happening again, but before they realize it they are withdrawing from everything. Those who used to be outgoing people have suddenly become recluses who only fellowship in the safety of their home. When people go through a tragedy it is only normal for us to recoil as such, but when we ride the waves of the storm with Jesus on our ship we can know that He is in control. The Word of God tells us to call out to Him in our times of trouble, that He only is our refuge, our safety net, our strong tower, our peace. So why do we look in the things of the world to find joy, peace, and happiness?
Our hope is in the name of the Lord,
our strength is in the name of the Lord, our Peace is in the Name of the Lord!
J-Justification
by faith through Jesus brings us to ultimate Peace,
E-Everything
we go through He is there with us and has been there before us so that we can
spend Eternity with Him!
S-
Strength to live through things we never thought we would make it through, only
to come out the other end rejoicing in Him.
U-
Undying persistence on His part brings us to our knees in humbleness to receive
His grace.
S-Sweetest
name, when called out in fear, sorrow, even desperation or any kind of need His
name will bring you peace beyond understanding, joy unspeakable, and that
feeling that you will make it through no matter what!
Ok,
so that was a short but to the point I hope, acrostic. The point is we need to
not forget God in our troubled times, or in the times when things work out just
right.
Do
we remember Him then? When the day is beautiful, you get to get up and have
your TAWG time, you sing a song or two on the way to work, or the grocery store
or whatever you do with your day… the kids do schoolwork with no fussing or
complaining….
Do
you remember Him then? Do you thank Him for the little things?
When
people practice being in His face on a regular basis they tend to reach out to
him that much faster in times of need. It becomes natural to us when we do it
all the time.
Ask
yourself today, as I ask myself, “What would I do if I was stuck on a roof top
with rising water and no help in sight?”
I
hope you get the same answer I came to today, “My help is in the Lord! He is
always right here with me!”
I
hope that we can trust Him together to get us through any problems that may
occur in our lives today or tomorrow or next week, or next year… cause troubles
will come.
Are you going to be ready? You better get on with it! Time is of the essence!
My
heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek." Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn
Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not leave me nor forsake
me, O' God of my salvation.
When
my father and my mother forsake me,
Then
the LORD will take care of me. Ps 27:5-10
Dear
Heavenly Father, Lord, make me ready! Draw near to me as you have called to me
to draw near to You. Lord help me to know I can put my trust in You in any
storm, and know that
You Lord will guide me and direct me and help me through it. In Jesus name,
Amen.
Suggested Readings for this week;
Monday: Psalm 37-3-11 (Read the whole chapter if you want!) Proverbs 28:18-28, Psalm 16:1-11, 1 John 5-all, John 17:1-26 and Psalm 21
In His love,
Teresa
M. Wilson
www.teresawilson.com
Copyright © 2005
by Teresa M. Wilson.
Rom 8:24-25
For we were saved in this hope, but hope
that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But
if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
NKJV