the BLESSING
Identifying the Goodness of God
November 23rd, 2022
Romans 8:31-32, ‘So what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us? For God has proved His love by giving us His greatest treasure, the gift of His Son. And since God freely offered Him up as the sacrifice of us all. He certainly won’t withhold from us anything else He has to give.’ (TPT)
SURRENDER ALL
What is the posture of your heart this Thanksgiving?
It’s been a difficult year, hasn’t it? In fact, the 20’s haven’t gotten off to a very good start at all, and I keep on wondering, what will be said about this decade when it comes to a close eventually and the newscasters look back on ‘the best of and the worst of times’. It is quite easy to spend a lot of time grumbling when the daily grind finds us trudging backward toward an unmarked finish line, forever out of reach. There is so much fear and frustration, disillusionment and disaster, anger and anxiety. It would be very easy to choose to not acknowledge any gratitude since there seems to be little to be thankful for.
But I wonder what would happen if we changed the posture of our heart. If we surrendered our ideas and our focus and our determinations to that of the Lord’s. If we chose to be grateful even if things look bleak and sound senseless. I wonder what God could do with the beat of the human heart if it beat after what broke His, what bothered Him, instead of what matters to us, all the trappings that capture our attentions and intentions.
It says in Psalm 138:3 (NKJV), ‘The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.’ That’s because, to our Father, His intent is on us. There isn’t one thing happening right now that is taking our Father by surprise. He isn’t wringing His hands when another senseless shooting is telecast, when everyone is making sport out of each other, when it seems like the goal is to belittle and annihilate one another and our democracy stands nearly in shambles. Our God is fully aware of the tragedies and our human tendencies, and even in the entanglements and turmoil, His desire is to make all things perfect in His time. Because of His passion for mankind, He surrendered everything including His only Son for you and for me. Would it be too much for us to surrender even just a little bit of praise—a sacrifice of praise—and show Him our gratitude, for all He has brought us through, for all He is doing and has already done? Could the posture of our heart perhaps change the trajectory of where our world is headed? Might it just be the humility needed to effect change that outlasts the travesty we are being buried in.
My prayer this season: “O God, fix my focus on Your face. Keep my heart upon its knees. May my feet be on Your path, and Your path alone. Amen.”
