The Real Issue

Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word!  It’s real, and it tells the truth. And it tells about people who forgot for a minute… like its so easy to do.  Psalms 13:1 – How long, O LORD?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  Have you ever noticed that feelings are different than facts.  Many times they can be stronger than fact.  How long O LORD? Will you forget me forever?  Has He forgot you forever?  Has forever already come and gone and we just missed it?  How old are you?  Eighteen?  twenty-five?  fifty?  eighty?  To God a thousand years is as one day, and a day is as a thousand years.  Whatever you are believing him for is certainly not going to take a day because ten generations of your grandchildren will already have lived and died.  God said He will never leave you nor forsake you – He never has, He never will.  Just because dark clouds are in the way, you’re in the middle of a storm, that doesn’t mean the sun has turned away or is hiding it’s face.  Verse 3 – How long must I wrestle with my thoughts, and every day have sorrow in my heart.  Now that’s the real issue.  It’s not your life that’s the problem, it’s your thought-life that’s the problem.  How you think about life, or what you are going through, or what God is doing right now, or what you think He should do.  That’s the issue, how long will you wrestle with your thoughts? And have sorrow in your heart?  As long as you keep wrestling and sorrowing.  As long as you want to.  As long as you choose to. As long as it takes for you to take God at His Word.  He said, Cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.”  When you do that – the wrestling is over.  He said. “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  When you speak His Word, and do it – the wrestling is over, the sorrowing is over.  How long will my enemy triumph over me?  Are you dead?  Then he hasn’t triumphed.  But he will win this battle as long as it takes for you to do what God says you should do in this situation.  It starts with your words.  Praise God – He gives truth that our feelings are made to be brought in submission to.  When you go by what He said, and not what you feel, life gets so much better.  Nothing has changed – except you!  But when you do, everything changes.  David says it a couple verses later.  But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  (It hasn’t come yet, but he’s rejoicing now anyway…) I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.  I love this – clear takeaways.  #1  You said your love never fails and I choose to trust you.  #2 – I will rejoice (take joy again) in your salvation!  I’ve seen it before, I will see it again, and when this life is over – my Salvation is in Jesus Christ and my eternity is paid for by Him alone.  #3 I will sing to the LORD (Really, do it. Sing a new song – no band, no mix-tape, just sing, no rhyme needed – just do it) for He has been good to me.  He definitely has.  Everything you need He provides, He always has.  You have been blessed, provided for, protected – from things you didn’t even know were about to destroy you.  You have been remembered, promised, delivered, and He will do it again.  Praying that you will recognize the real issue.  God never made you to wrestle with your thoughts, He made you to submit your thoughts… Submit them to him, cast all your cares on Him, give all your praise to Him.  He isn’t hiding, He’s watching, He hasn’t forgotten, He’s working.  He turns weeping into dancing – He gives the oil of joy for morning, He establishes your thoughts and your words on Him.  Just do what He says in this hour.  If just stand, then stand, but He probably has something for you to do while you stand.  You can still serve while you stand.  You can give a testimony to overcome with – the list is endless.  And you can speak His Word to establish your thoughts – then you don’t wrestle with them, you direct them, you invest them, you employ them, and you see the victory through the eyes of faith.
 
Love you all,
dad