I praise the Lord because He advises me. Even at night I feel His leading. I keep the Lord before me always. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (vs. 7-8)
Awake again at 4 am and wondering why I cannot sleep, I wander downstairs to the living room, wrap my robe tight around me and sit in the dark, waiting to hear from God. I have learned that He wants to speak to me in these times. Sleepy-eyed and groggy, don't think I am super spiritual because I get up. Usually He gives me no alternative. I am compelled to obey my Father when He asks for time with me. I have never been disappointed in these early morning meetings. Tired the next day sometimes, but most often not even that. It seems to me that when I have given time to so many other things the day before is when He calls me to refill in His Presence. To connect to the Source of life that drains me as I go about my day. I need His advice. Especially in these times when I really don't know where He is leading.
Isn't it what God has wanted all along? To lead us day by day? We are not born with our life's blueprint in hand. I don't have a life map (though, I tell you the truth, I wish I did!) or inner GPS that points the way into next week, next month or next year. Neither did Adam and Eve. They should have been content to walk with their God in the cool of the day. To fellowship with the Creator one-on-one. But, alas, they were not.
God took the Israelites into the desert, miraculously fed them on a daily basis. Dwelt with them in their traveling temple, and led them on their journey as a cloud by day and a pillar fire by night. The Lord wanted them to trust Him for their daily bread as well as their daily guidance. Don't know where you are going? Neither did they. But He does and did, and He wants us to grab onto that strong right hand of His and take a walk to wherever He leads. Scary, huh? But maybe not as scary as lighting out on our own in some random direction we choose. Because, really, either way you take this trip called life, you don't know where you are going. That is the truth of it. You can make all the plans you want for how it will all play out, and if you are lucky they might succeed. But without His hand holding yours, it is a shot in the dark.
Consider Whose hand you are holding. It flung stars, molded mountains, dug out oceans and streams. It drew the plans for trees, flowers, giraffes and elephants. With love it took dust from the earth and fashioned man. I'd hold that hand any day. I'd let that strong right hand take me on the adventure that my life is, and though I quake at the thought of not knowing always where He leads, I am sure the course is charted out for me because He is the master designer. The problem is, I have to keep looking at Him and not the path. My next step needs His guidance, so looking down the path with my earthly eyes, I can almost never see any good outcome. It is dark before me, often, so I am blind to what will come next. Not my Father. This is the way He wants it so that I will keep a tight hold on Him, look into His face for reassurance of His presence, and take the next step with my little hand in His.
So He wakes me in the night. He doesn't want me shaken by what might come my way in the day before me. He wants my relationship with Him so firm that I can say with Habakkuk:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
What can be shaken will be one day. God's voice shook the earth when He spoke from Mt. Sinai. The earth quaked at the death of Jesus. And God will shake this earth again. Yet once more will I shake not only on the earth but heaven also (Haggai 2:6) The writer of Hebrews says: This expression, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what can be shaken - that is created things - so that what cannot be shaken remains.
I want to remain. I want to be so attached to the vine that I cannot be shaken loose though everything falls apart - because it is going to. I'm with my Daddy, my Abba, and He knows the way through. If He is the One doing the shaking, aren't I safest holding onto Him? I need His advice and leading, so if He has to wake me in the night to get my attention, I will embrace the quiet with my Father.
Awake again at 4 am and wondering why I cannot sleep, I wander downstairs to the living room, wrap my robe tight around me and sit in the dark, waiting to hear from God. I have learned that He wants to speak to me in these times. Sleepy-eyed and groggy, don't think I am super spiritual because I get up. Usually He gives me no alternative. I am compelled to obey my Father when He asks for time with me. I have never been disappointed in these early morning meetings. Tired the next day sometimes, but most often not even that. It seems to me that when I have given time to so many other things the day before is when He calls me to refill in His Presence. To connect to the Source of life that drains me as I go about my day. I need His advice. Especially in these times when I really don't know where He is leading.
Isn't it what God has wanted all along? To lead us day by day? We are not born with our life's blueprint in hand. I don't have a life map (though, I tell you the truth, I wish I did!) or inner GPS that points the way into next week, next month or next year. Neither did Adam and Eve. They should have been content to walk with their God in the cool of the day. To fellowship with the Creator one-on-one. But, alas, they were not.
God took the Israelites into the desert, miraculously fed them on a daily basis. Dwelt with them in their traveling temple, and led them on their journey as a cloud by day and a pillar fire by night. The Lord wanted them to trust Him for their daily bread as well as their daily guidance. Don't know where you are going? Neither did they. But He does and did, and He wants us to grab onto that strong right hand of His and take a walk to wherever He leads. Scary, huh? But maybe not as scary as lighting out on our own in some random direction we choose. Because, really, either way you take this trip called life, you don't know where you are going. That is the truth of it. You can make all the plans you want for how it will all play out, and if you are lucky they might succeed. But without His hand holding yours, it is a shot in the dark.
Consider Whose hand you are holding. It flung stars, molded mountains, dug out oceans and streams. It drew the plans for trees, flowers, giraffes and elephants. With love it took dust from the earth and fashioned man. I'd hold that hand any day. I'd let that strong right hand take me on the adventure that my life is, and though I quake at the thought of not knowing always where He leads, I am sure the course is charted out for me because He is the master designer. The problem is, I have to keep looking at Him and not the path. My next step needs His guidance, so looking down the path with my earthly eyes, I can almost never see any good outcome. It is dark before me, often, so I am blind to what will come next. Not my Father. This is the way He wants it so that I will keep a tight hold on Him, look into His face for reassurance of His presence, and take the next step with my little hand in His.
So He wakes me in the night. He doesn't want me shaken by what might come my way in the day before me. He wants my relationship with Him so firm that I can say with Habakkuk:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
What can be shaken will be one day. God's voice shook the earth when He spoke from Mt. Sinai. The earth quaked at the death of Jesus. And God will shake this earth again. Yet once more will I shake not only on the earth but heaven also (Haggai 2:6) The writer of Hebrews says: This expression, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what can be shaken - that is created things - so that what cannot be shaken remains.
I want to remain. I want to be so attached to the vine that I cannot be shaken loose though everything falls apart - because it is going to. I'm with my Daddy, my Abba, and He knows the way through. If He is the One doing the shaking, aren't I safest holding onto Him? I need His advice and leading, so if He has to wake me in the night to get my attention, I will embrace the quiet with my Father.
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