Above all else

It’s been a weekend full of more violence, more hatred..not just here but all around the world…these are turbulent times and our footing can get shaken in an instant.

Literally.

As even the earth quakes in unexpected places these days.

So this morning…would you come away with me for a few minutes before we go out and face our giants?

Not to close our eyes to the ugly…but to open our eyes to the Truth?

Because tonight, there will be a great debate and it can stir up your heart and get you all twisted inside to listen to well-calculated words that fly.

Words fueled by agendas and a desire to rally people to take sides.

But for those who are in Christ, there is only one side and that is the side that took our side and reconciled us to God.

So let’s step inside a quiet place and examine our hearts before Him.

From my journaling this morning from a devotion by Frances Ridley Havergal…some of her thoughts…some of my thoughts…on God’s thoughts…

Who is among you who fears the LORD, who obeys the voice of His Servant, yet who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust and be confident in the name of the LORD and let him rely on his God.                     Isaiah 50:10

Who is among you who fears the LORD…

I fear so many things…

live paralyzed some days by what could happen if the scenario’s in my head really do play out.

Fear born from what I can see with my eyes crowds out and overcomes the FEAR of the LORD …

but it is in this FEAR…

HOLY FEAR of our LORD…

that I find wisdom (Proverbs 9:10)

who obeys the voice of His Servant

Am I following the teachings of Christ Jesus my Savior?

The One who spoke only what the Father told Him?

The words that are in the Word of God, the Bible….that book that holds the God-breathed, inspired Words of faith…

am I reading it, applying it, obeying it?

Am I listening with my spirit ears to the Holy Spirit who guides me and leads me into all truth?

Am I putting to death the works of the sin nature that still wrestles for my attention and obeying the spirit nature of my regenerated soul?

yet who walks in darkness and has no light?

Wait.

What?

There will be a darkness that is not the darkness of sin?

Most certainly there will be.

Just as the night comes in our 24 hour day…

and the absence of light is not because of sin but a part of the rhythm of the gift of time…

so there are times when we do not sense God’s light.

Seasons of darkness that are not the darkness of sin.

Let him trust and be confident in the name of the LORD and let him rely on his God.

So in the darkness that comes as part of life…

take the Word of God and go into the quiet places …

physically and spiritually.

Literally, step away and close the door to the noises and distractions of this world.

And PRAY…ask for His help. Ask for His light. Ask for His comfort and His guidance.

Do not try and create your own light, but place your trust in His coming Light.

TRUST in the name of the LORD, the Trinity…

Father + Savior + Comforter

Pray to Him to give LIGHT to your darkness.

Pray to have discernment to recognize and follow only His light.

Do not try to find your way on your own.

That is the old way…the old nature…

Know and believe that you will not always be in the dark.

Rely on the promises of God until His Light is revealed to you.

The promise and comfort of the Isaiah passage is that, if we are viewing our God with an understanding of His power, might, sovereignty, authority, magnificence…and we are not knowingly embracing sin and disobedience…then when our understanding is darkened, we can place our confidence and trust in Him that He IS leading us because He is worthy to lead us and we are willing to follow.

May God bless each of you to realize that we can do none of this apart from the help of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

All the things of this earth will pass away…

the conflicts and elections,

the agendas and the causes,

the debates and the campaigns.

All of these will go the way of all that is temporal.

I urge you today, do not neglect the Fear of the LORD…the pursuit of knowing HIM…the quieting of your heart…the bending of your knee.

Steady your heart on Him today <3