Sunday, 3 November 2024

relationships (Psalm 65:1-13) Fully Trustworthy

(Psalm 65:1-13)  There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, God,

     And the vow will be fulfilled for You.
2   You who hear prayer,
     To You all mankind comes.
3   Wrongdoings prevail against me;
     As for our offenses, You forgive them.
4   Blessed is the one You choose and allow to approach You;
     He will dwell in Your courtyards.
     We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
     Your holy temple.

5   By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, God of our salvation,
     You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and the farthest sea;
6   Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
     Who is encircled with might;
7   Who stills the roaring of the seas,
    The roaring of their waves,
     And the turmoil of the nations.
8   They who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
     You make the sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.

9   You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
     You greatly enrich it;
     The stream of God is full of water;
     You prepare their grain, for so You prepare the earth.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
     You settle its ridges,
     You soften it with showers,
     You bless its growth.
11 You have crowned the year with Your goodness,
     And Your paths drip with fatness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness drip,
     And the hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks 
     And the valleys are covered with grain;
     They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
The all-powerful God who is able to still the raging seas, is also able to calm the turmoil within the nations, as well as any turmoil within a person's soul.  Nothing happens without His permission... even salvation.  Understand that the Lord is omniscient, so He knew before He ever created us, who would become a believer or not.  Yet, He still gives everyone a fair opportunity to see His nurturing goodness, so that we can all make an "educated" decision as to whether or not we embrace everything God is and everything God has done for us.  In this way, God chooses those who will come to Him to become His children.
How we come to the Lord is not up to us, as verse 4 also explains.  God is holy and cannot have a relationship with sin.  Since God desires that all come to know Him, He came in flesh to pay the price for all sin, and offers the free gift of salvation, which is the forgiveness of all our sins.  This is the only way to heaven, because the wages of sin is death!  It is impossible for any of us to pay that price, but God loves us so much, He sent His Son to pay that price for us.
God also loves us so much that He doesn't hold this "favor" over our heads when we do accept His salvation.  He THEN extends to us His grace, because He knows that we will mess up, stumble and stray.  Therefore He seals us with His indwelling Holy Spirit, so we have eternal security.  Just in this we should be extremely thankful.  And more than that, God extends to us His strength, wisdom and guidance in His righteousness, because He wants us to be content, and have joy!  Knowing all of this, we can fully trust in the Lord and go to Him with everything!

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