“You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
There’s a song called “different” by Micah Tyler that I have shared many times before, and it continues to bless me. It’s about going through difficult things—and instead of having God change the things around me it’s about asking God to CHANGE ME to handle the things that He is walking me through.
It is and always will be about my change.
Sometimes I take a step back, like an out of body experience, and I just think “what the heck is going on? How did this happen? What’s going on? Am I going to be okay?” And of course the truth is that God is aware of me and I am in His perfect plan for my life. So, yes…I’m going to be just fine. In my life I have learned to trust God no matter what, because what other alternative do I have?
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is when Jesus starts talking about the gospel of His body being the bread of life and many of the disciples are leaving Him because the message is hard to swallow. Hard to believe. So Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them: “do you want to leave Me too?” And Peter aptly responds: “where would we go? You have the words of life.” In other words, there’a nothing left for them. Jesus is it.
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.””
John 6:66-69
They have found the answer to all things.
They have found God.
There is no other alternative for them.
There’s no bargaining or need for proof anymore. They have come to know God and there is nothing but devotion left for them. There is nothing more worthy to live for apart from their Lord Jesus because everything else has been proven to be an empty pursuit…vanity. They are done chasing nonsense and they now have only One option.
This has been my experience as well. When there are things in life that I don’t understand, from marital issues to a pregnancy diagnosis of Down Syndrome, I have nothing left but to run to my Savior because He alone holds the words of eternal life. I need only seek His advice when my mind feels unstable. I am done relying on my own mind for answers that are beyond my ability to manage. What could I truly manage? I have so little control. For me, the answer has become so simple…only Jesus can tell me what is true.
It may not be a popular truth, but it is the truth!
And now it matters only that I know the one from whom this truth comes from.
I have come to answer the deep question upon which everything else hangs: Is He a good God or is He not?
That’s what it really comes down to.
Is God truly good?
If He is then His truth, no matter how unpalatable it may be, turns into sweet honey to the person who believes that the source is Good.
And I have come to know who God is, and He is so good!
I think about His mercy! His graciousness to me! His unceasing love despite my unfaithfulness! His faithfulness to me! This almighty God has chosen me as His beloved child and I know only a gentle and merciful Savior. That’s who I have experienced!
He has been so, so good to me.
Would His faithfulness to me suddenly stop?
Of course not!
I am prone to forget, get lazy and drop the ball on valuing intimacy with Him, but He is not like me! He pursues me daily and when I acknowledge Him even for a split second I’m met with extravagant, overwhelming love.
He continues to change me to become someone who trusts Him in anything.
That is intimacy.
And that is what drawing close to God is all about. To trust Him in everything.
Jmegrey
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