gladitudes

Here are some verses that I am going to be thinking about today. They are all verses about the way God feels/acts toward us, His people.

It’s so easy for me to take my human perceptions of authority and project them onto God. In doing so, I begin to expect selfishness and evil from God, but He is not like that; He’s not like man and doesn’t have any of the problems and sin man has. These verses are a good way for me to focus on God’s true nature.

Psalm 9:10

And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 145:18

The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Deuteronomy 4:31

For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Psalm 5:3-4

O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning [I direct my prayer to you]* and watch.
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.

*This is taken from the alternative translation from the ESV bible in the foot note.

Psalm 18:3

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

My God is worthy of praise. When I call on Him, he will save me because of his love and grace. This gives me great hope and courage.

I read this today and wanted to share. I love how David really knew and constantly recognized God as the only true source of joy and satisfaction. I need the reminder so often.

Psalm 43:3-5 (NLT)

Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me
Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.
⁴ There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.
I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!
⁵ Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

Every once in a while you have those times where it seems like the things you depend on are crumbling. There’s this fear and anticipation that can become pretty heavy. In some ways I’m facing one of those times.

This passage was really comforting for me this morning.

Psalm 125:1-2 (ESV)

¹ Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.

Not much to comment on here, other than it blows my mind still that the Almighty God would care for me, yet He has and He does. Simultaneously the most humbling and confidence-building truth I know.

I just read this and it has me thinking. Note, especially, verse 92.

Psalm 119:91-93 (NLT)

⁹¹ Your regulations remain true to this day,
for everything serves your plans.
⁹² If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy,
I would have died in my misery.
⁹³ I will never forget your commandments,
for by them you give me life.

I think something that often amazes me about David and something, too, that I find pretty convicting is how David really, truly rejoiced in God’s commands. It’s easy to rejoice in God’s blessing, God’s mercy, God’s grace, etc. But, I think for many, God’s commands seem… oh… difficult.

David didn’t feel this way at all. In the above passage he writes that God’s instructions sustained him with joy! Do we find JOY in God’s commands? Do we find joy to the point where it sustains us in misery? I’d say not probably for most of us.

Something David understood very clearly and something I think we’d do well to understand is that God’s commands to us are given out of His love. He loves us without fail always and therefore He has shown us how we should live to experience the best life. His commands are not arbitrary or meaningless, but rather for our benefit and protection. In my life I have found it takes faith to believe this at times, but experience has also proven it true.

If you’re interested more in this, read Psalm 19 as well.

As I was categorizing this post, I saw my category for legalism. It made me think: If we understand that God’s commands come out of his love for us, it blows legalism out of the water. We don’t obey to be good enough for God, but rather we obey to submit ourselves to His love! Very different.