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We’ve been talking about Grace in small group, so I decided to write a little post on the subject..

What is grace? It’s not an easy thing to pin down into a sentence, but here’s my attempt (with a little help.!) Grace is the kindness by which God bestows favours, even on those who do not deserve it, and by which God grants sinners the forgiveness of their sins. Giving those who believe, the gift of eternal life (salvation) through Jesus Christ instead of the eternal punishment they rightly deserve.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

God’s Grace is presented in the bible as sufficient for each and every Christian. Enough to cover all of our sin, and enough to help us, encourage us and carry us through everything we will face in this life (despite our failures and weaknesses) and even more, grace carries us into the next life, pure, righteous and justified before our holy God because of the blood of Christ and our faith in Him (which is also a gift from God!)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

It’s by God’s grace that we can learn to walk the way he wants us to, and be forgiven when we fall. It’s grace that calls us to our salvation. (2 Cor. 12: 7-10, Gal. 1: 15). God’s amazing grace is what he uses to work out all things in our lives, because we do not deserve any blessings or gifts from God, yet he has generously poured out every spiritual blessing on us through his freely given grace, just because it pleased him to do so.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:3-6

Christians are called by grace, Man is saved by grace (Eph. 2: 5,8 ) the heart is strengthened and shown the right path by grace (Heb. 13: 9), we are justified by grace and given the status of being co-heirs with Christ (Tit. 3: 5-7).

..because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5 

Through grace God can give us hope and eternal encouragement (2 Thes. 2: 16-17). Grace takes us from our sinful state and makes us better people (Cor. 15: 9-10). Grace helps us in times of need (Heb. 4: 16). We are to stand firm in grace, grow in grace, and be strong in grace (I Pet. 5:12, 2 Pet. 3: 18, 2 Tim. 2: 1).

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16

Although God’s common grace extends to all mankind (the air we breath, the lives we live) I believe there is a special, more personal grace for those who have received God’s saving grace, who love Him and obediently and humbly follow him. If we do not know God then we take his grace for granted, but when we know God we can accept his grace, live in the good of his grace, come before him and ask him for gifts of grace for certain situations, and also be thankful for the grace that he has already generously poured out on us.

Special grace in God’s word.. Noah “found grace (or favour) in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6: 8 – NKJ) because he was one of few who were still following God – although grace is given to the undeserved, God additionally blesses those who choose to follow his ways. The humble are also said to be favoured with grace, unlike the proud (Prov. 3: 34, 1 Pet. 5: 5). Jesus and Paul are expressly said to have experienced God’s grace upon them/working through them because God had special purposes for their lives (Lk. 2: 40, I Cor. 15: 10). God’s grace is also given to all who “love the Lord” (Eph. 6: 24).

God chose to love us, call us, adopt us, forgive us, save us, justify us, make us righteous, pour out his blessings on us, give us eternal encouragement, strengthen us, help us in times of need and bestow his favour upon us… not because we deserve any of this, just because of his grace.

What is our response? Our hearts should be overwhelmed with gratitude and love for our Father in heaven, who despite all our sin and rebellion, holds us in his arms and tells us that no matter what, he will always love us with an unfailing love.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD. Isaiah 54:10

 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Psalm 107:8

And the amazing thing is, this is just a tiny glimpse of the vastness of God’s grace! We cannot fully comprehend the extent of God’s grace in our lives, and the cost of our salvation, but thanks to God’s grace we can spend the rest of eternity with Jesus learning more about it!

What a faithful God have I.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

There are over 700 mentions of the heart in the bible. We are commanded to love God with "all our hearts" (Deuteronomy 6:5), we are warned to "guard our hearts as they are the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23) and we are told that "where our treasure is, our hearts will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  Jeremiah 17:9 claims that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" and Matthew 15:19 says "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" which doesn’t paint a very hopeful picture of us being able to get our hearts in the right place with God at all! We’re going to need some help…!

So what can we learn from what the bible says, and how do we put this into practice?

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.

Psalm 139 says the following:
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

That’s a good place to start – asking God to reveal our hearts to us. Sometimes we can presume our hearts are in the right place, but actually rather than having hearts fully after God, we find out that often our hearts are divided or our motivations are not right. Just because our hearts are telling us something, doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be right.

One way the bible tells us of finding our where our heart is, is to look at where we invest (what’s our treasure?) Matthew 6:21 : "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where do we choose to spend our available time and money?  What do we choose to invest our energy or finances in? What do we spend much of our time thinking about? If the answers are  not "God / Jesus / God’s kingdom / loving the Lord & our neighbours" then we’re investing in the wrong things, and our hearts are not aligned to God.

God knows well that we often follow our hearts, and sometimes we follow our heads, but actually neither of these are the right things to follow!! That’s why there are so many warnings in the bible, and verses telling us to set our hearts on God and on his laws. Instead of following our hearts (or our heads) we should be following God’s word, and the Holy Spirit living in us, seeking God for his will and his plans for our lives. Like the request in the psalm above we should be praying "lead me in the way everlasting" We cannot walk on the right path without asking and following God… our hearts will lead us astray.

Psalm 86:11 says "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." I think it’s key that we realise a lot of the time our hearts can be divided. We want to live for God and trust God fully, but although perhaps a good percentage of our hearts are willing, there’s often another part of our hearts that cannot fully let go and trust God. Because we don’t always get what we want, our hearts try to trick us into believing that perhaps our way is actually better than God’s!! We cannot be divided! James 1:6-8 says a double-minded man is "unstable in all he does." We must ask God continually to help us with our divided hearts, so that we can learn to have hearts that are sold out for Him and prepared to walk in all his ways, not just the ones that suit us.

Proverbs has a lot to say about man’s heart, including this "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails" Proverbs 19:21. Therefore, what we need to do is learn to align our hearts with God’s, so that God’s plans are our plans! If not, our plans are not going to get us far!  Proverbs also says  "trust in the LORD with all your  heart and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5.

There’s a passage in the bible that’s quoted quite a lot : Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart". A really lovely passage, but what we need to be careful of is that we don’t skip over the first bit of this passage “delight yourself in the Lord” and rush straight into the getting the desires of our heart bit!! It’s when our hearts are totally after God, when we love to be in his presence and are so thankful to him for all he has done, that our hearts become aligned to God’s own heart. We start to get glimpses of his heart for us, and for others, and our selfishness and our own desires get put back in their place. That’s when we start to desire the things that God desires and our hearts stop leading us astray.

So in Summary: Don’t trust your heart!! It can be very deceitful! Do love God with all your heart and you can’t go far wrong! Ask God to test your heart and be willing to work on anything he reveals to you. Look for yourself at where you spend your time and money to get an idea of if your heart’s currently focused on the right things. Trust The Lord with all your heart, and don’t be divided – He’s the only one who is faithful. Pray for God to help you to do this so that you can love and serve him fully. Delight yourself in God, and your heart will become aligned to his, then he will be pleased to give you the desires of your heart!

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.  1 Chronicles 22:19

Romans 6:15-23

 ¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

 ¹⁹I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are all slaves to something, that’s what it shows in this passage. We sometimes think we rule our own lives, as the famous song goes “I did it My Way.” But the truth is, if we’re not doing it God’s way, then we are slaves to sin & the devil instead. We may not notice this because we are being fooled by a world which tells us that getting what we want leads to happiness, and it’s all about how we feel and everything should revolve around “me, myself and I.” But as soon as we are slaves to anything else but Jesus, we are on a path to destruction. When we are slaves to righteousness, and obeying God, that’s when we are on the path to freedom and eternal life.

When we think of God’s amazing gift of Grace, we realise we are so blessed to no longer live under the old law, but we must be so careful not to take God’s gift of Grace as a free ticket to do whatever we want, knowing that we can come to God in repentance and be forgiven whenever we choose. It’s true that if we are honestly repentant then we will of course receive forgiveness for our sins, but whilst we are “abusing” God’s grace in this way, we are walking away from God and down a destructive path. We will hurt ourselves, our relationship with God and quite likely other people too. Plus the further we walk down this path of “licence”, the harder it will be to turn back to God in repentance, the sin will create a block between us and God, and although God will be calling us back to him the whole time, our spiritual discernment will weaken and we will find it a lot harder to repent and get back on track.

We also need to remember the cost of God’s Grace – Christ dying for us – and the significance of this: Our Holy, unblemished God choosing to take on all our sin even though he was totally perfect and blameless. Would we choose to heap even more sin on Christ’s shoulders just because we can get away with it?

Christ died so that we would be totally set free from sin, not so that we could dabble with it without taking any blame! We should want to flee from all sin and walk in obedience to Christ because of his wonderful sacrifice for us. We can then be so thankful and humble when we do mess up, because God is quick to forgive, abounding in grace and love.  

God’s way is perfect – when we live in obedience to him, trusting him and walking in his laws, then we see that he designed these laws not to spoil our fun, but for our enjoyment, freedom, protection and fulfilment. Read some of the Psalms and you will see how much God’s laws were loved and respected. In these guidelines we see that lives work out for the best, and peace and joy come as a result of following them.

Psalm 19:7-8

 ⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect,
       reviving the soul.
       The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
       making wise the simple.

 ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
       giving joy to the heart.
       The commands of the LORD are radiant,
       giving light to the eyes.

If you don’t feel this way about God’s laws ask yourself a couple of questions. Is this because you are trying to fight them? Are you picking & choosing the ones that suit you, and not fully submitting to God’s will?

I challenge you for the next 40 days of lent – Try it! Walk in total obedience to Christ. It won’t be easy, you will slip up now and then, but you’ll realise what a blessing it is to be in step with God and to have that closer relationship with him because of it!

But always remember :

You’re not earning God’s love by your obedience  - God already loves you completely!

You’re not working out your own salvation – Jesus has already done it on the cross!  

That’s God’s amazing Grace!

What you are doing is understanding that God’s way is the best way to live your life, acknowledging that He knows better than you do (!), and trusting that if you follow his ways you will find fulfilment, joy and peace for your soul.

Psalm 23

¹The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

³ he restores my soul.

Sometimes we can know a passage so well that we just read it and don’t really connect with it anymore, it’s too familiar.. but then we can easily lose out as (usually) we hear certain passages alot because they are so encouraging, building, or give us amazing inside to how great our God is!

Psalm 23 is one of those passages. The Lord being our good shepherd, us being the rather stupid, but very loved sheep of his flock! God leads us and we follow (or rebel!) He knows when we need rest, He knows when we need water, He knows when our souls need restoring, even when we don’t!

Spend some time thinking about these verses for a few minutes. Ask God to reveal to you again what it means for Him to be your shepherd and to have him taking care of you as you depend on him for provision, guidance and rest.

The Lord is my shepherd
The new testament tells us that Jesus is the good shepherd. (John 10:11) A good shepherd knows how to take care of his sheep. A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The sheep know his voice and follow him. They know without doubt that he will take care of them and lead them into safety and shelter.

I shall not be in want
God provides all that we need. We find our contentment and fulfillment in Him when we allow him to guide us and lead us and not try to go our own way / have our own way.

He makes me lie down in green pastures
We often don’t allow ourselves enough rest. Yet God knows we need it, and if we are following him we will have those times of rest without feeling guilty. We find the best rest when we seek him and spend time in his presence.

He leads me beside quiet waters
Again this is the Shepherd knowing where to take his sheep in order to provide for them and to restore them. When we follow God he leads us into times of being refreshed by the Holy Spirit. He gently restores us with his living water as we seek him.

He restores my soul
By giving us his peace and rest, and leading us to those living waters, we find restoration for our souls. When we do things in our own strength or charge ahead because we think we know the way, we can miss out on God’s restoration because it comes in those times where we stop for a while and listen to the Shepherd’s voice. Only God can restore our souls and give us the security of knowing our good shepherd is looking out for us and taking care of us.

Spend some time reading through the rest of the psalm in the light of these first few verses. Look at the next bit about walking through the valley. It’s not always going to be green pastures & quiet waters, so we need to get the strength and restoration from God in these times in order to be ready for the harder times – knowing that even through the valleys we can still trust the good shepherd to guide us and not to leave us.

Psalm 73

  1 Surely God is good to Israel,
       to those who are pure in heart.

 2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
       I had nearly lost my foothold.

 3 For I envied the arrogant
       when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 4 They have no struggles;
       their bodies are healthy and strong.

 5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
       they are not plagued by human ills.
………..

  16 When I tried to understand all this,
       it was oppressive to me

  17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
      then I understood their final destiny.
………………..

  26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
       but God is the strength of my heart
       and my portion forever.

  27 Those who are far from you will perish;
       you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

  28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
       I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
       I will tell of all your deeds.

I love to read the Psalms because they are so real. So true to how the person was feeling at the time. They don’t put on their “holy hats” or their “Sunday morning smiles” they just pour out their hearts to their God who knows them and loves them.

Reading this Psalm was one of those times when you’ve had a conversation with someone, then the very next thing you read in the bible is so totally linked to that conversation! Psalm 73 came up in my daily reading and it was so spot on to the conversation I had had that day with a friend. Do go and read the whole thing, I just picked out some verses as it was too long to put the whole thing in.

 I was talking to a friend about how often we can look around at others who don’t know God and wonder why they have it so easy. They have jobs, and families and money and health and often seemingly everything they wish for. Yet sometimes as Christians we go through hard times, we may not have found that special someone or we could be struggling with our health or to find work. It seems so unfair!

This Psalm covers exactly this topic. The Psalmist is looking around at Godless people and telling God how unfair it is that they have life so easy!  We often do the same -  but we mustn’t let ourselves get caught up with what others have, rather than what we have! We have Christ, we have eternal salvation, we have a loving Father and the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us peace. We may not have all the “worldly things” we want, but our time on this earth is only momentary – our salvation is eternal !

We know that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3), who would really swap this, and our eternal salvation, for worldly things that will soon perish? (“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17.) That would be like Esau giving up his birthright for a bowl of stew. (check out Genesis 25:29-42, then what happens as a result in Gen 27)

We do need to be careful that our feet don’t slip as we look at other people’s lives rather than concentrating on our own walk with God. It’s such an easy trap to fall into and it’s something that we all do!!! We need to check ourselves when we start looking at what others have. God knows what we are like, that’s why he included “you shall not covet” as part of his ten commandments. He says “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." And I think in the end this is what it boils down to – we look at what others have, things or relationships, wealth or family and we covet them – we wish we could have these things. It leaves us feeling jealous, unhappy with the blessings God has given us, and focusing totally in the wrong place. It’s not at all productive.

Instead we need to draw near to God to be “in his sanctuary.” We must remember what Jesus has already done for us, that priceless death on the cross. God has promised to be with us forever, and that we can find our refuge in him. We are so blessed! It’s so “good to be near God!” In those times when we are focussed on him in worship and praise all our cares and worldly desires seem so small and unimportant to our wonderful saviour and the eternal inheritance we have in Him!

Perhaps one answer to focus less on what others have, may be simply to spend more time in worship..?

Isaiah 40:25-31

25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

Putting God in a box is something we all do well! God according to our own point of view, God according our own limited experience, God according to our way of thinking. Yet God is God! He’s so much greater that we could ever imagine! We cannot compare him to anyone or anything on this earth. All things are created by God. How then can we attempt to compare God to anything we know? (v25)

We just have to look up at night and see the stars, knowing that God made each one and calls each one by name! This makes us realise how very very small we are and how very very big God is! (v26)

Yet we seem to think sometimes that God’s sole purpose is to make us happy. To answer every prayer, to take away our grumpiness, and that this “Christianity thing” is all about us and what it means for us. When we think like this we totally miss the point. Yes Jesus died for us – for our sins – so that we may be given the gift of eternal life, but he did this because he wanted to display his amazing love, to bring glory to God and to show how perfect he is (and how in need of a saviour we are!!) It’s all about God – so that we may give him the Praise and Glory he deserves! There’s nothing wrong with knowing the truth that God, the creator of the universe, loves you and me personally and wants to be in relationship with us, but we should never lose sight of what an awesome, eternal, powerful God we serve and the fear (respect) of God that this knowledge should bring us.

I have bad times and sometimes I ask God “why is this happening?” just like v27 where God’s people complain and say that God has disregarded them. But what I (we) need to realise is this…now brace yourself as this may come as a shock!… the world does not revolve around us!! God’s way are not our ways(1) He has a bigger purpose and a bigger plan than we could ever imagine! “His understanding no-one could fathom” – we’re not supposed to understand everything! Yet we spend so much time and energy trying to fathom God – wondering “why is God doing this?” Instead of simply trusting him because he is God! We should know that he has a plan for us (2) and that He is good (3) and He is faithful(4) and He is just (5) and He is loving(6). Therefore no matter what circumstances we are going through or however we feel about things, “God is the everlasting God” (v28) and it’s His Will that we should be honouring,(7) and it’s our faith that we should be exercising(8), rather than using all our energy trying to work out why!(9)

Our view of God effects how we live our lives. If our view is too small or if we do not trust his word, or believe him to be the faithful and just God he says he is, then this effects how easily we are shaken by the circumstances that we face and how “up and down” our relationship with God is. As we get a truer view of God, through his Word and through trusting what His word says, our view of our lives and circumstances also changes. We will slowly stop looking at our selves, and start looking up to our Creator. We will be at peace with not understanding everything, because we know that God is God, yet he loves each one of us and promises to be with us!(10)

How great is God—beyond our understanding! Job 36:26

1) Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

2) Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

3) Mark 10:18 "No one is good—except God alone.

4) Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands

5) Psalm 33:4-6 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love

6) Psalm 145:13: The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made / John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. / Psalm 136:2: Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

7) Just like Jesus prayed : “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

9) Ecclesiastes 8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

10) Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

Psalm 43

¹   Vindicate me, O God,
       and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
       rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

 ² You are God my stronghold.
       Why have you rejected me?
       Why must I go about mourning,
       oppressed by the enemy?

 ³ Send forth your light and your truth,
       let them guide me;
       let them bring me to your holy mountain,
       to the place where you dwell.

 ⁴ Then will I go to the altar of God,
       to God, my joy and my delight.
       I will praise you with the harp,
       O God, my God.

 ⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul?
       Why so disturbed within me?
       Put your hope in God,
       for I will yet praise him,
       my Savior and my God.

Sometimes we think it’s wrong to wrestle with God, to question him and to admit that we are having a tough time (its even harder to tell others). Yet there are many psalms that cover these thoughts and feelings. When we are struggling we need not pretend that everything is ok, or wait until it is fixed before we come back to God and praise Him again. God already knows how we are feeling and what we are struggling with, it won’t come as a surprise to him if we tell him what’s on our mind! He’d much rather we were honest with him than keep everything bottled up.

Yet at the same time we need to remember who God is, and that even if we are feeling down and in turmoil, God is still God and worthy to be praised. He is still our salvation and our hope is still in Him. It’s him who shines his light & truth into situations to guide us in the way we should go.

So if your soul is feeling a bit downcast today, have a go at telling God how you feel & what you’re struggling with. He’s big enough to handle it and he won’t be offended – even if you ask him a few tough questions! Then once you’ve got it all off your chest, you can make the same choice as the psalmist – to choose to hope in God and to continue to praise Him, knowing that He alone is your salvation and your God.

Still not convinced? Have a read through Psalm 13 below!! Its written by David “a man after God’s own heart” .. he knew in his heart that God hadn’t rejected him, he was just telling God how he felt at the time. Look again at how the psalm changes at the very end.

Psalm 13

 ¹ How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
       How long will you hide your face from me?

 ² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
       and every day have sorrow in my heart?
       How long will my enemy triumph over me? 

 ³ Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
       Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

 ⁴ my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
       and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 

 ⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
       my heart rejoices in your salvation.

 ⁶ I will sing to the LORD,
       for he has been good to me.

 And if you’re getting into these purging psalms and feel like reading another, try Ps 22 and read this one really carefully… can you see Jesus in there? You could also read Ps 42 & 43 as one long psalm.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

This verse is an interesting one because you could look at it as a way of getting what you want. I.e. If I spend some time praising God then he’ll give me what I want in return, but this is missing the point.

Delight means “great pleasure or joy.” So for us to Delight in God means that God is where we get our great pleasure and joy from. You can’t make it up, you can’t make it happen, it’s not simply an act of doing, it’s an act of being. Being in God’s presence – enjoying God, getting pleasure out of worshiping Him and joy out of serving him. It’s something that grows over time as we learn to love God and try to grasp just how much God loves us! (Eph 3:18-19)

I think the thing David knew when writing this psalm was that once we are in the place of “delighting in the Lord” our hearts desires will start to line up with God’s own will. We will know God more intimately, and the Holy Spirit will be working in our lives, aligning our hearts with God’s. Therefore, the desires that are in our hearts when we are delighting in God will often be the things that God himself has put there. So we can pray with confidence knowing that what we are asking for is in alignment with God’s will.. and why would our Father in Heaven not answer such requests?

God knows what is the very best for us, and as we delight in Him, so we will too!

Read through Psalm 77 below.

The psalm starts with the psalmist looking at himself, and the situations he is in, he’s dwelling on his negative feelings and blaming God for not working to his plan in his timing (sound familiar?) He says things like “will the Lord reject forever?” – He feels like he’s been abandoned.  What do you think? Do you think God has rejected him?

Perhaps he hasn’t had the expected answers to his call for help, or God hasn’t fixed things quickly enough for him? Perhaps God’s plan is different to his own plan and so he can’t see that God is working through the circumstances he’s going through?

What I really like about this psalm (and so many others) is that it turns around with the psalmist’s putting his focus back on God and the amazing things he has done for his people! This is what we should do in those times of trouble when our feelings tempt us to blame God for our struggles. As we start to speak of the things God has done and the truth that He is Mighty and Great and Holy, then we soon stop dwelling on our current circumstances and realise that God is so much bigger and more powerful than anything we could be facing. Our faith grows and we are reassured that God IS a Faithful God, and does hear our cry for help, even when sometimes our feelings try to tell us differently.

We must remember that God is an awesome God and he has a bigger plan and purpose than we can ever see or imagine. He created the earth and the sea and everything on it and in it. He created all the stars and knows them by name. If he chose to he could decide not bother with us at all, but in his love, even though we are often so full of sin and disobedience, God still wants to be in relationship with us through Jesus.  He chooses for us to be part of His amazing Story.

We sometimes need to take a “time out” to remember that God doesn’t do things the way we do (Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD) and to remind ourselves of Who God really is and what he’s done throughout the generations for his people, and even in each one of our individual lives!

It is His-story after all not ours!

Psalm 77

¹ I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.

² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands
and my soul refused to be comforted.

³ I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;
I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
Selah

⁴ You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.

⁵ I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;

⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired:

⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?

⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?

⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
Selah

¹⁰ Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

¹² I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.

¹³ Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?

¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.

¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah

¹⁶ The waters saw you, O God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.

¹⁷ The clouds poured down water,
the skies resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.

¹⁸ Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.

¹⁹ Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰ You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  1 John 3 :1

Last week I talked about how we, as Christians, are friends of Christ, this week I want to look at being children of our heavenly Father!

It says in John 1:12-13 “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

That’s an open invitation to anyone who chooses to receive God and believe in Jesus’ name. Each person is then given the right to be God’s child, spiritually born into God’s family with brothers and sisters in Christ. In order that we might love one another (1 John 4:7/John 13:34), encourage one another (1 Thess 5:11 / Heb 3:13) and spur one another on (Heb 10:24).

I just think it’s so amazing, when you stop and think about it, that God the creator chose to make us, the created, his children. To love us and to look after us just as a father would (only better as we know that Father’s can let us down, but God never will!)

Our Heavenly Father provides for our needs, Jesus tells us to ask for what we need and our Father will answer our requests (Matt 7:7). In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Knowing that we are all sinners and God is perfect – of course he’s going to give us better gift than our earthly fathers can provide.

Our Heavenly Father helps us when we are in trouble (Ps 118:7 / Heb 13:6) and protects us from harm (2 Sam 22:31) He has also promised us an inheritance (Matt 25:34 / 1 Peter 1:4) and a place for us when we return home to him (John 14:2)

Our Heavenly Father, like all fathers, also disciplines us (Deut 8:5 / Prov 3:12). He does this because he loves us, and because he knows this is best for us in the long-run. No-one enjoys being disciplined, but what sort of father would never correct his children when they do wrong?

Our heavenly father tells us not to worry and not to be afraid, because he’s looking out for us and because he’s got good plans for us & for our future! (Matt 6:25-26/ Luke 12:32 / Jer 29:11).

Our heavenly father loves us! It says in the verse above “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us” –> Lavished! What an wonderful word, it show’s Gods generousity, his love poured out without measure or limitations! It’s nothing to do with us earning it or being good enough for it – He gives his love lavishly because of who He is and what a wonderful father he chooses to be to those who turn to him.

Praise God that he calls us his children, and that he loves us & takes care of us even better than a father!!

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)