We NEED *GOD* more than we admit, or care to acknowledge, for HIS WILL SHALL BE DONE, and those who LOVE HIM, TRUST IN HIM, RELY ON HIM, and FOLLOW HIM, ARE those who will find comfort, solace, and relief from the onslaught of woes we face, and experience...
The news cycle is worse than ever; it does nothing but pile on the hardship, and each day, there is more to add to the already heavy load! We need to be informed, but I tell you what, we HAVE TO take breaks from it, as it is dished out to influence, confuse, and disturb us, and with scant mention of solutions, advice, or optimism...
What do we do? WE PRAY, PRAY, and PRAY! We cry out unto THE LORD *GOD*, and we find the will to move forward IN HIM, and HIS WILL! We THANK HIM, and we WAIT ON HIM, WHILE continuing IN HIS NAME, DOING, and BEING GOOD, DESPITE all hell enclosing on us! FAITHFULLY, we STAND IN FAITH, and KNOW that HE IS IN CHARGE, even as evil thrashes us about! And we REFLECT upon ourselves, and aim to improve what we might. We keep busy according TO our SECURE place IN HIM!!!
We KNOW THE TRUTH that if *GOD* IS FOR us, then what power do those against us have, for their false power is induced in carnality, but HIS IS SPIRIT, and ETERNAL...
Of course we feel, and experience the troubles of the day; we are in the world, and so, will deal with it, but we CLING TO HIM, and KNOW we ARE NOT of the world, we ARE OF HIM, and THE KINGDOM, and IN this knowledge, we BLESS HIM, as we BLESS others WITH the best we have to offer, regardless of reception, or reciprocation! We WITHSTAND IN FAITH, and FAITHFULNESS, which ever sees us REJOICING IN HIM, though we might have just suffered...
SO, while the storm rages, and the world goes more amok, there is NO need to become embroiled, or entangled, just RELY ON HIM, and BELIEVE! BLESS THE LORD, O my soul!!!
PSALM 103...
1+++Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2+++Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3+++Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4+++Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5+++Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6+++The LORD performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7+++He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8+++The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9+++He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10+++He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11+++For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12+++As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13+++Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14+++For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15+++As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16+++When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17+++But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18+++To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
19+++The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
20+++Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
21+++Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
22+++Bless the LORD, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
By the pardon of sin, that is taken away which kept good things from us, and we are restored to the favor of God, who bestows good things on us. Think of the provocation; it was sin, and yet pardoned: how many the provocations, yet all pardoned! God is still forgiving, as we are still sinning and repenting. The body finds the melancholy consequences of Adam's offense, it is subject to many infirmities, and the soul also. Christ alone forgives all our sins; it is he alone who heals all our infirmities. And the person who finds his sin cured, has a well-grounded assurance that it is forgiven. When God, by the graces and comforts of his Spirit, recovers his people from their decays, and fills them with new life and joy, which is to them an earnest of eternal life and joy, they may then be said to return to the days of their youth, Job 33:25.
Truly God is good to all: he is in a special manner good to Israel. He has revealed himself and his grace to them. By his ways we may understand his precepts, the ways he requires us to walk in; and his promises and purposes. He always has been full of compassion. How unlike are those to God, who take every occasion to chide, and never know when to cease! What would become of us, if God should deal so with us? The Scripture says a great deal of the mercy of God, and we all have experienced it. The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge, and teaches them; pities them when they are froward, and bears with them; pities them when they are sick, and comforts them; pities them when they are fallen, and helps them to rise; pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them; pities them when wronged, and rights them: thus the Lord pities those that fear him. See why he pities. He considers the frailty of our bodies, and the folly of our souls, how little we can do, how little we can bear; in all which his compassion appears.
How short is man's life, and uncertain! The flower of the garden is commonly more choice, and will last the longer, for being sheltered by the garden-wall, and the gardener's care; but the flower of the field, to which life is here compared, is not only withering in itself, but exposed to the cold blasts, and liable to be cropt and trod on by the beasts of the field. Such is man. God considers this, and pities him; let him consider it himself. God's mercy is better than life, for it will outlive it. His righteousness, the truth of his promise, shall be unto children's children, who tread in the footsteps of their forefathers' piety. Then shall mercy be preserved to them.
He who made all, rules all, and both by a word of power. He disposes all persons and things to his own glory. There is a world of holy angels who are ever praising him. Let all his works praise him. Such would have been our constant delight, if we had not been fallen creatures. Such it will in a measure become, if we are born of God. Such it will be for ever in heaven; nor can we be perfectly happy till we can take unwearied pleasure in perfect obedience to the will of our God. And let the feeling of each redeemed heart be, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
LWINSOR © 2020
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
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