“As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:13-14)
Over the last few days I’ve been practicing some things that comfort me when I get low and my hope starts to fail. The bible tells us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) Oh, how I know the truth of that proverb in my own life. When I start feeling low because of my “hope deferred” I like to take out my journal and write out verses that speak to how I feel and give me hope. The other thing that I like to do is to pray the verses or to use them in my prayers. When we lean in to God like this it shows Him all the more that our faith, our trust, and our hope lies in Him.
I think it’s something that I don’t think about too often, that God does remember that we are just dust. And He does promise to help those of us who fear Him and who have accepted His Son as our Lord and Savior.
“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalms 34:17-19)
Let’s not forget that certainly knows, remembers, and understands our frailties. He did create us after all… Let’s also remember that since He created us that He also cares about us and looks after the ones of us who love Him and have been washed and made clean by the blood of His Son Christ Jesus. This also is a good reminder of His love for us “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.“ (John 3:16) Instead of turning away to other things to give us a few moments of pleasure, let’s run to our Heavenly Father like a hurt child runs to his or her mother for comfort.
Sovereign Father God, thank You for the reminder that You still see us for the frail and broken bit of dust that we are and that You have compassion on us. We come to You with our broken hearts and crushed spirits and we cry out to you in our pain to deliver us from our troubles, our afflictions, our oppression, and our loneliness. Please show us Your compassion, Your loving kindness, and Your faithfulness to us and to fulfill Your promises. We come to You Father because we love You and we need You. We humbly bow at Your feet and acknowledge our inability to do anything on our own. Just like we rely on You as our Creator for every breath and every heartbeat we need You for salvation and to deliver us and rescue us. Please Lord, bless us and keep us, make Your glorious face to shine upon us. We ask that You would be gracious to us, show us Your favor and give us peace. As Your Holy Word promises us in the 14th chapter of the book of John we ask these things with authority through the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN!
This Narrow Path... 