The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; Teach me Your statutes.
Memory of the Month: Proverbs 15:1-A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Today's reading: PSALM 137-139 1 CORINTHIANS 13
God's Hand
Nothing is bigger than God. The scripture tells us to , "Humble ourselves under His mighty hand..."(1 Peter 5:6&7)
As big as God's hand is, we will not fit under it with one unconfessed sin-one hidden sin in our hearts. Even though sin is never bigger than God's hand, it does not and will never fit there. It is not a matter of size, as we compare everything on this earth, it is a matter of righteousness. It is a matter of God's holiness. Sin cannot enter God's presence where all is Holy.
Put a flat, weak magnet on a slick service and try to cover it with a strong 'like' pole of a big magnet. What happens? The weak magnet slides away in a hurry.
This earth is a slick service-a 'slippery slope' and sin is a weak magnet running from the Holiness of God.
Sin is counterfeit. The enemy tries everything to all to 'look like God' and to be alluring to the vulnerable-the masses of the world.
Psalm 139:5&6 reads:
You have surrounded me on every side, behind me and before me,
and You have placed Your hand gently on my shoulder.
6 It is the most amazing feeling to know how deeply You know me, inside and out;
the realization of it is so great that I cannot comprehend it.
Here's the rub: we read this and think God has us surrounded and nothing can touch us. When we have unconfessed sin in our lives and get numb to it-that's what happens when we refuse to confess-the enemy surrounds us with counterfeit security and the door is open to doubt and fear and further weaknesses.
But... the fact that Psalm 139:6 reads, "the realization of it is so great that I cannot comprehend it" does not mean that we should not 'try' to comprehend it.
In fact, in Philippians 3: Paul writes:
7 But whatever I used to count as my greatest accomplishments, I’ve written them off as a loss because of the Anointed One. 8 And more so, I now realize that all I gained and thought was important was nothing but yesterday’s garbage compared to knowing the Anointed Jesus my Lord. For Him I have thrown everything aside—it’s nothing but a pile of waste—so that I may gain Him. 9 When it counts, I want to be found belonging to Him, not clinging to my own righteousness based on law, but actively relying on the faithfulness of the Anointed One. This is true righteousness, supplied by God, acquired by faith.
Paul gave up everything to know God's righteousness-not the kind that the world defines by performance-but God's Holy Righteousness. Paul gave all-turned his back on all his education and knowledge and status-to be under God's hand.
Jesus gave His life so we could be under His hand-not to control as the world attempts to control-but that we may be covered in His righteousness and live in His love in obedience to Him.
Why is this about for today? What happens when each generation tries to out-perform the previous generation in the way the world understands it? Look at our country today. Look at the church of today. Mankind follows its own heart, it thinks. What mankind follows is a counterfeit greatness. The knowledge and power the world knows consumes itself and everything in its path-because it comes from the enemy.
John 10:27 My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me. 28 I give them a life that is unceasing, and death will not have the last word. Nothing or no one can steal them from My hand.
There is that word 'hand' again. It is time we get back to the 'hand' of God. Listen no more to the voice of the world disguised to be the ulimate voice-it is on a slick slope to destruction.
Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.…
Have you found the gate-the true gate? If you have, then help as many as you can find this gate-the Lord of all righteousness as you stay under God's mighty hand.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Again, forgive my not being humble and not confessing all. I confess it all. Under Your hand is all I want. Everything else is yesterday's refuse...
Comments