Wednesday, July 29, 2020 16:14:03
Posted By Nan
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Psalm 107 To feel the joy of God, this psalm has some important directions. We are to share what God has done, but with wisdom. There is a great belief amongst people that all they need to do is to be grateful. They must speak words of affirmation and gratitude. They must manifest success in their lives. Such positive speech has benefits. It can help someone to be more motivated to try and to have more energy to persevere. But it can also be a trap. People can be so obsessed with the relentless positivity of speaking the things they want manifested in their lives. In avoiding dealing with the things that trouble them. That they can be devastated when what they have wanted to manifest does not happen. This is dangerous. This is something that many people are doing. There are even Christians who are doing this. It is one thing to be grateful to God, but to make the pursuit of such gratitude into a god is dangerous. We also have to be careful how we share what God has done for us. To tell someone who is going through a hard time about all the wonderful things God has done for you is not considerate. It is not helpful. It is not caring. It is not what Jesus would do. I have a Christian friend who fills the air with tales of all she is doing and all God’s blessings. She has hard things in her life, but she chooses to talk constantly about all the good things. The trouble is, she talks constantly. She never stops to listen to anyone else. She never considers that she is talking about things that other people are waiting for, or hurting about. She fills her need to talk incessantly but neglects the others around her who need her compassion and listening ear. It has come to the point that much as I like her, I don’t want to see her. Because I go away from our meetings feeling hurt and cut off from God. And I am not the only person she impacts in this way. We need to share the good things God has done with wisdom and with an ear on what God wants us to say. So my question today is, can you reflect on how in your life God has helped you? Are you still wandering in the wilderness waiting for God to bring you out? I am sorry you are going through such a hard time. I pray that God will give you His comfort and that in time you will be able to rejoice in being brought out safely. Have you been locked in a dark cell of injustice, hopelessness and despair? Has God delivered you safely from that terrible ordeal? Thank Him for his deliverance. Remember what He has done for you and rejoice. Are you locked in a dark cell, caught up in harsh treatment, in injustice, in despair? Are you struggling to find God in this darkness? I am sorry for the terrible things you are feeling and suffering. May God comfort you. May He show you joy even in that dark place. May he deliver you safely. Have you been sick with the awfulness of your life. Maybe you were caught up in the horror of addiction. Maybe you were caught up in a destructive lifestyle that left you unhappy and ashamed. Have you been healed? Have you found your way to a life that leaves you feeling whole? Thank God for His love and for His miracle of healing. Thank Him that He loves you and found you in the pit of destruction and brought you out into a life full of His blessings. May you never forget and may that remembrance bring you great joy. Are you still in that awful place of destruction? Are you still desperately waiting for God’s healing. I am sorry. That is such a hard place to be. I pray you may know how much God loves you. May you know and believe that no matter how unworthy you feel, God considers you totally worthy. May you know His healing. Were you caught up in the storms of life and God guided you safely through? Have you endured natural disasters such as drought, storm, floods, fires and famine? Has God brought you out the other side where you can begin to rebuild your life. Thank God for His love and never forget the joy of knowing how much He loves you. We live in a world full of abuse, evil and trouble. There are times when we are in the midst of this and times when we remember how God delivered us. May we remember the times of deliverance and feel the joy of that. I finish with the final words of this Psalm as written in The Message: “Good people see this and are glad; bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks. If you are really wise, you’ll think this over – it’s time you appreciated God’s deep love.”
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