My heart is broken. I feel lonely. This sucks! Who really cares about me? Why is this happening now? We often use words to express our heart, don't we? Honestly, there are just times we need to cry out and truly express our heart. The times when we feel like nobody knows our pain or that we even exist are times when we just want to cry out, "Hey, is anybody listening?" It probably is not because God has actually turned AWAY from us, but rather that we do not sense the presence of God at that very moment and we think he has 'forgotten to listen'. It is no secret, but we have come to DEPEND on the presence of God with us and we equate that to the approval of God in our actions. Whenever we ask someone to "look kindly upon us", we are asking them to express approval of our actions. I am sure we all know that our actions are not always worthy of approval, but we have come to depend upon the approval that originates from God before we take those actions!
Turn my way, look kindly on me, as you always do to those who personally love you. Steady my steps with your Word of promise so nothing malign gets the better of me. Rescue me from the grip of bad men and women so I can live life your way. Smile on me, your servant; teach me the right way to live. I cry rivers of tears because nobody's living by your book! (Psalm 119:132-136)
God looks kindly on us, turns our way, because he is in a relationship with us bound by love - not our love, but his love. He loves us FIRST, we in turn, love him back. His head is "turned" toward those who love him - who have entered into a "personal" and "intimate" relationship with him. The result of God looking "kindly" upon us is the steadying of our steps - a steadying effect that actually keeps us from things we would call 'bad' or 'harmful' in our lives. The evil effects of life choices made without the continual guidance of the Word have the propensity to bring malicious (bad) stuff into our lives. God will show himself faithful to keep us from the injury of wrong choices - but we have to listen to him. What is the purpose of braces on teeth? Isn't it to bring into alignment? How is this accomplished? Simply put, it is through constraining 'bad' movement! It is in the establishment of boundaries that the teeth are brought into what we observe to be a beautiful smile! Therefore, boundaries / constraints are not always a negative thing because they can produce much beauty when they fulfill their purpose!
When our lives are lined up with the word, we'd say they are aligned. When we are taking steps outside of the boundaries God established, we'd likely say we are "not in line". In Spanish, "mal" means bad. We have "bad alignment". Ever drive a car with bad alignment? Try as you might, you are "fighting" with the steering wheel the entire journey! The poorly aligned wheels determine the course the vehicle takes and we fight to stay the course! To maintain "good alignment", we have to avoid the wayward drift of independent decision-making. I regularly service my vehicle to ensure the wheels are in good alignment because it helps maintain tire wear, avoiding unnecessary wear and tear which could result in my having to replace those tires before their time. When we pull into God's love and Word for regular servicing, we are asking him to do the same: to "service" us so our choices remain consistently on track, not bringing unnecessary "injury" into our lives which could result in us having a major deviation from our steady course! Love grows cold without regular attention! God's love remains consistent on our behalf, but it takes TWO to enjoy and celebrate love! Maybe it is time to pull closer to him, allowing him to align us again within his purposes. Just sayin!
Turn my way, look kindly on me, as you always do to those who personally love you. Steady my steps with your Word of promise so nothing malign gets the better of me. Rescue me from the grip of bad men and women so I can live life your way. Smile on me, your servant; teach me the right way to live. I cry rivers of tears because nobody's living by your book! (Psalm 119:132-136)
God looks kindly on us, turns our way, because he is in a relationship with us bound by love - not our love, but his love. He loves us FIRST, we in turn, love him back. His head is "turned" toward those who love him - who have entered into a "personal" and "intimate" relationship with him. The result of God looking "kindly" upon us is the steadying of our steps - a steadying effect that actually keeps us from things we would call 'bad' or 'harmful' in our lives. The evil effects of life choices made without the continual guidance of the Word have the propensity to bring malicious (bad) stuff into our lives. God will show himself faithful to keep us from the injury of wrong choices - but we have to listen to him. What is the purpose of braces on teeth? Isn't it to bring into alignment? How is this accomplished? Simply put, it is through constraining 'bad' movement! It is in the establishment of boundaries that the teeth are brought into what we observe to be a beautiful smile! Therefore, boundaries / constraints are not always a negative thing because they can produce much beauty when they fulfill their purpose!
When our lives are lined up with the word, we'd say they are aligned. When we are taking steps outside of the boundaries God established, we'd likely say we are "not in line". In Spanish, "mal" means bad. We have "bad alignment". Ever drive a car with bad alignment? Try as you might, you are "fighting" with the steering wheel the entire journey! The poorly aligned wheels determine the course the vehicle takes and we fight to stay the course! To maintain "good alignment", we have to avoid the wayward drift of independent decision-making. I regularly service my vehicle to ensure the wheels are in good alignment because it helps maintain tire wear, avoiding unnecessary wear and tear which could result in my having to replace those tires before their time. When we pull into God's love and Word for regular servicing, we are asking him to do the same: to "service" us so our choices remain consistently on track, not bringing unnecessary "injury" into our lives which could result in us having a major deviation from our steady course! Love grows cold without regular attention! God's love remains consistent on our behalf, but it takes TWO to enjoy and celebrate love! Maybe it is time to pull closer to him, allowing him to align us again within his purposes. Just sayin!
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