Psalms for the Journey
“What in the world were you thinking?” we often say to our disobedient children. But I wonder if God asks the same question of us when we lose focus and begin to wander from His way of thinking?
What we think about God and our relationship to Him determines what we think about everything else that makes up our busy world–other people, the universe, God’s Word, God’s will, sin, faith, and obedience. Wrong ideas about God will ultimately lead to wrong ideas about who we are and what we should do, and this leads to a wrong life on the wrong path toward the wrong destiny. In other words, theology–the right knowledge of God–is essential to a fulfilled life in this world. David contemplated God and wrote for us a psalm whose message can only encourage us to be in a right relationship with Him.
Psalm 139, The Message (part 4)
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
Our prayers must be focused on asking God to teach us more and more about Him, so we begin to think more like him. Behavior will follow our thoughts. So, what in the world are we thinking?
Dear Heavenly Father, Break my heart of those things that break your heart. Your thoughts are much higher than ours. We can never comprehend all of them, either, but we can believe and behave with what we DO know right now. Thank you, Lord. Help us to think about You all day long and be at peace knowing you are with us still…forever loving us.
