Take a beat, God, in allowing me to live with my poor decisions! David cries out to God in the middle of extreme pain and hurt, full of guilt, because what he is now experiencing are the consequences of his own decisions. Sometimes in our lives, it seems God pulls back his action in us because of our own pride and strong will to go our own way without consulting Him.
It is in these times that we are allowed to live with the results of our own poor judgement. It is also in these times that we learn from our self-produced failures.
Our proverb for today reminds us that pride is followed very quickly by an extreme fall. We see pride in others but can we see it in ourselves? David’s prayer is asking for help, forgiveness and a right standing with God again. David is honest and sincere, gutsy and declarative. David knows where to run when his ego took over and horrendous mistakes were made. David also knows that God has the solution to his problems and will answer his cries for help.
“What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer!”
When life goes south, look up to God. Ask for forgiveness from doing life on our own. Ask for wisdom to climb out of the pit we generally dig for ourselves and then wait for God to answer. It is in the wait that we realize our mistakes, begin to see the Light of day and see God for who He really is. God is love. His love never changes. God is the Way, through Jesus His Son, to crawl out of sin and the side effects of sin and be made new because of the work of Jesus on the cross. God always has the answer with a better plan for our lives, His created, perfect will and purpose for us, when we lay our hearts, minds and souls before Him and embrace His best.
“So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, The Message
Read that again in the New International Version…Just to be sure…
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2, NIV
Our ego driven mess will never measure up to God’s best!
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 38, The Message
A David Psalm
38 1-2 Take a deep breath, God; calm down—
don’t be so hasty with your punishing rod.
Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood;
my backside smarts from your caning.
3-4 I’ve lost twenty pounds in two months
because of your accusation.
My bones are brittle as dry sticks
because of my sin.
I’m swamped by my bad behavior,
collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.
5-8 The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots
because I’ve lived so badly.
And now I’m flat on my face
feeling sorry for myself morning to night.
All my insides are on fire,
my body is a wreck.
I’m on my last legs; I’ve had it—
my life is a vomit of groans.
9-16 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight,
my groans an old story to you.
My heart’s about to break;
I’m a burned-out case.
Cataracts blind me to God and good;
old friends avoid me like the plague.
My cousins never visit,
my neighbors stab me in the back.
My competitors blacken my name,
devoutly they pray for my ruin.
But I’m deaf and mute to it all,
ears shut, mouth shut.
I don’t hear a word they say,
don’t speak a word in response.
What I do, God, is wait for you,
wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer!
I wait and pray so they won’t laugh me off,
won’t smugly strut off when I stumble.
17-20 I’m on the edge of losing it—
the pain in my gut keeps burning.
I’m ready to tell my story of failure,
I’m no longer smug in my sin.
My enemies are alive and in action,
a lynch mob after my neck.
I give out good and get back evil
from God-haters who can’t stand a God-lover.
21-22 Don’t dump me, God;
my God, don’t stand me up.
Hurry and help me;
I want some wide-open space in my life!
TRUTH: Wait on God. Pray in the wait. Don’t quit in the wait. Love, trust and obey in the wait. He WILL answer.
Proverb 16:16-20, The Message
Get wisdom—it’s worth more than money;
choose insight over income every time.
17 The road of right living bypasses evil;
watch your step and save your life.
18 First pride, then the crash—
the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
19 It’s better to live humbly among the poor
than to live it up among the rich and famous.
20 It pays to take life seriously;
things work out when you trust in God.
WISDOM: Take life with God seriously. Trust God to work for us not against us. Get wisdom. Avoid pride.
Abba Father,
Oh, how we fail miserably when we think we have a better plan that you do! Forgive me, Lord when my own ego rises above your will and best for me. It is in those times that I catch myself listening more to the world. I make bad decisions. I say and do things that don’t match what I say I believe.
So, here is my life, all of it. Convict and correct, but be gentle. Bring clarity and wisdom to my thinking. Help me to hear your voice above all others again. Cleanse every dark place. Wash over me and make me holy. Renew my spirit. Restore the joy of your salvation in me. I will wait on you for what you want in me. Help me to quickly obey in your timing, in your Spirit, in your ways by your will.
In Jesus Name and by Your Power working in me, Amen. I believe! I will wait on You.
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 