Why do we have one foot planted in confusion while the other foot walks us around in the circling chaos of life?
Why is our first response to trouble to lean on our own assumptions and evaluations of the immediate chaos around us and respond with human wisdom that fails us often.
Why do we think we can navigate this imperfect, dark world without the bright Light of the World who is forever illuminating the right path to take? Only fools walk in the dark.
Even with built in navigational technology to guide them, pilots of jet liners look for the lights that illuminate the runway so they may land safely home!
TRUTH: God delights in helping and blessing his people; our job is simply to ask and receive. Jesus is the Light of the World who lights the pathway to God for He is the Way, Truth, and Life! Trust Him.
The phrase “God loves to help, ask Him” is a central theme in James 4:2, MSG which tells us that God is a loving, approachable Father who delights in assisting His children, cares about every detail of their lives, and desires to provide strength, wisdom, and peace through prayer. David knows God and desires the heart of God. David knows that God is his safe place where no one or nothing else makes sense but to walk humbly with God. The benefits of walking with God are limitless and forever! David rejoices in this very truth—God is who He says He is!
Psalm 16, The Message
A Psalm of David.
1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
Without you, nothing makes sense.
3 And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!
4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
like brand-names.
5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!
7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.
9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that’s not my destination!
11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
David finds his delight only in the Lord and confesses that everything good in his life has come from God.
What is our response to God who has given us more than we could ask for or imagine?
Grumbling or gratitude? Regret or Rejoicing? When we choose Jesus; we find God who chose and loved us first. (1 John 4)
David’s relationship with God was as student to Master Teacher— “Be My Lord!”
David’s personal fellowship with the Lord was his greatest joy. This was when God instructed and counseled David and told him what to do and how to do it. As the meaning of disciple is “one who learns; the word “instruct” carries with it the discipline of learning with guidance. David learned many lessons when God’s loving hand guided him back on the right path when he strayed. In Christ, God offers us that same good, loving, and delightful fellowship. This relationship with God found through repenting of sins in the Name of Jesus is the most important, intimate, loving relationship we will ever have!
David praises God with a glad rejoicing heart. To delight in the Lord and His goodness and then lose all these blessings at death would be a great tragedy. That would not make sense until Jesus died for our sins once and for all; then rose again to give us the hope of eternal life with Him! Be like David who rejoices no matter what is happening around him. God is his refuge. Jesus is our Lord who reconciled us to God!
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:19-22, NIV
Paul takes Truth farther;
“But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, MSG
Peter, too was inspired to preach and record;
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” 1 Peter 1:3-4, NIV
Because He lives—we live! Can we get an Amen!?!
Lord,
This simple psalm of David reminds us that nothing in our lives makes sense without you in the lead. I offer my life again to you this morning as an offering of praise to You who delights in all the details of our lives. Be Lord of my life today. I trust you, dear Jesus. I surrender all.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 