God's greatness

Saturday, May 2, 2015 (6:51 a.m.)

Holy Father,

Thank You God. Thank You that I get to come before You. Thank You that even though things aren't working correctly we still get to come directly to You. We've had power outages. There's a problem with the phones. And the internet connection is affected as well.

All of these are minor inconveniences. Thank You that we are able to bring even things that annoy us to You. Thank You that You are bigger than our greatest concerns, yet not put off by our trifles. Mm. How great Thou truly art!

Mm, yes. I get to sit here. Comfortably. Turning from Bible, to concordance, to Hymnal and back again. All the while contemplating Your greatness. Thank You Father.

The Psalms speak much of Your greatness. Hymns are written of it. As I continue exploring them, I am again brought close to tears.

We get to reach out to You. We are repeatedly invited to come into Your presence. Thank You for Who You are and for all You do.

I confess, in all I'm reading this morning I'm told to live as You would have me live. And I don't. I fudge. Push envelopes. Hedge. Ignore Your best for me. Sidestep. Run the other way.

You are great. Glorious. Worthy of all praise. Create in me a new heart. Change my reckless, careless behaviors into You-honoring ones. I'm not making good choices. Struggling with what all matters. And what really doesn't.

I truly need Your greatness to settle in. Take root. Or do I have that backwards? Am I supposed to settle in and take root in Your greatness? Hmm... giant food for thought!

And here again is that word I keep turning to avoid. This time found in Colossians 2:6... obedience. Argh! I confess. There's such a huge part of me that wants to continue working to serve You on my own terms.

Thank You for reminding me once more that that is not the way life in You works! “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to Him [deep breath, heavy sigh!]. Let your roots grow down deep into Him and draw nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done” (Colossians 2:6-7).

Obey? Really? Yeah, I know. And this is where I truly and humbly ask You to do in, with, by, through and for me ALL that I am unable to accomplish here on my own. Correct my waywardness. Bring me back to where You would have me.

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers. But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about His law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3)

I don't currently fit that description. But I want to! The Life Recovery Bible comment tells why it's such a good idea to get onboard with Your Truth. “Turning our will over to God means turning away from the kind of people who draw us into temptation.”

It's rather pointless for me to throw in “Yeah, but, that's hard!” You already know what's really hard. So, here I am turning to You – again! Asking, seeking, knocking. Wanting desperately to be rooted in Your greatness that I would truly bear the good fruit You would have me bear.

I love You. I absolutely want to make God honoring choices. Make it so Blessed Father. Make it so. I love You. I thank You. Amen.

(644 words ~ 9:10 a.m.)