Often I ask the Lord to speak to me and guide me…but how often do I stop and give Him a chance to speak and wait quietly before Him?
Let all that I am I wait quietly before God,
For my hope is in Him.*
When I feel unsure about what the next day let alone next month holds, when I feel weak from trying to do things with my own power, when I feel like I’m just floundering in life, I can remember…
For my victory comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My fortress where I will never be shaken.*
I get so wrapped up in ‘doing things’ for God. I put pressure on myself to ‘look like I’m a good person.’ I try to put on a good face in front of others and God. But the truth is that He sees through all of that. He grieves that I have built up this temple within myself for someone other than Him, my Creator. Help me remember…
My victory and honor come from God alone.*
Nothing I have ever done and nothing I could ever do will bring me closer to or take me further away from Him. Anything I accomplish, own, say, do, teach, learn…all of it is from Him and for His glory. I have no right to any of it. IT IS ALL HIS. IT IS FROM HIM. IT IS FOR HIM.
Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
And the powerful are not what they appear to be. *
On my own I can’t do anything for God. I cannot know how God wants to work and be glorified in my life. How can I, a worthless puff of wind, decide anything, know what is right, do what is good? But He wants to be lifted up. He wants to use us worthless puffs of wind in His great plan. He will be recognized throughout the earth. So He will make a way for it to happen…
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink,
He will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Your own ears will hear Him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
Whether to the right or to the left.**
He will guide. I just have to wait quietly. And listen.
Then you will destroy all your silver idols
And your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
Saying to them, “Good riddance!”**
Then He will help me get rid of me, to see when I am worshiping myself rather than God. Until I understand that all my accomplishments, all my possessions, all my food, all my knowledge, all my skills, all my EVERYTHING…ARE HIS. I need nothing else but HIM. And I will need to be reminded of that every second of every day.
God has spoken plainly,
And I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
Unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.*
He is real. He sent His son to each of us. He loves us. He gave up everything to become a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. No food, no money, no possessions, nothing…EXCEPT…God of the Universe was His father and His father loved Him and His father knew the plans He had for Him.
Christmas is a time to remember who Jesus is and why He came. It is to remind us that the Lord loves us SO MUCH and will be our guide through this sometimes though, exciting, stressful, lovely life if we will just wait quietly a listen…
*Psalm 62
**Isaiah 30:18-22
