Tag Archives: gracious

Gracious protector

 

Protector of my Soul – Maranatha Singers

 

Even when I call on the name of the Lord and I do not have an answer, I am not worried because I have the assurance that God is ever gracious. In the end, I know that He has the best intentions for me, He is my protector and He is merciful.

Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful. – Psalm 116:4-5  ESV

At times, His helps comes when I humble myself. It is like when I am low, He helps, and when I am cast down, He lifts up. Even when it comes to salvation. Did it not start with conviction? Am I not beside myself when my soul reveals just how evil I am and how living my own life is simply hopelessness. Just then, at that moment, the Holy Spirit arrives and lifts me up. I am not too sure why God’s help is neither welcomed nor appreciated until the soul is taught its need. Is He not my gracious protector?

The Lord preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me. – Psalm 116:6  ESV

So do I join the resolution of the Psalmist? One of his resolutions was to devote himself to the worship of God and to do so publicly.   I have learned that good resolutions are not carried out quickly. Resolutions can become debts and debts should be paid and there should be witnesses to said debts being paid.

I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people. – Psalm 116:14  ESV

I am not too sure what this means to those who confess to be secret disciples. I am being encouraged to come into the light and own my Redeemer. I pray that I can do this sometime, every day, as God has appointed my way.

 

 

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Weakness

 

Fill me with Thy gracious Spirit

 

One thing I bring daily to Jesus is my weakness. I lean on Him every day in simple faith. Weakness is a burden, they can become my chains. Carrying them alone means another day of failing. What a release when I turn them over to Jesus and let Him carry me and my burdens – He finds a way to take that weakness that I offer Him and turns it into a strength. The secret must be that He does not remove the weakness necessarily, but He will give His own power so that I may be strong. This strength I can find when I seek to be that humble, trusting disciple. 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9  ESV

I think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane – thinking about the cup of suffering – and the Father confirming that everything was going as planned. I have been in many situations where I have asked the plan to change, to have the weakness removed, to have a miraculous provision. In my heart, I knew that the prayer was not what the Father had in mind for me.

Paul saw weakness not as a liability, but rather as a way of being totally surrendered to the Lord.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:10  ESV

And as Psalm 78 encourages me, I give ear to my Father, with submission and reverence, silent and earnest, so that I might capture the instructions given and to move forward properly understanding what He has asked of me.  

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth! – Psalm 78:1  ESV

Psalm 78 also brings me back to the ultimate parent/child relationship that expresses the power of investing in “weakness” and what that looks like. It is an expression of discipleship.

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

So that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God. – Psalm 78:4,7-8  ESV

I need to see faith, I need to see that those who follow God will set their hope in Him. I want to make sure that no one forgets God’s work of redemption – that includes the stories in the Old Testament. This is fundamental to my faith and that is why it needs to be the same for others. These stories of weakness, given to God, make me a stronger person as I follow Him.

 

 

 

 

 

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