Turn Your Eyes to the Lord!

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 25:11-20 (NRSV)

I take refuge in you, O God

For your name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who are they that fear the Lord?
He will teach them the way that they should choose.

They will abide in prosperity,
and their children shall possess the land.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me out of my distress.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
O guard my life, and deliver me;
do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.


DEVOTION

What strikes me in today's scripture passage is that the person's central affliction--is his own sin.

It amazes me how often we point our fingers at other people, imaging that the bulk of our trial, tribulation, and trouble come from sources outside of ourselves.

Today's psalmist is wiser than this saying, "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins"

If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that the majority of our troubles arise out of our own lack of faith, fear, anxiety, worry, and determination to solve our problems without God's help.

Even those problems that truly are located outside of ourselves, could be handled with grace and aplomb, if we trusted God's good plan for our lives, not to harm us, but to give us a future and a hope.

I am honest enough to admit that when I get calm and quiet in Spirit, I am generally able to manage my fear and anxiety and life is good. But, when I strive to solve my own dilemmas by might and power, I generally end up so stressed out that I can't tell up from down.

I think the key is to be willing to WAIT on the manifestation of God's will and miracle for your life. The psalmist said, "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net."

The most necessary component of our salvation is to keep our eyes ever toward the Lord. God who did not spare his own son, but gave Jesus up to die for us all, will not withhold any other thing that we truly need.

LOVE gave Jesus to live, die, and rise again on our behalf--to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life!

As we turn our eyes to the Lord, we will find that God will pluck our feet out of the net.

If you are anything like me, you have a prayer list a mile long. If you are anything like me, you've got some 911 emergencies sitting on that list.

Dear friends, get still and quiet. Turn your eyes to the Lord and WAIT for God to pluck your feet out of the net.

Our God specializes in ultimate rescue! God rescued us from SIN which was our greatest foe and God will rescue us from any other thing that threatens to destroy or consume us.

You CAN trust our God; God will never fail you...


Let us pray: God, thank you that you will never fail me. Thank you that you are always able to rescue me. I'm so sorry that the majority of the time I need rescue because of my own failure to keep your commandments. Please forgive me and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I want to be more like Jesus. I want to trust completely in you. I pray this in Jesus' Name, Amen.

INVITATION

If you have questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, “Come to Jesus” @ http://bit.ly/JVhaLta