Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalm 107:1
Last night in the children’s class that I was leading at our church I was going over the kids memory verse for the second half of their study. The verse is Psalm 33:4,
What the Lord says is right and true. He is faithful in everything He does.
As I went over this NIRV translation of the verse with the kids the Lord zeroed in within my heart the word everything. In the translation that I regularly use (I stick with the NASB for continuity in my writing and if I use another translation I let you know) the verse reads, For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.
That word all (or everything) gets me every time.
I don’t know if you have figured it out yet, but I am a huge professor of the sovereignty of God, label me a Calvinist if you wish, paint a purple TULIP on my page, but all I know is that apart from Christ the Bible says we are dead… and dead men can’t save themselves.
So, for me, to accept the sovereignty of God in salvation is to accept it in all and everything else. He is either supreme or He is not. There is no democracy in the Kingdom of Heaven. There is One Lord, One King, One Creator, only one can be Most High.
I find great comfort that I can rest here in the arms of a Sovereign God. It is in this resting place that I find that I am able to give thanks in all things and at all times… even if it’s not an emotional joyful jumping happy thanks… it can be a take a deep breath with solemn trusting resolve thanks… and still be praise.
I give thanks in all things because I choose to trust in the Word of the Lord and the Word of the Lord says that He is faithful… in all His work… in everything He does.
Today is July 10th… the 10th day of the 7th month so I began my morning with Psalm 107 and here once again I read of the sovereignty and the faithfulness of my God.
This is one of my favorite Psalms.
As I read through this psalm my mind went to this song by Unspoken…
I don’t know where you are today… but I know the One who does.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
Psalm 107:1-3
He can reach you from anywhere… and if you have the slightest desire… the smallest inkling to call on His name… beloved there is only One who can awaken the dead enough to speak and feel and cause that aching in your chest that I like to call HOPE.
I started out this blog post with the intended direction of sharing of the place of trusting and resting and giving praise and thanks in the circumstances that my family is walking in because as I read through Psalm 107 I was reminded that their is no storm my Lord cannot calm and there is no storm that my God did not allow… and sometimes even cause
For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,
Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
Their soul melted away in their misery.
They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brought them out of their distresses.
He caused the storm to be still,
Psalm 107:25-29
…and although the storm can be scary, the storm is never without purpose, because our God does nothing without purpose.
I for one am a girl who loves a good storm. The sound of the thunder and the flashes of lightening and the wind so powerful that it appears that the trees are going to break in half as the bows bend in its strength causes me to sit giddy at the window wishing I had a glass room that allowed me to be able to see it with no view obstructions. When I wait through an outside happening storm I sit and watch in awe anticipating the next lightning strike and wondering how loud the next thunder will sound… but when I face an internal one I find myself on the brink of despair… it’s crazy how things change like that.
When we are in the safety of the inside and watching the outside storm we can find the beauty and awe of the storm and even praise our Creator as we are mesmerized by His power, but when that storm rages within us we seem to so easily forget that our Creator is still there. We are still within the boundaries of His sovereign arm.
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:16
He has ordained our days… whether they be sunshine and laughter or storms and tears… we must give thanks in all and everything because we know that He is faithful in all and everything and instead of complaining and wrongly feeling as though our God is against us… let us be ever more diligent to seek His face and know that He does nothing without purposeful intentions and to bring glory to His name.
Look for the glory.
Trust in His lovingkindness.
Stand firm in the faith even in the storm.
Give Him thanks.
Praise His holy name.