“O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”  Psa 117:1-2

We all have a perception of God. Some people see Him as distant and unapproachable. Others see Him as harsh and unattainable. Some feel as if they will never measure up, as if the bar is set too high. One thing we should keep in mind when considering these perceptions is the base of where we should start with God. For it is written that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). That is who He is at His very base. Love is what…patient, kind and gentle. Love believes all things, hopes in all things and endures all things. (1 Cor 13)

This tells us that God is so desirous of you, that He “believes” in you. You may question yourself at times, you may question your level of commitment. You measure it by your ups and downs. I’ve often said it this way, “don’t let the devil use your desire to please God”. Nothing is sacred with that devil, he will even use something as pure as your desire to please God, and heap condemnation when you fall short. I’m telling you God sees your base desire to do right. He sees you working to wrestle that old flesh down. His hope is towards you and guess what? When you falter He is even there to endure all things.

Today is a helpful reminder that God is for you. He is working in your behalf. We need a proper perspective. Yes He is Holy and Just. We’ve seen that and it’s been well established. That is something that we should not resent but love and cherish. The cross bridged that gap for us. We are in a journey to walk in that finished work of Calvary. We should seek that holy place. That secret place where we can abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We can abide there by faith. Not faith in our imperfect performance but faith in His perfect performance.

Let us not be a forgetful people. It is so easy to get caught up in the duty aspect of our walk with God that we lose the faith aspect. We should not leave one without the other. One thing that I am reminded of is that as you add faith to your works you will find the flow and not the frustration that the dead end of works alone will bring. Some have gone the other way and James brought a reminder to those who squandered the grace of God.

” Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”  Jas 2:18.

James is saying, by my faith I will have the good works. Your faith starts in knowing that God is for you. That He wants only the best for you and because of that He will empower you with His grace and ability. It comes to those who will rest in that. David the man after Gods own heart knew what it was to get up again. Peter the preacher of Pentecost only got to that place after denial. There is always a human element threaded throughout scripture. It’s there for us to rise above. It really is ok to be totally human. When I’m at peace with me, He allows me to flow through Him. We need to get rid of that uncomfortableness of ourselves. It’s a total trust that places your humanity into His divine care. Part of us wants to run and hide. That’s the Adam within us. We need to resist that and run to Him. To totally trust Him in our broken condition. When we allow this to happen thats when we find great power and strength. It’s needful for us to visit a Psalm together in closing. It was a revelation to me afresh. It was one of those that jumped off the pages.

“O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”  Psa 117:1-2

It is MERCIFUL KINDNESS that is GREAT towards us. This is Old Testament and David had it figured out before God even revealed himself to us in the new. David learned something about God that some of us struggle to grasp. Lord let us get it and rest in it!