Counting steps
As we haul ourselves into 2021, and I don’t use the word “haul” glibly. I’m thinking practically of the steps that lay in front of me and the effort it takes to move through each day. Maybe you’ve felt the same? The previous year, 2020 has been marked by numerous monumental moments which have left us feeling less than energetic. We’ve been confined, masked, and emotionally whooped by fear and angst. We’ve lost people near and dear to us through a siege of sickness encompassing our globe. A reprieve from the drama I would have welcomed. Knowing where to find truth has become even more obscure. We lived our days sorting through imagery of what tomorrow might hold while dealing with the reality of our new normal. The struggle is real. We witnessed a presidential election that left more questions than answers. We are weary to say the least. So I quite literally mean haul.
A new year should bring a feeling of hopefulness, but many of us have only felt the drag of the baggage left from 2020. I want to share with you from the only absolute truth I know and that is the Word of God. The Unchanging, forever faithful, merciful and enduring Word of God.
Psalm 139:1-3
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down. And are acquainted with all my ways. 5)You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It Is high, I cannot attain it.
In this scripture I want us to look at the word Comprehend.
God comprehends your Path. We are all walking through life but we are all experiencing it from our own point of view with limited understanding. We are limited by the here and now, by what we see, and feel. We are limited by the inability to physically see beyond our current circumstances. But God Comprehends our path, he grasps the nature, significance and meaning of all that we pass through. We see in these verses that he is omnipresent (He is everywhere) omniscience (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful). And He loves you!
(16-17) How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with you.
The days ahead may continue to offer challenges, but we have hope that amid those moments God is working on our behalf. I have His word as the assurance that He is working ALL things out for my good (Romans 8:28).
We can be encouraged by the prayer of David, God’s anointed, who instead of reigning found himself hiding in a cave, while the army of Saul sought to take his life. Psalms 142:3 says this:
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then you knew my path. In the way in which I walk
And then we hear an antidotal prayer to his plight in 143: 8: Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You
When we find ourselves weak, let God be strong, when overwhelmed be assured, He is not. Let your prayer be to wake and HEAR His lovingkindness, because you trust him, because you know he has already been in your today and your tomorrow. He is counting your steps (Job 31:4) He comprehends your path. God’s got YOU!
PRAYER: Father God, when our heart is overwhelmed cause us to hear your lovingkindness, for you are my God and You are good. Revive me for your name’s sake and cause my feet to walk in the path you’ve laid for me.
SCRIPUTRE READING: Psalm 142, 143