Skip to main content

For you,
Lord,
have delivered me
from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,  that I may walk
before the Lord
in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:7-9 NIV
The last part of these verses gives us a "purpose statement" a "so that".
Why does He pull me back from death, wipe my tears and hold me up?
So that I can walk with God. Echoes of Genesis and walking in the garden.
But doesn't God just dwell in the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies?
The psalmist knows the relationship with God is way closer than that, centuries before Jesus.
Walking before God is literally about his face.
Living before the face of God (when no one could)
And not out in the future sometime (heaven) but now, in the land of the living.
Living before the face of God.
Coram Deo.
His strong hand pulls us back from death
His gentle touch wipes our tears
He is the shoulder we can lean on
So that we can live before, stand facing the living God, and live our lives before Him.
This points us in one direction...to Jesus.
He pulled be back
Wipes my tears
Holds me up
And his love (sacrifice) allows me to stand and see God's face...
#psalms
#psalm116
#Jesusatthecentre

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Joseph replied..."Dont you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now - life for many people..." Genesis 50:19-20 MSG The view from the drone. The different perspective. "God has been at work in my life despite, in fact within the hatred that you had towards me. Even though I couldn't always see it, I kept trusting Him, even when He was silent, when all hope seemed lost... God was at work... Can you see that now?" #faith #faithinthedark
Genesis 15.8-18.ESV But he said O Lord God , how am I to know that I shall possess it? ...When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram... March 15 was the last day we looked at Abram's story...he was questioning God and this is God's response...sacrifices and smoke and fire and a covenant...a promise... Isn't that what we crave for sometimes? God, if only you'd just show me smoke & fire, a burning bush a sign, miracle, healing...then all my questions would disappear...all my doubts would be gone... 2moro we'll see Abram's response but I think God values our faith in spite of our questions and doubts. That we choose Him anyway #faith
Psalm 42.1-11.nlt As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God... I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? O God my rock l cry, Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies? Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, Where is this God of yours? Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again - my Savior and my God! That song "as the deer pants for the water..." seems almost nice, but it's not...it's part of a cry of anguish, of hurt, of despair...of God not giving an answer...yet...through all that...again and again he says I'll put my hope in God! #choose #hope #hopeunshaken