GOD, You give better.
Confession: What comes from Your hand far eclipses my greatest and best accomplishments. The lofty goals I set amount to no more than a pile of dryer lint if they stray out of alignment with Your perfect will. My strides to better my place in life, or to elevate what I think matters – only work if held to Your precepts. You have made it this way for my own good, for my betterment.
It is like You say “Wait here. I’ve got something better than you could give yourself”. And it starts every morning when I realize that today is a gift from You LORD.
My breath, heartbeat, thoughts, and dexterity are all a miracle from Your providence. Great is thy faithfulness!
The peace within, which carries me in a society that pushes to extremes, is a keen tool of awareness. I am rested in my spirit, fully vested in You God. The offer of money and position in exchange for anxiety, stress, and the demands of a workplace protocol; are vapid in comparison to what You give so graciously.
It is different than the daily grind we put upon ourselves to seek ‘better’ .
As a culture, we cash in our capabilities and self-worth to accept the rules of employment, where termination lurks at any moment and for any reason – but is exactly what society tells us to do. Even though it can be a mental puzzle to quantify the job against what is well and good, inevitably we bite the bitter pill and swallow it.
We are supposed to. Someone says so.
And yes, I too take the work contract and trade my time + my life for however many hours a day – to do what someone else wants me to do, for money. It is how we give to ourselves, or in other words – we tend to shortchange and devalue our own personage for grocery money.
We have to eat, right? But the perfect light of truth tells us that we can have more than this. It starts with rearranging our priorities. There was a day this week when the hour-to-hour process of working, helping, and tasking shoved my time of devotions and prayer to the curb. Oh how I felt it! To my spirit it hit like being starved, deprived, and not given water. Remedy came without a “plop,plop, fizz, fizz”, as I needed only to get down on my face for an IV drip of prayer.
Yes, I give me a mess.
You give better.
Whew. On the floor I am content in You God.
You settle me, secure me, and restore me.
Alas, this world seems to do just the opposite, in making me feel that I am lacking and placing into my head an ideal of not being enough until I have the ‘right’ material possessions. Social status is glorified by measuring career hierarchy, all wrapped up tightly with a fancy looking bow of financial securities. Be here, do this, or be left out. Broadcasting at full volume there is a loudspeaker blaring “Go bigger, accumulate more! Get above everyone else. Push. Push harder”.
Push until you break. God can take a backseat until you are done.
Is this ‘Better’?
Is it really all about me, to push the cart up the hill backwards?
To reach what destination, exactly?
What remains after the scary dark ride to the top?
“Apart from me you can do nothing” John 15:5
Stop the car. Open the door and get out, now.
My heart says I am nothing apart from God.
It knows what is REAL.
Therefore, all thought belongs on the altar of His love and must be laid down for the sake of being One in Christ. Then to draw so close, and so near that when my pulse is read, God is what makes it thump inside.
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.
Here is where I desire to be ‘everything’, which is just the opposite of being ‘nothing’.
Everything is found in Christ, and in Him alone. Not in the gains of social status, regardless of those who applaud. No money or possession…no THING can come near to what I find in Christ. Because when all else is taken away and stripped bare, only the essence of Jesus should remain.
All to Him. All to His glory!
In Christ, all things can be made holy. His righteousness is upon me, driving me to reflect His glorious light in everything I endeavor. May Your oil of joy, that anointing of the Holy Spirit – be what covers me in this, and within every hour of my life. All praise to You God.
Getting even better
How to get better starts with never rushing through my personal time of devotion with God, for He is so loving and patient with me.
Our LORD says, “Find rest in Me. Take, accept, and rest”.
Why would I push aside such an invitation from One who offers everything in abundance?
And so, here as I sit with my Bible cracked open, waiting to be read and eaten, I also consider the many ways God has provided.
His provision is long sweeping – that is, it begins before I see the need and comes forth at the exact time; showing without any doubt Who is doing the provision. Maybe that is just how I see YHWH…as the lover of my soul. He is the One who carries me because He first loved me. God extends a hand, and I grasp it with all of my might! He has a better path. A perfect Way.
God dwells right here…within, and if we give Him lordship – He will lead our hearts as to accompany His moving hand of love, making everything better – even work.
LORD, I need to be alone with You. Take me, fill me, and let me worship You. Oh, how I need You! All else is nothing, You are everything! “I seek You with all my heart, do not let me stray from Your commands.” Psalm 119
You are steadfast. “You cover me in the shadow of Your wings”. Psalm 36
Refuge and shelter is found there. And in this place I will dwell before anything else tries to get in line. Scary dark ride can wait outside.
