“I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.”
Psalm 119:16 NLT
I am among what is today termed the “young old”. I have many scars from navigating life but few regrets I can think of. My many wounds, however received, have in fact proved to be the sources for my growth and development as a disciple. Would I rewrite my life’s script if I had the opportunity? I don’t think so now I’ve unlocked at least a portion of all God has for me.
What has surprised me is the time it has taken this ‘born again, Bible-believing evangelical charismatic’ to trust God’s word in its entirety. Now I am convinced of God’s “decrees” and accept them as the critical foundation upon which I shall continue to build my life. Do I have all the answers to difficult questions? Well, no. Do I comprehend all God means within his word? Again the answer is no.
Now I ponder God’s word daily. I take time to reflect upon how it is to influence the decisions I take over time and lifestyle. Jayne and I have lived through a long season of financial restraint, by choice, yet we have also found God’s grace each step of that way. We have also woken up on separate occasions with palpable fear as to what it will mean if we run out of money. But I know, and Jayne is my witness, that today my behaviours are much closer to those found in scripture, behaviours of a person of faith. I have a growing hunger to discover more of God in the reality of experience and invest increased time in seeking God.
It is in times of stress and temptation that I need to recall God’s word. I must take responsibility to contest both states and find my way to encountering God in the moment. If I entertain either the stress or the temptation, their hold upon my life will most certainly intensify. I can also own both the sources of stress and temptation without shame, for these are not descriptions of me, rather they describe who I will become if I fail to choose the word of God in the moment.
QUESTION
How has trusting in the word of God changed you?
PRAYER
May I trust and delight in the goodness of your word, O Lord.
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