This past week was difficult on many fronts. It is very hard to see your little five month old suffer and there be only a limited amount of things you can do to relieve her suffering. It is also hard to take care of sick children and keep up with other household things on very little sleep!
But as crazy and energy depriving as this past week has been for our family, I have also become aware of several other situations that would just break your heart.
Like the Rowe Family in Arkansas who lost their sweet baby just days after birth. I can't even imagine their pain today as they have the memorial service for their sweet baby Reese.
Or like the sweet ministry family whom I have recently come to love, due to church conflict have been forced resign their position with an unclear future laid out for them.
Or like the numerous people I know with just broken hearts and situations they are up against with no clear answer in sight.
There are SO many situations I am thinking of right now and my heart is SO heavy for all of them.
I wish I had the answers. But, I don't. But God...I love those two words!
But God does! He has the answers!
Just the other day, while JennaBeth and Bentley were both resting and Cecily was doing her thing, I cleaned out my bedside table drawers. You know those things that catch all the stuff you can find no other place to put. Yea, they were really getting on my nerves! Anyway as I was cleaning, I came across a piece of paper that I had printed out with a verse from Psalm 68 on it. I remember doing a little study on this verse some time ago, when it really ministered to me.
"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape
from death."
Psalm 68:19-20
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape
from death."
Psalm 68:19-20
I wanted to get a good grasp of the verse, so using Bible Gateway, I looked this passage up in several different versions of the Bible.
The Amplified Bible:
The Amplified Bible:
"Blessed be the Lord, Who bears our burdens
and carries us day by day,
even the God Who is our salvation!
God is to us a God of deliverances and salvation;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death (setting
us free)."
and carries us day by day,
even the God Who is our salvation!
God is to us a God of deliverances and salvation;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death (setting
us free)."
The Kings James Version:
"Blessed be the Lord,
who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.
He that is our God is the God of salvation;
and unto God the Lord belong the
issues from death."
who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.
He that is our God is the God of salvation;
and unto God the Lord belong the
issues from death."
The New Living Translation:
"Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior!
For each day He carries us in His arms.
Our God is a God who saves!
The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death."
For each day He carries us in His arms.
Our God is a God who saves!
The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death."
Now first of all, God is Mighty to save! The Hebrew translation of "God" in these verses is "El" and means God, mighty one! Next, He is our Sovereign Lord! God IS most assuredly in control. Our pastor reminded us of the powerful and comforting truth several sermons ago that there is at no place and at no time that the sovereignty of God is not ruling and reigning. We can rest and lay our heavy burdens down at the feet of our Lord. He is in control. And He knows best what will glorify Him first and foremost and secondly what will bring us ultimate good in our lives; what will mold us into His image!
This Mighty and Sovereign Lord loves us so much. He daily bears our burdens! He carries us day by day, is a God of deliverances, loadeth us with His benefits and carries us in His arms.
I get a mental picture of this idea every time I watch Mike carry JennaBeth around in his arms. She quietens and calms down. Not just because she is spoiled to her daddy carrying her (okay maybe just a little bit!), but because she knows she is safe!
We are safe in our Heavenly Father's presence.
Matthew Henry has this to say in his commentary on these two verses:
"The gracious intention of Christ's undertaking was to rear up the tabernacle of God among men, that he might dwell with them and they might themselves be living temples to his praise. The glory of Zion's King is that he is a Savior and benefactor to all his willing people and a consuming fire to all those that persist in rebellion against him. Those that take God for their God, and so give up themselves to him to be his people, shall be loaded with his benefits, and to them he will be a God of salvation. If in sincerity we avouch God to be our God, and seek him as such. He will continually do us good and furnish us with occasion for praise. It is owing to the mediation of Christ that we live, and live comfortably, and are daily loaded with benefits. So many, so weighty, are the gifts of God's bounty to us that he may be truly said to load us with them; he pours out blessings till there is no room to recieve them. So constant are they, and so unwearied is he in doing us good that he daily loads us with them, according as the necessity of every day requires. He will at length be unto us the God of salvation, of everlasting salvation, the salvation of God which he will show to those that order their converstion aright, the salvation of the soul. He that daily loads us with benefits will not put us off with present things for a portion, but will be the God of our salvation; and what he gives us now he gives as the God of salvation, pursuant to the great design of our salvation. The keys of hell and death are put into the hand of the Lord Jesus."
My prayer today is that you will know without a doubt that your Heavenly Father loves you and He daily carries you. If you have happened upon this blog post and you don't know this God Who is Mighty to save and you would like to then please email me at jenmom1707@yahoo.com. It would be my pleasure to talk to you more!
Blessings,
Jennifer
This Mighty and Sovereign Lord loves us so much. He daily bears our burdens! He carries us day by day, is a God of deliverances, loadeth us with His benefits and carries us in His arms.
I get a mental picture of this idea every time I watch Mike carry JennaBeth around in his arms. She quietens and calms down. Not just because she is spoiled to her daddy carrying her (okay maybe just a little bit!), but because she knows she is safe!
We are safe in our Heavenly Father's presence.
Matthew Henry has this to say in his commentary on these two verses:
"The gracious intention of Christ's undertaking was to rear up the tabernacle of God among men, that he might dwell with them and they might themselves be living temples to his praise. The glory of Zion's King is that he is a Savior and benefactor to all his willing people and a consuming fire to all those that persist in rebellion against him. Those that take God for their God, and so give up themselves to him to be his people, shall be loaded with his benefits, and to them he will be a God of salvation. If in sincerity we avouch God to be our God, and seek him as such. He will continually do us good and furnish us with occasion for praise. It is owing to the mediation of Christ that we live, and live comfortably, and are daily loaded with benefits. So many, so weighty, are the gifts of God's bounty to us that he may be truly said to load us with them; he pours out blessings till there is no room to recieve them. So constant are they, and so unwearied is he in doing us good that he daily loads us with them, according as the necessity of every day requires. He will at length be unto us the God of salvation, of everlasting salvation, the salvation of God which he will show to those that order their converstion aright, the salvation of the soul. He that daily loads us with benefits will not put us off with present things for a portion, but will be the God of our salvation; and what he gives us now he gives as the God of salvation, pursuant to the great design of our salvation. The keys of hell and death are put into the hand of the Lord Jesus."
My prayer today is that you will know without a doubt that your Heavenly Father loves you and He daily carries you. If you have happened upon this blog post and you don't know this God Who is Mighty to save and you would like to then please email me at jenmom1707@yahoo.com. It would be my pleasure to talk to you more!
Blessings,
Jennifer
0 comments:
Post a Comment