"Deliberation"

"He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them." (Psalms 99:7)
I think it's pretty obvious by now that God loves to laugh; whether He is laughing with us or at us, that is still up for some debate. I hope you got part of that message yesterday, at least the end of it; because the deliberate part of that statement was that we need to rejoice, deliberately, whether we feel like it or not. Okay, so who might we attribute this verse to, because last I checked, everyone falls short in the area of righteousness; unless we are talking about general performance, as in most of the time, or on a scale of one to ten. There is a movie that I have, which I am sure it is very controversial, because although it is a faith based movie, it does not have the Dove approval rating. The movie is called "Brennan" and it is subtitled, "The sequel to Ragamuffin." On the cover it has a quote from the movie, which says, "God loves you as you are, not as you should be, because none of us are as we should be." You know that God always answers, He is faithful in that area, whether we might realize it or not; the problem is, that His answers are not always the ones that we are looking for! We think it will be this or that, but God's always thinking of something different, something a little more challenging or a little more drawn out. It's really crazy how we want everything to just happen right away; our patience can usually be measured in seconds, literally! Our mind goes from waiting to planning just within a few seconds; as if there is some kind of power we have over anything, or least that's what we think. If I could point to something easy to show you what this verse might be talking about, it would be that we need to be needy. If God is faithful, then we need to need Him to be faithful in every single area of our life; whether it's our finances or our marriage, He is the glue that holds everything together. As soon as we might feel that we have it all together and that we somehow can control any portion of our lives, we sit ourselves up to fail, miserably fail! We find out quick enough that we don't have any power at all, and we learn quickly how dependent we are on God's hand of protection. In that regard, we stand in the gap for many that may not realize how much they need God. If we are going to keep His testimonies, then it's our testimony that will matter by our actions. Do you rejoice in the midst of the storm? Or do you panic and think you are going to die? Another way we can view this is by the word "ordinance," because it speaks about a portion, as in an appointed portion of labor or a task. You might not realize what you are, but in Christ you are more than you could ever be otherwise; you are a saint, and you have saintly duties to perform...
"And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:30-32) NLT