"Side to Side"

"Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes." (Psalms 119:124)

  Obviously there are more obstructions in our view than we understand, it is sometimes hard to keep our eyes on Christ when we have so many things to deal with within our daily lives. The way Matthew Henry puts this, the Lord really owes us nothing, so this request from David is more him asking God, "Let me have it according to thy mercy!" In the realm of thick or thin, it is the same as saying, "Whatever it takes Lord, I am your servant, so have your way in me!" I will take this opportunity to express something that has become all together real in my life: we cannot serve two masters, we cannot take hold of the plow and continually keep looking back, and we cannot sincerely serve God while trying to fight Him on our issues! Something has got to give; and whether it is right or wrong with us, the one who is going to give will not be God! You know that silly saying, "I gave at the office?" Well, believe it or not, that saying stands with God and His gift of salvation! Basically what that means, is we cannot expect that God owes us anything, no matter how hard you might have it, He is not indebted to you. We cannot ever act as if we are owed anything; yet, it seems that might be the case in many situations. Pastor Bryan was sharing something Sunday about when Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, and he was relating his flight to being a "worn-out workman." Amazingly, the main focus of what I felt was being said, really was not actually mentioned, because Elijah's biggest mistake was forgetting how big his God was! Many of the bullet points mentioned all pointed to one obvious distraction, God was not in anything that he was doing! It just so happens that is the whole point of the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. It is just how we are wired, whether it is ministry or profession, we want to see big things happen and we unintentionally forget to pay attention to the voice of the Lord. There are many very large ministries today that focus upon that aspect of doing ministry, to stimulate the people with signs and wonders; it just so happened, that Elijah had been involved in something just like that. It never ceases to amaze me how deflated I feel the day after a mighty work God does in or through my life. It is never the same the second time, and we can never regain the thrill we experienced by going back to real life. The whole point of keeping our focus upon the Word of God, is that of consistency and unwavering direction. Let all those others be focused upon the razzel-dazzel and making people feel astounded, I think we need to stay focused upon the Word, every last bit of it, especially the parts that make us uncomfortable! Just as Elijah, who after the fire, heard a very small voice, and he wrapped his face in his mantel, and went out to the entering of the cave; we too, must not be distracted by all the noise and the excitement, all the things that make us feel good; but must get uncomfortable before God, and let Him actually charge us into what He wants us to be. The funny thing about what happen with Elijah and his going from dealing with all those prophets to running from Ahab and Jezebel, is nothing changed but his perspective...

"Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."" (Luke 18:9-14) NLT