"Lives Directed"

"Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me." (Psalms 119:175)

  As it turns out, those that live their lives believing that God controls each and every outcome, will also prepare their hearts to give Him praise in the midst of every storm; even in the midst of tragedy and catastrophe. You can take this or leave it, but I tell you with all sincerity, the big and uncontrollable problems in my life are always the ones that are surrounded by peace and comfort; it is the little things that I get frustrated over. It is actually an easy thing to figure out: the little things are usually the things I feel obligated to take care of on my own; the uncontrollable things are instantly given up to God. My mother-in-law is always quick to tell me to pray about certain little things; she has a slogan on her license plate that says, "Life is fragile, Handle it with prayer." This is not all that difficult to understand, if we are really interested in being a servant of the Lord. The thing that makes it most difficult is timing and priority; as in, what time is the Lord's, and what matters the most. Don't think for a moment that I have anything figured out, because as soon as I think I have something handled, no sooner it is that I find myself upside-down and confused. Looking at what I believe David is trying to say, and given the lessons of each and every section of God's law, this pretty much sums up the entire Psalm, give or take a certain issue. This is the point of Jacob and Israel; whereas Jacob is a man who thinks he controls things, and Israel is a man that is governed by God. Oddly enough, they are both the same man; almost as if he were a single coin that has two very distinct sides, heads and tails. It really does not matter which side you might flip the coin to, it is still going to fall to the same place; right on top of God's hand...

"But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, "I believed in God, so I spoke." We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!" (2 Corinthians 4:13-17) NLT