"RESH"

"Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law." (Psalms 119:153)

  This might seem as though we have visited this before, but each and every one of these segments represent a whole new area of our lives that need to be examined. It is like pealing an onion, one layer at a time; that is a tremendous amount of layers to be dealt with. Obviously the condition of our heart is something we can never really get a handle on; one day we feel confident in the Lord's protection, the next day, we can wake up feeling so vulnerable and unprotected. As crazy as this world might get, by keeping God's word fresh in our minds and His law upon our hearts, nothing is to hard to handle. Matthew Henry puts it like this: "Is any afflicted? let him pray; let him pray as David does here." There are three simple steps to consider: the first and foremost thing, is that God is not only listening to what we are saying, but that He is considering that what we say is something that He cares about. Oh my goodness! How much we need to realize how much He cares! That our God would do the most disastrous thing He could, by sending His Son to take our place upon that cross, and to not think that He cares about our affliction, it does not take a whole lot of thought to figure out that He cares deeply for what goes on in our lives. The second step is really quite easy to conclude, once you have understood the first: that He is willing to deliver us, one way or another! It might not be the way we suggest or in the moment that we expect, but He will deliver us, none the less! If there is one thing we must always keep in the forefront of our minds, is that He is the Potter and we are the clay; we do not dictate how He works or what He creates, we simply must remain pliable in His hands and let Him mold us, as He sees fit. Which, if we can tolerate doing that, the third and final step comes totally natural; well, for the most part, if it wasn't for the thick headedness and hard hearts...

"Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. And that's the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir." (Galatians 4:1-7) NLT