Heavenly Father, Your love is so vast and deep. We love You but of course You first loved us. Your love is so fathomless; bottomless; deeper than any mighty ocean; higher than any of the highest mountains we have here on Earth. It is wider than, and goes farther round, than the East is from the West.
Yet, the globe of Your immeasurable design and how it fits into the great expanse of its universe, is so COLASSAL to us that even with the most powerful of telescopes, we human beings can see no end of it all, in its cosmic sights. By stark contrast, it is but a drop of water in a bucket to You; insignificant, in some ways.
Your love Father is so much bigger than all of that; Your thoughts, too! It is astounding to cogitate upon. Our human minds get blown and cannot comprehend it all. That's why, when You do things for us, out of love, we often cannot understand.
However, You had (& still have) such great love that You sent Your Son to this earth, making it Your focal point. All this out of Your love for Your human creatures with whom You wished (& still wish) to find relationship and companionship.
When Jesus came to us, the power of evil and hate against Him was a force to reckon with but yet, Father, You conquered all, through Jesus' death and resurrection. What a mighty power that was! And still is! Satan could not stand against the force and purity of it! Neither could all his minions, even though they had "set a trap" for Him.
All those Sanhedrin members who were so bent on getting rid of Jesus with the aid of Judas Iscariot and along with the Romans, nailed Jesus to the cross. Your love, not the nails, kept Jesus up there. It was Your love for us, that even the boundless expanse of the oceans of Earth could not (& still cannot) measure up to it.
Then Jesus committed His Spirit to You; into Your hands. He trusted You. His whole life was that of submitting to You and Your will, perfectly. In life and in death, He submitted to You.
This so You could redeem the incorrigible souls of the human creatures You had made and who had made a mess of this by their disobedience to Your will and commands.
Now, Father, we can claim You as our Rock and Fortress, as David did in Psalm 31. He went to You again and again and tested Your love, tested Your promises, and tested Your protection, and concluded You are a "strong fortress". You stood the tests.
You lead and guide us, Your chosen sons and daughters through Jesus', guiding us through Your Holy Spirit.
Father, "worthless idols"...many of us do "cling to worthless idols". Whether it is the actual idol, statue, replica of various gods or goddesses; or whether its the idol of money or pornography, gambling or fornication and adultery; or other types of sexual immortality; or of placing a loved one, live or deceased, on a pedestal; or of a dog, or cat, even; these are worthless idols that we should never allow to be worshiped or to govern our lives.
Sometimes, even our parents, who always seemed to have been there and are now, NOT. We realize how much we relied on them. How much we turned to them with every little thing. Father, that's what You want from us. You strongly desire we turn to You "with every little thing". David seemed to have learned that.
He was always talking about You and writing songs about You that read like prayers to You. He doesn't mind asking You for things like, Your being merciful to him in his distress.
Father, there is so much in this world that distresses, so I thank You for David's example that we too can cry out to You to be merciful and in our anguish that might, at times, threaten to consume us. That anguish and even years of groaning, so that the strikes of it almost make our hearts fail.
Nevertheless, we beseech You to raise us up. As a song says, "You raise me up, to stand on mountains, through all the vast and stormy seas. Then we can stand tall on Your shoulders above it all." We can be like that lamb, that one out of one hundred sheep still precious to it's shepherd. It had gone astray and been lost but the shepherd found it and put it on his shoulders to carry home.
Father, You made Jesus to be our Good Shepherd and we are precious to Him. He sought us until He found us. We praise You.
We too have enemies as Jesus did and still has. Those who hold us in contempt. Sometimes even our friends will leave and forsake us, but we know that You will never ever do so.
David said he'd become like "broken pottery" in verse 12. People throw broken pottery away. We may be "like broken pottery" but Father, You are the Potter and we the clay. Clay with You molding and making us according to Your will. Don't let us be broken Lord by our stubborn will resisting Your shaping. Don't let us go off in our own way as that "lost" sheep did cuz then we may become broken and wander away in loss of faith. However, if it comes to our brokenness, come and seek us.
Now all the contempt, all the slander, all the terror that evil doers conspire and plot against Your people just as they did against Your Son, Jesus Christ. Don't let it break any of us but bring growth; flourishing life. We do not want to be shaken so violently that we lose faith. Have mercy on us oh LORD. Keep us. Give us courage to stand on Your promises, on Your Word and on You, Yourself.
We will trust in You because You are our God. All our times are in Your hands. Father, You know the number of our days and You know what each of Your "sheep" are going through. Our times are in Your hands.
Help us to submit and rest in You and in Your LOVE that knows no bounds. This, especially when people pursue us. May our faces still shine and reflect Your love and care for us.
May we experience the satisfaction of knowing that with You, all things are possible. That Your unfailing love will save. That You won't let us be put to shame because of Your Name but You will shame the wicked, the enemy. You will silence their lips.
Lord, I don't necessarily mean, silence them in death, as even in life You have Your ways of silencing folks. You can stop them from assaulting Your people with their nasty verbal garbage; missiles aimed at pulling down and/or destroying Your child.
May their pride, contempt and arrogance against the righteous all over the world, be stopped. May there no longer be attempts to undermine You, Your Name nor Your people.
Even Your people, at least those who claim to belong to You, are sometimes seen on the news praying battle prayers against the wickedness of one political party or another, or even against individuals You have placed in authority, praying prayers that besmirch You and Your people. Or, how about are seen laughing like a fool and attempting to instigate their congregations to follow suit. Seems more like mockery. Why must they flaunt You in this way? They seem to be putting You to the test.
OH Father, help us. Help us! Have mercy on us, I cry out to You. Everything is in such a muddle. We NEED Your intervention!
May we be less like the Pharisee who flaunted his prayers and more like the Publican who prayed in humility. No, I did NOT, say, "republican," Father. I said, "Publican," the tax collector fellow. The one others had looked down upon back in Jesus' time on Earth.
May we humbly repent as the tax collector did. May we humbly go home satisfied that You have heard us, that You care about us and that we have repented and You have forgiven.
How great is Your goodness! Your goodness, just as vast and fathomless as your love, because You are Good. Your love, mercy and goodness endure forever.
I like the picture painted in the words "Your goodness is stored up". The vast store of it, kept for those who love You; doled out in never-ending portions, as needed. Stores of provision for those for whom You have made righteous through Jesus and who have taken refuge and shelter in You. Now we can also hide in Your presence (vs 20). In Your dwelling You will keep us safe from accusing tongues.
Father, there have been and still are, so many of Your people who have been falsely accused, especially in lands where they are blatantly persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, may they sense Your presence there with them and working on their behalf. Your presence available for them to hide in the shadow of Your wings.
All praise be to You our God and Father for showing us Your wonderful, proven love by sending Jesus. Thank-You!
Let us never be cut off from Your sight, out of Your sight range. We know we never could be. We praise You for this.
Howbeit, sometimes we do feel like we are cut off when we pray and ask for certain things that are even Your desire, like salvation of our loved ones and relatives, who for years have been holding out against Your love, goodness and relationship with You through Jesus, and do not wish to come to Christ; at least, yet, and as far as we know.
Father, what is the "ice-breaker" for that? Give us ideas, we plead. We need the "ice-breaker". May Your Holy Spirit convict and work actively with our family members. Convict them of Your goodness and righteousness and great love for them; of their sins and their need of Jesus and relationship with You. This, before it is forever, too late.
We call to You, LORD. Help us. May your love permeate through us to our unsaved relatives, so that we can say, that they have become followers of Jesus Christ; Your sons and daughters; saints, "sheep" grazing in Your pastures.
Additionally, that Your love is a holy aura upon them, anointing them and like precious incense wafting back up to You in gratitude.
May they be more faithful to You than they are to their worthless idols now. Change their alliances, cut off the useless soul ties that bind, and preserve their souls so they can be strong in You; to have blessed ties with You. May they take heart and hope in You.
What a Happy New Year that would be for us all!
Father, may all your children be like this! May our hope be in You and Your fathomless love for it is in You we can trust and hope; our ever Faithful One. You never fail (Zephaniah 3:5). Your grace and goodness, never fail.
You are good.
I thank-You and praise You in the precious Name of Jesus.
~ERC November 2020~
Based on Psalm 31:1-24 NIV
Sing, How Deep the Father's Love For Us, as sung by Selah
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