May We “consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD”
Each day seemed like the previous one: Arise with the alarm. Drink coffee and eat. Dress in clothing appropriate for cold classrooms. Drive to the university and hike from the parking lot to my first class. Take copious amounts of notes while going from class to class. Grab a bit of lunch either at the cafeteria or the grill. Attend afternoon classes and try my best to stay awake while the professors of English droned on and on about poets, playwriters, & authors. (I know, funny to consider since now I am one too.)
However, after the long day, looking just like the previous one, I would hike back to my Pontiac. Stow my backpack in the back seat. Drive toward home. Stop every other day to purchase fuel, so I would be able to drive the 104-mile-round-trip—on the day after next. At that time in my life, when I was walking through my twenties, my life had such a routine as I attended the university two days one week and three days the next week. On the days in-between, when I was not in class, then I was studying, writing essays, and preparing for exams.
If you have ever breathed, then you too know the overwhelmingness of routine, of going through the motions so much that it becomes possible to forget those details that should not be forgotten.
One particular day after driving many miles, I forgot to purchase fuel before I drove home & my tank was extremely low. Maybe you are wondering: How low was your gas tank?
Well, let me just say that our driveway sat on a slight hill with our backyard running downhill, and that’s an important detail when your spouse needs to give your Pontiac a slight push as you sit in the driver’s seat, praying the gasoline remaining in the gas tank will allow your car to start the engine and run long enough to reach the gas station two miles from your home. That was me. I had allowed my gas tank to run way too low, and my beautifully-strong husband of one year gave my car a needed push. We tell this story still today, thirty-nine years later.
- WE NEED TO DAILY FILL OUR “TANK” AS WE STUDY GOD’S WORD.
- WE NEED GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES—EVERY SINGLE DAY!
“Who is wise?
(The Psalms 107: 43 NASB)
Let him give heed to these things,
And consider the
lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”
If you have ever watched the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day, then you have seen the floats covered in thousands of flowers and listened to the commentators speak of the hours required to prepare each float for the parade. Craftmanship is easily seen as the floats pass by, moving down the streets of Pasadena, California. What is not easily detected is the engine placed inside the inner-workings of the float’s body, nor the fuel housed inside the fuel tank, needed to move the float forward.
I read a story quite ironic, one of the American Standard Oil Company that created a beautiful float decorated with roses for the New Year’s Day parade. Everything was going great, until the float sputtered to a complete stop right in the middle of the street. Maybe you are wondering: What happened? The float ran out of gas, right there in the middle of the street and in the middle of the parade. It had to be pushed out of the way so the parade of floats could continue. Everyone laughed. How in the world could the float created by a well-known oil company run out of gas? How ironic! However, running out of gas was completely possible because someone forgot to fill the gas tank. So, there it sat, in all its beauty but unable to move for the power needed to move the float was completely gone—for the gas tank was completely dry.
May we “consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.” &
- WE NEED TO DAILY FILL OUR “TANK” AS WE STUDY GOD’S WORD.
- WE NEED GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES—EVERY SINGLE DAY!
Attending church each week is wonderful, and to be honest, it looks quite pretty on us. We have our programs, our services, our festivities, and our meals; however, do we have the required power necessary to power through the week—if the message on Sunday is the ONLY BIBLE we see, hear, and read?
The reason the followers of Jesus are “powerless” is that they are not diving into God’s Word daily, nor are they praising the LORD daily as they should.
- If you are a believer (as I am), then let us not be foolish but be wise.
- If you are a follower of Jesus (as I am), then let us daily fill our gas tank.
- If you are a disciple of Christ (as I am), then let us not be powerless, laughed at, or sidelined people of God.
“Who is wise?
(The Psalms 107: 43 NASB)
Let him give heed to these things,
And consider the
lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”
Maybe you are wondering: How “lovingly-kind” is the LORD really to His people? Let us end with this approachable analogy. Most of us have eaten a peanut-butter sandwich during our lifetimes, and when we were young, our mothers may have prepared the sandwich for us to eat. If we asked our mom to make us a peanut butter sandwich, then she would take two slices of bread, covering the bread with peanut butter & jelly, creating the peanut butter sandwich for us. She would then give us the sandwich to eat. What a kind gesture.
However, if our mother saw us outside playing—and without our asking—took two slices of bread & covered them both with peanut butter & jelly, creating the sandwich for us—then she was loving us. What a lovingly-kind gesture.
- THIS IS JESUS!
- THIS IS OUR LORD!
- THIS IS HOW MUCH LOVE HE HAS LAVISHED ONTO US!
May we “consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”
- May we consider how we need God’s power & His direction DAILY!
- May we be found studying the Word of God as we should. &
- May we be heard praising our Lord within this world, as we go & as we should.
WE NEED GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES—EVERY SINGLE DAY!