22-12-2006, 10:01 AM
I would love to write an utterly polished devotional that is well put together but that is impossible at the moment. Life is crazy and unpredictable these days. We all know how things can get this time of year. But I make no apologies for an honest bit of writing. Life is rarely polished and well put together and sometimes there is not time in the moments for well-rehearsed lines.
Every time I turn around there is a new disaster waiting for me, and as soon as one has been taken care of more trouble comes to take its place. This creates such tension and loads of questions. Why are these things happening? Does God care? How come I have had to go through this? What is going on? Am I doing something wrong?
And then there are even bigger questions in the back of your mind: What have I been made for? Where is this story headed?
This morning I was reading Psalm 73. There is a bit that says:
When my soul was embittered,
When I was pricked in my heart,
I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast toward you.
Nevertheless I am continually with you;
You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel
And afterward you will receive me with honour
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth I desire
Other than you.
My heart and my flesh may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart,
And my portion forever.
It then goes on to say:
But as for me it is good to be near God;
For I have made the Lord God my refuge.
There is something that happens in the midst of trouble and questions. It is that his love is bigger than the trouble and the questions. Not that the troubles and questions go away, but that his arms are better than answers and his love is bigger than the things that threaten to overwhelm us.
My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Kristen Montgomery
(The Factory Team}