Thy comforts delight my soul
26 June 2007
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.
PSALMS 94:19
OH, listen then, Most Pitifull
To Thy poor creature's heart;
It blesses Thee that Thou art God,
That Thou art what Thou art!
FREDERICK W. FABER
WHAT the particular thoughts or temptations are that disquiet you, I know not; but, whatsoever they are, look above them, and labor to fix your eye on that infinite goodness, which never faileth them that, by faith, do absolutely rely and rest upon it; and patiently wait upon Him, who hath pronounced them all, without exception, blessed that do so.
ROBERT LEIGHTON
Thoughts that disturb and trouble us seldom come from God. It is generally best to put them away, and throw ourself, with increased trust in Him and mistrust of self, at His feet. And never forget, amid whatever may befall you,--dryness, coldness, desolation, and disappointment, consciousness of many faults, and of great weakness, and want of faith,--that where love is, there God is sure to be. He never yet has suffered any soul to fall wholly from Him which, amid all its frailties and falls, clings to Him in love.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR
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Many times, i must agree, my own thoughts are my greatest enemy. Often, our inclination to doubt and to think the worst of situations draw a conclusion that may not be what it seems. I have not always been like that. On the contrary, people used to think I was OVERLY optimistic - so much so that i had become idealistically unrealistic. Now 2 questions loom in my mind...How did i swing from one extreme to another; and How can one strike a balance between the 2?
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1 July 2007
Today, God answered that question through one of the 'many' online devotionals i subscribe (and often don't read)...A Back to the bible devotional call "Streams in the Desert Devotional"...
I HEARD A STILL VOICE
"There was silence, and I heard a still voice"
A score of years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace. It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought--that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice.
I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din.
Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers. Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil.
In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said,
"Be still, and know that I am God." Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, "Be still."
And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort.
As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard; but that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God's prayer in my secret soul, was God's answer to all my questions, was God's life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.
It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go forth to life's conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew. But as dew never falls on a stormy night, go the dews of His grace never come to the restless soul. --A. B. Simpson
Visit Back to the Bible website here...
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Today, more than ever, God reminded me of how little, nowadays, i seek Him and His voice in my life...Every confusion, every doubt, every misunderstanding...i could have dealt with differently if i had retreated to that place of Stillness in God and found answers and comfort from the Answer Himself.
It's not just about getting answers from God. It's not like that. I come to demand an answer and i go away happy that i got what i wanted to know. No. Far greater is the experience and the sense that God is with me and assures me in His comforting presence that He is in control and that I should trust Him. That makes the answer alive and ME alive!
