I read this verse today and thought it encouraging and timely for some of the things “afflicting” our family at the moment. Last Sunday morning we talked about the call to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised in faithful” (Heb. 10:23). These verses reflect so clearly the spirit of one who “holds” to Him who is faithful. Listen to the Psalmist’s devotion to God. Hear his determination to trust the Lord, to trust is His intentions, and refuse to turn from the One who has made him.

Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.
May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
for I have put my hope in your word.
I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous,
and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promises to your servant.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
(Psalm 119:73-77)

The Psalmist’s resolve is to obey. His resolve is to hold unswervingly despite his affliction — accepting his affliction as coming from God!

By faith, when everything is going all wrong, we can trust that everything is actually going all right! From our Wednesday reading: “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20). Nothing happens outside the view and will of our God. Your affliction may be just what God prescribed. We know his will is for us to to be faithful and to grow in that faith. Putting all these thoughts together we can better understand that…

“God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

The first thing to surface in our trials is our weakness. Perhaps that’s what God wants us to see, to let us know what he is working on in us. Our job is to let him. Our job is to rely on his strength to overcome our weakness.

When one dies, we may be called to bury some feelings of hurt from other family members with forgiveness. When the unexpected happens and plans and dreams are altered, it may be time to seek God’s path for us instead of our own. When the very foundations upon which we have built our sense of security crumble right underneath of us, maybe it’s time to rebuild on the Rock of God and His eternal promises.

At least two things are always certain when nothing else is: God is always with you, and he is working to draw you into deeper faith. He promises, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

May God’s unfailing love be your comfort according to the promises he has made to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. May his compassion come to you, and may you remain obedient. Hold unswervingly, for the One who has promised is faithful!

There are times when I send out a list of reminders to the OpenDoor congregation. Sometimes it must feel like they have just finished reading a page of advertisements! I suppose in one respect that’s exactly what it is, but my hope is that they will think of it as more than just an advertisement. I hope that it carries more weight than the daily, annoying circulars we all toss in the waste basket without even a glance.

I hope each of our members hears a call; a call to assemble, a call to be one with one another in Christ just as Christ is one with our Father.

We are the church of God, the church of Jesus Christ, His body. We are the ones “called out” by the gospel of God to alter our lives and structure them according to the amazing truths of the salvation and love of God. We are called out from the world, to live in it but not to be of it. We are called to surrender our spirits to the Holy Spirit and let Him reign in our thinking and in our decision making. We are called to “encourage one another daily as long as it is called Today, so that none of (us) may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

We are called by God.

We are called by the cross and by the One who hung there.

Bible class, worship, time with church family, this stuff is crucial to our spiritual life. We are not strong enough on our own! We are not strong enough without each other!! God designed us for one another, to live together with Him.

Summers are always so full and of so many good things. As we approach a more normal routine again, I encourage you to make the opportunities to be with your church family a priority. And I encourage you to do this, not for me, but for you, and for your marriage, and for your children. Know that you make all the difference in our body. There is not a single person of our body who is not missed when he/she is not present.

The bottom line is, you are loved, you are wanted, and you are needed.

We are part of the most amazing organization on earth! We are not a social club, or a sports team, or simply a special interest group. We are the church of God with an eternal, powerful, appointed purpose; a people covenanted with God himself.

What a beautiful morning!! The Crepe Myrtles around our pool are in full bloom. The sun is shining and it is the perfect temperature! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

It occurred to me this morning that, for the almost three years, our house and property lay dormant with no eyes or hearts to see and appreciate these beautiful Crepe Myrtles. Yet, they still bloomed in those years. They still drew from the soil and worked to show their God-designed beauty, whether they were seen or not seen. And God tended them, as a faithful gardener, taking great pleasure in them, because they are “very good.”

Then, this morning, I was here to see them. I was present to witness their beauty and the heavenly intricacies of each bud. And in the glory of their completed purpose, I was washed with the revelation that we are seen and cared for by the loving, caring, ever-present, glorious God of everything.

We worship a surrounding God, a God who hems us in on every side and loves us enough to create a Crepe Myrtle. His power and his blessings are ever before us and ever working; sometimes moving, sometimes waiting for the exact moment to call us to worship, to call us to repentance. We need only pause, and look, with eyes of faith and knowing hearts.

You are not alone. God is not far from you. If he would tend a lonely Crepe Myrtle in the midst of untamed circumstance to unsure it’s beauty for such a time of praise and revelation as this morning, how much more is he tending to you! You are for the purpose of his greatest praise!! Pause and see his care. Stop and wonder at his power that is at work around you, and in you, and through you. Find comfort and confidence in his presence, and know that he is near. Then bloom, bloom for him! No matter where you are, no matter your circumstance!

Because, you are his.

If I were to give myself a performance grade for yesterday, it would have to be an “F.” My focus was off. My mind was not with God, and my heart was on me. Therefore, shame became my trophy for the day. For how could God love such a person?

But today, I got to start again. Today, God met me early. We talked about yesterday and he cast His light on the darkness of the day. It made me cry, but His warm love soothed me at the same time. He reminded me of His never-ending love, and showed me in His word how I can start again today. Not only that, but He filled my heart and mind with work, things to say, people to reach out to, and lessons to give. In my heart, he not only made me feel forgiven, but useful.

So today I am trying again. Today I am refocusing. I am working to work out His grace in me and through me today. Today, I am His once again.

I believe this is the perseverance that “must finish its work” (James 1:4). It’s getting back on the horse of God’s amazing grace and riding with Him again. And then doing it again. And then doing it again, and then again, and then again….

The wonder of His holiness is His willingness to deal with our imperfection. His patience lovingly perseveres right along with us. Not because He pities us, but because He has so much in store.

Perhaps the great testimony of Jesus’ perfection was, “It is finished.” “With that,” John writes, “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).

Our work is to give up our spirits. Some days we do it kicking and screaming. But thanks be to God, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).