From God, to Spurgeon, to Isaiah

Today’s an eclectic mish-mash of lots of things on my heart.

Think for a second about how many people you passed on your way to school/work today. Can you remember any faces? I was making note of the ones behind me at stoplights today as I was praying, and this blew me away: Just think- you’re in one city out of hundreds, if not thousands in your state/country alone. Multiply that by every other country, and it’s nearly mind-boggling. There are countless people with a life- a background, a present and a future filling up this earth. Now think about this- God is intimately acquainted with each and every person. Their genetic make-up, their personality, their dreams and desires, their struggles and failures. EVERYTHING. not only that, he intimately CARES about each and every person. That’s one great, big, amazing God. With Him there is no partiality (Rom 2). The only thing differing from person to person in relation to God’s intimate knowledge and attentiveness is how we respond to it. And so I asked myself today, “how am I responding to God’s care and concern for me? Do I ignore it, or do I appreciate it?”  “How am I showing Him my gratitude for loving me, and not getting tired of it, but continuing to love me through the good and the bad...always being there?”
I just had to tell Him like it is, “God, you never cease to amaze me!”

From Morning & Evening by Spurgeon, for Oct 7th. I’ve been thinking about this, and rejoicing in it for the past several days.

“In whom do you now trust?” Is 36:5

Reader, this is an important question. Listen to the Christian’s answer, and see if it is yours. “In whom do you now trust?” “I trust,” says the Christian, in a Triune God. I trust the Father, believing that He has chosen me from before the foundations of the world; I trust him to provide for me in providence, to teach me, to guide me, to correct me if need be and to bring me home to His own house where there are many rooms. I trust the Son. He is very God of very God-the man Christ Jesus. I trust in Him to take away al my sins by His own sacrifice and to clothe me with His perfect righteousness. I trust Him to be my Intercessor; to present my prayers and desires before His Father’s throne, and I trust Him to be my Advocate at the last great day, to plead my cause, and to justify me. I trust Him for what He is, for what He has done and for what He has promised still to do. and I trust the Holy Spirit- He has  begun to save me from my inbred sins; I trust Him to drive them all out; I trust Him to curb my temper, to subdue my will, to enlighten my understanding, to check my passions, to comfort my despondency, to help my weakness, to illuminate my darkness. I trust Him to dwell in me as my life, to reign in me as my King, to sanctify me completely, spirit, soul, and body, and then to take me up to dwell with the saints in light forever.”
What blessed trust- to trust Him whose power will never be exhausted, whose faithfulness will never fail, whose wisdom will never be overruled, and whose perfect goodness can never be impaired!
You are happy, reader, if this trust is yours! So trusting, you will enjoy sweet peace now and glory later, and the foundation of your trust will never be removed.

IN other news: an absolute favorite song of mine, especially when i don't know what to do and my new passage for memorization:

Isaiah 55 (ESV)

  "Come, everyone who thirsts,

   come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

   come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

   without money and without price.

 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

   and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

   and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

    hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

   my steadfast, sure love for David.

 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,

    a leader and commander for the peoples.

 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,

   and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,

because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,

    for he has glorified you.

  "Seek the LORD while he may be found;
   call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
   and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

  "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
   and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

  "For you shall go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
 the mountains and the hills before you
   shall break forth into singing,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
   an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Stumbling and getting back up,
Betkany