We live in a time of uncertainty and conflict. Swirling emotions. And we’re approaching a time of seeing this so increase that it will cause an unsteadiness that will rival the worst case of vertigo. Certain verses can work to alleviate uncertainty bordering on seasickness. Similar to how keeping one’s eyes on the horizon provides a stable point for our eyes to focus on, thereby avoiding seasickness. Rather than a dramamine, I start every day with certain verses. For me, it provides help and comfort. And it allows me to try to fulfill His commands. And I need all the help I can get to walk uprightly. The more we can stay tethered to Him the better we will stand when storms come and He said He would be there with us during these times.
The first verse I recite each day is Micah 6:8. “What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” There is so much required here and without trying to stay in His presence it is impossible to fulfill. So that leads me next to Nahum 1:7, “The Lord is good, He is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those that trust in Him.” Man, I hope so because I have too many days where I feel alone and wondering if His phone is off the hook. I’m then in Psalm 121 reciting, “I will lift my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved.” I have to trust Him for that, for too many times I feel like I’m on a sandy incline slipping backwards two steps for every step I advance. But I trust in the closing of this Psalm when the Lord says He will preserve my going out and coming in from this time forth and even forever more. He said in Hebrews 13:5 that He would never leave us or forsake us. Hold onto that. So, can we do as Jesus commanded in Matthew 22:37-40? Can we love Him with all that’s within us and at the same time love our neighbor? Do you see that when you look at this world?
That leads me to Psalm 86:11, a verse I’ve been saying each day for quite a few years. “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.” I’m asking Him to reveal to me His ways, for I so often stumble or follow a path I’ve tried to clear in the wilderness. I ask for Him to unite my heart so I can walk circumspectly. To become one with Him. To revere Him. To want to spend time in His presence where there is fullness of joy and yet knowing that I’ll stumble. But even as I do, I can rest assured that He will show me the path of life. His path for me. Yet I know what was stated in Jeremiah 17:9 is so true. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Sort of a conundrum. Yet through Christ we have hope. A new beginning. Life as He planned for us before the world began. Just as He promised in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” I hold onto this, for to not have my heart united in Him is to be double minded and therefore unstable in all my ways (James 1:8).
We may feel like Peter in Matthew 14 where he sees Jesus walking on the water and is asked to step out on the water with Jesus. Jesus said “Come” and Peter did. He was united with the Lord. He was walking in truth and with the “Truth.” But then the waves and wind became boisterous and Peter had his faith tested. He took his eyes off the prize. Just like I do. Just like we all do. And then we do not walk in the truth that is Christ alone. Maybe we should recite the words to that old hymn, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.” The things that are swirling in this world and causing us to doubt and follow wrong doctrine will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory. We need to remember this when we hear strange doctrine purporting to be words of the Lord. Or when we see teachers, pastors, prophets and evangelists we may have once listened to now cause many to stumble or find themselves in the waves and no longer know how to swim. Be like the psalmist who said in Psalm 119, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” A heart united with Him. “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patience of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5) Blessings.
Stand My Watch 