March 6, 2016
Sunday March 6, 2016
Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life. (Psalm 119:33-40 NIV)
For years in our addiction all our attention was focused on worthless things. We longed for the good life. We thought that our substance of choice would free us from pain and fill us with pleasure. Unfortunately, the insanity of our addiction is that even though we never found freedom and satisfaction we just kept returning to the same old worthless things, hoping against hope that a little more would fill our longings. The Bible is true when it describes this as a lifestyle of selfish gain and disgrace and puts us in circumstances where we fear for our lives. By God’s grace, underneath the anger, pain, and confusion we became aware of a longing for something better, something that is right, something that will give us life. This quiet voice is God inviting us to life – the life He created us to live.
Today our kind and generous God is asking us to let Him teach us this new way of life. Our old ways are flawed. We have triggers in us related to fear and pain that, left on their own, will have us moving towards unhealthy behaviours, before we even think about what we’re doing. The God who created us in love knows exactly what we need to be restored to His loving purpose for us. We need God’s instructions, as well as courage and strength from Him, in order to begin to operate in a new life-giving way. Again and again we need to lift our eyes from the past, from irritations in the present, from worries and anxieties about the unknown future, and tell God that we trust His promises to give us a meaningful life that we can enjoy.
Today our kind and generous God is asking us to let Him teach us this new way of life. Our old ways are flawed. We have triggers in us related to fear and pain that, left on their own, will have us moving towards unhealthy behaviours, before we even think about what we’re doing. The God who created us in love knows exactly what we need to be restored to His loving purpose for us. We need God’s instructions, as well as courage and strength from Him, in order to begin to operate in a new life-giving way. Again and again we need to lift our eyes from the past, from irritations in the present, from worries and anxieties about the unknown future, and tell God that we trust His promises to give us a meaningful life that we can enjoy.
These verses from Psalm 119 are a wonderful prayer that gives God permission to change our hearts and minds so we can have the right perspective and make right choices. This is how we turn our will and our life over to the care of God and experience new life.
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