“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” Psalm 105:4,5

Life is often a succession of emotional ups and downs, which hopefully lessen somewhat as we mature. But of late I’ve been reminded of how much of our emotional stability really lies in our own grasp, determined by our point of focus in life.

As we focus on the exciting or depressing events swirling around us, our emotions tend to follow the course of these happenings: up or down.  But the question to ask in this is: “Am I focusing only on the events or the author of the event?” Does my telling of exciting events point others to Christ, or am I just sharing my excitement?

In my own life I tend to let the event fill my vision, not my Lord who has done it. And the Lord Jesus has recently reminded me of the importance of looking to Him by praising Him in both plenty and poverty. One of the wonderful aspects of praise is that it keeps us focused on the Creator, not on the creation, ushering us into the peace of His presence no matter where we may be emotionally.

He has also reminded me of the need to praise with my whole heart, something I can do if I want: “I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart…for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word” (Ps. 138:2).

Lord, help us to make you our focus, not the ups and downs in our lives. Then, Lord, as we remember the wondrous works that you have done, your miracles, and the judgments you uttered, may you, O Triune God, be the One we seek, not just your acts.

So, we do commit to seek your face, O Lord,

for there is no one like you,

the Almighty God,

perfect in power and purity,

greater than all in the universe,

uninfluenced by anything,

unswayable by anyone,

the same yesterday, today and forever!

.Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

Then there is worth; anyone who feels worthless is in trouble, for this unbalances us emotionally, and will lead to imbalance in every other area. We naturally seek worth in our work, our possessions, our relationships, our power–but it is all fleeting, unsatisfactory and worthless in the end. However, you, Lord God, have declared us “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” (Eph. 1:18b). We are your riches, your glorious inheritance!

You not only proclaim this, you have demonstrated it by your personally and powerfully redeeming us from the hand of Satan. And you did this at great personal cost. You said, “I value these, my creatures, so much that I will give all I have to buy them out of slavery and certain punishment. I will not only purchase them, but I will transform them and adopt them. They will be my treasures, my riches!”

When you, Lord, the ultimate authority, say that we have worth, then we have it, no matter how we may feel about it. Praise be to you for assigning worth to us who were your enemies, we who worked against your purpose, who rejected your rule. We praise you for buying us, we rejoice in the fact that we are chosen, cherished, dearly loved and delighted in. We revel in the warmth of your great love, the depth of your whole-hearted, total acceptance of us, affirming the worth you have given. This is your worth reflected in us, like sun shining on the water in this picture. Praise be to you, our Heavenly Father, our Brother Jesus, our Guide Holy Spirit.

I have written before about God sightings, happenings which  come directly from the hand of God. Very often people do not even notice them, or give credit to luck rather than God. But when we notice them, our faith grows, our worship is strengthened and our relationship with God deepens.

This week I’ve had several I’d like to share with you.

First, the morning after a big thunderstorm, I was out working in the yard when suddenly a very large limb fell off the tree, right above two vehicles, one mine, one a neighbor’s! But it fell right between the car and truck. No damage was done. Obviously, God’s protection!

I was working in the woods across the road from my house. The bank going up into the woods was steep, so I tied a rope to a tree to help get me up and down. On one trip down, I backed down the bank and stood right at the edge of the pavement. Normally I would have immediately stepped back on the road, but hesitated, and a car came going very fast, probably 60, and missed me by only a couple of inches. If I had taken one more step, I’d have been dead! God’s protection.

I am pulling logs out of the woods for a building project, using a big winch. It’s been a learning process and at one point I seemed to have overheated the new winch and it began to smoke! Not a good sign! So, I shut it off and went home, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, not knowing the outcome. The next morning, I tried to use it again—and, it worked just fine! God’s provision and protection.

I let a homeless guy living in our tower use my car. I’d noticed a slight noise at times when driving it, and so did he. When he got back, he jacked it up, found that a strut had broken, fixed it and it now it runs fine. Knowledgeable guy, willing to help, solved my problem.

Last week I drove to providence and bought some metal roofing for a project. It turned out to be a lot heavier than I expected, but loaded it up anyway. After driving a mile, there was a rough spot in the road and I hear a “bang.” From then on at every little bump, the rear tire would rub on something. What could I do but pray and keep on driving—and we made 60 mile drive safely home! God’s protection and provision.

These are things to remember, especially when faced by another problem. As God helped me then, He will help  me now, as I “run the race laid out for me, looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of my faith”! (Heb 12:3)

“…you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” Psalm 59: 9b,10a

David wrote Psalm 59 during the time Saul sent men to kill him in his home. The reoccurring theme is “O my strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” David was giving a “response of faith” to a desperate situation.

The challenge came to me: do I give a “response of faith,” thinking truth, speaking praise in daily life? For instance, how do I respond when I get interrupted in my reading; or the task I want to complete gets put off; or someone’s derogatory remark strikes at my sense of significance; or I lose miserably in a game?

I can honestly say that my emotions certainly do not give a response of faith in any of these situations; my feelings encourage me to react naturally, according to what I can see: “He has no right to interrupt me!” or “I can’t do anything right!” or “I’m such a loser!” or “Nobody loves me!” I need to recognize the lies in these and replace them with truth.

A response of faith is not based on the situation but on God’s character. In Psalm 59 David was still in danger, but he focused on what he knew of God and could say, “In the morning I will sing of your love, for you are my fortress…” (Ps. 59:16).

He knew that God is loving and powerful and faithful. He could sing of God’s love before the day unfolded, knowing that God would be at work to bring what is best, to bring him through whatever difficulties would come, to protect him from what was truly evil. The outcome could be death or suffering for David, but he would be safe from evil as he trusted God.

Picture of little Nat showing trust, as we should do.

More from Psalm 103

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious…” (Ps. 103:8a).

You are full of rich love, caring for your creatures with deep, overflowing, unending compassion. You are deeply concerned for each one and each situation.

You watch, observe, protect, guide and reveal yourself to each one, calling them all to drink of your grace.

You are the ever-giving, ever-sharing, ever-generous, ever-kind and ever-helping God.

You provide air, sunshine, food, water, relationships, beauty, protection, guidance and wisdom. You generously pour out on us your goodness every day.

When we awake, you are there, while we sleep you watch over us. Your unending supply of all that is good never fails, you are graciousness itself and we exalt you for that.