Life Project Blog

Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
in your faithfulness destroy them.

Psalm 54:4-5

It doesn’t sound like David was having a good day when he wrote this; he was under attack from his enemies as it happens. Most of us aren’t on the run from assassins or cut-throats, but there are times in this life when it seems like we are under assault and feel overwhelmed by our circumstances.

One thing we can take from these verses is that David knew where his help would come from, it would come from God. The only problem was that David didn’t know when God would act or why God didn’t set things right immediately.

But he did know that God would have his back.

Like David, we don’t know God’s timing, nor do we know God’s reasoning for His timing. In fact, other than a bunch of theological abstractions, I can’t even tell you why God allows so much trouble in our lives…

Yet we do know that God has our backs.

In difficult times, God is our Rock, our strength, and in such circumstances our relationships with Him take on a whole new significance for most of us as a source of strength and hope, transcending the problems of this life.

Oh, what an awesome God we have!

Oh yes, and He’s awesome when things are going smoothly too.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

Leading up to these verses Paul gave a list of attributes that he attributed to Christ, and here, as a way of summing up, he goes the next step and puts all of the fullness of Jesus Christ into perspective.  Notice that God was “pleased” to have His own fullness residing in Jesus, and to have Jesus reconcile all to Himself. If you think about it, if there was reconciliation, there must first be a conflict…

We know that there was indeed a conflict, a conflict that engulfed all Creation the moment that Adam entered into sin way back in Genesis 3. It’s a funny thing, but for most of us, we don’t really think of sin the way we should, for we tend to think of it as a violation of some sort of rule or ordinance. Yet sin is much more than a simple violation; it’s rebellion, rebellion against God. So here we are, God was pleased indeed to place all His fullness in the Person of Jesus and to have Jesus establish reconciliation on the cross, for in doing so He paid the entire cost of the rebellion: There is now peace between Man and God.

Why should He do that?

Love.

His love was so great that He placed His fullness into His Son and sent His Son to make peace with humanity; that’s quite a thing to ponder wouldn’t you say? I realize that this statement doesn’t pay the bills, nor does it solve all the problems we encounter in this life, but it does something much greater than simply taking away problems and circumstances. Instead, it transcends the problems of the day-to-day and empowers us to see greater things, to set higher aspirations so that the complications of the here and now are put into their proper perspective.

When you come right down to it, what God has done for us through Jesus Christ puts the hassles of life where they belong… on the low priority list.

I guess that I am what you might call a morning person; I get up earlier than most. I don’t have to, I just like it. Morning is my favorite time, I like to be up long before the sun. Early morning is the time most of the posts on this blog are written, the time when the mind is clear, creativity is greatest, and when God seems so very near. I don’t want to miss such a glorious time!

I remember taking this photo six years ago. It was shortly after sunrise, the air was warm and still, and the only sound was the birds singing in the trees; it was glorious. My mind was full of praise and thanksgiving for God and His amazing creation, for His mercy, for His faithfulness.

Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

Psalm 5:1-3

Yes indeed, glorious is only word for it. I remember when I was much younger, hearing an older preacher say that everyone should rise early to pray as Jesus did. I didn’t want to do it, for in those days I was of the opinion that getting up around 7 am was pretty early.

Boy, was I wrong.

I suppose we’re all different, and God will meet us where ever we are, but for me, the early morning is by far the best time of any day…. There’s just something about it that’s hard to describe, something different, something… special.

One time I read a letter George Washington wrote to an associate in which he spoke about his daily routine. In it he made several interesting comments, things that kind of made him come alive, seem like a real human. One of them was that he always went to bed early and rose before the sun, because people who are happiest in this life, and people who are most productive in this life, skip the foolishness of the night, and enjoy God’s presence in the morning.

George Washington was a very wise man.