Monday, November 10, 2013 [Getting His Attention]
Psalm 109
I remember going to a birthday party for one of my wife's high school friends and talking to different people in the crowd. You know that point in a conversation with someone that you just met when they ask you, "So, what do you do for a living?" I always get the same response when I tell people what I do. It's always a little embarrassing for most people because just before they heard my answer they were getting really comfortable using all of the creative four-letter-words in their vocabulary. Well, this happened several times at this birthday party. As the conversations continued I would hear things like, "I haven't been in a church since I was five. After all of the stuff I've done I'd probably melt a church if I walked through the doors." It has amazed me how many people feel this way. There is this lie that says you have to be a "good" person before you can go to church, before Jesus will pay any attention to you. But, that's not what we see in the Scriptures. Check this out:
"Rescue me because you are so faithful and good. For, I am poor and needy, and my heart is full of pain." (Psalm 109:21-22)
What stuck out to me in Psalm 109 (NLT) today was this phrase in verses 22 "poor and needy." How poor is a king? What could David possibly be in need of? He wasn't lacking material resources – He was acknowledging his deep need for God because of his low spiritual resources. And, David didn't come to God on the basis of his own "good"-ness. He came to God for help acknowledging that it is God who is faithful and good. This is what gets God's attention – brokenness, the reality of our deep need for Him.
"The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts." (Is. 57:15)
What gets God's attention is when I admit…
…that I am a mess that only God can clean up
…that I've gone so far away that I can't find my way back on my own
…that I need more than what I have the power to provide; etc, etc.
Is there some obstacle that is keeping you from admitting our deep need for God in your situation?
How do verses 22 and 31 empower you to overcome that obstacle?
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