July 17

Psalm 13

Trust in His Chesed

I love the summer time.  Now, please do not misunderstand me, I do not like excessive heat and humidity. What I love about summer is that I get to unplug myself and spend much needed time feeding my soul.  I've read through three books so far and have a few more waiting before summer ends.  I'm calling this my "Summer of Solitude". Deliberately carving out time, not only in my day, but in my spirit, to spend time with God, asking Him to transform and renew my mind and conform my soul more to His image.  Now, please understand, there is a lot I am depending on God for, like getting me through this summer in many ways, but that's not all that I'm hoping for. In my quiet time, I am seeking to know God, not for what He can or will do in answering my prayers, but for who He is. I want to know His character, much like I know many of you reading this blog.  Today's Psalm talks about God's Chesed. Chesed is the Hebrew word David uses to describe God's character.  It means mercy, kindness, love. It describes the very nature of God. When we read scripture and allow our hearts to be washed by every word of God, we enter into an intimate relationship that allows us to experience the very nature of His character. Knowing God in this way leads to the spiritual transformation we long for, while we trust in His goodness to provide everything else we need. I hardly ever understand God's answer to prayers, but I'm learning that when we read God's word and our hearts desire is to go beyond intellect, and go beyond comfort, we experience God in a new way. We see David's heart transform through this Psalm in the same way. He begins by asking God if He will forget him forever. Obviously David must be waiting for God to answer a prayer, not understanding what's taking so long, just like you and I. After he pours his heart out, David comes to the place we all need to be. Trusting in God's lovingkindness.  From Deuteronomy 6 through all the gosepl accounts, we are told the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, in that order. Did you notice that "heart" comes first?  Lord as we seek you with our hearts, I pray You meet us where we are. I pray we all experience an intimate encounter with You which will fill our souls and transform our spirits.

Randi