You were always on my mind
Don't picture Willie Nelson when you hear that. I think it's what God wants to assure each of us. We are always on his mind. We are the apple of his eye. He loves us with a crazy and extravagent love. It's hard to comprehend. Constant, unwavering, unconditional love is really hard for our puny brains to grasp.
Think about it. Is there anything that is always at the forefront of your mind? Or can you be easily distracted? I'll put myself in the easily distractable category. I rarely finish a project, a book, a load of laundry from start to finish without one or one hundred interruptions. Therefore, nothing is always on my mind.
I read this book by a monk, Brother Lawrence. It's called Practicing the Presence. Brother Lawrence trained himself to always be aware that he was in God's presence. I felt envy..and disdain. Envy, because I would like to be a monk with nothing else to do but feel God's presence. Disdain because, COME ON, how hard was it for him? Brother Lawrence had nothing on his mind but God and a bushel basket of potatos to peel. He wasn't bothered by school supplies, school uniform changes, overdraft protection, poison ivy, smart-alecky kids, Facebook, what's-for-dinner, or really, anything. What a life.
God is not distracted or even distractable. That's an accusation that is often thrown out. People seem to think God is taking His eye off the ball. "Where was God when this happened?" We act as if He stepped out for a latte and gosh darn it, a tsunami came and took away the population of an entire island while He was not looking. God is not like us. He is not distracted. He can keep me always on His mind, and you always on His mind, and everyone...all at the same time. We just can't understand how that would be. But it's the Truth.
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
I love this Scripture. God is with you...whether you practice His presence or not, He is there. Whether you love Him back, or have just a nodding aquaintance with Him, He's there. And He's not going anywhere.
He is mighty to save. He takes great delight in you. Not small delight, or gets-a-kick-out-of-you. GREAT DELIGHT! You are His favorite. He knows you are worried. That's why He promises to quiet you with his love. And best of all, He rejoices over you...
I can scarcely absorb that Truth. And when you look up "rejoice" in the original Hebrew, it means, "to spin around, to be glad and joyful." Wow, He's not kidding around. He's rejoicing!
Over you! And me!
Lord, I pray that you help us see the truth in these promises and feel your love more and more every day.
2 comments:
I so needed this....we are going through some real tough times and I have to keep going back to Scripture to prove to myself that God loves me and His plans are for the good of me....thanks Martie!
"You are his favorite." There is a t-shirt out there that says "God loves you...but I'm his favorite." I love it, but always thought it was not so polite. But my girlfriend told me we are all his favorite. I might have to go buy that t-shirt.
I rejoice that He rejoices over me! And he rejoices when I rejoice over him! It's like a beautiful dance, we are both spinning around being joyful - like a crazy "ring around the rosies" game.
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