Okay, so I haven't posted here in almost a year!!! I didn't realize it has been so long. Here is a little something I put in my church newsletter recently.
The Psalms are the prayers of the faithful from ancient Israel. They were the prayers of Jesus Christ. They proclaim joy and sorrow, despair and hope, anger and relief. The Psalms are not theological documents, they are real expressions of real human beings sharing their inner thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams with God our Father.
Psalm 84 says, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
I see, all around me, people crying out for God. Not everyone realizes it, however, and some think that they are crying out against God. Several Sundays ago, some of the kids were asked, why do you believe in God? The prevalent answer to that question was, “I don’t know, because my parents told me to, I suppose.”
Hmm…reminds me of myself at that age. My father was (and still is) a pastor. My mother is quite evangelical. But neither of them could make God real to me, and neither can I, nor anyone else, make God real to you. All we can do is ask ourselves, who is God to me? When we can answer that, then we will be a bit more competent to relate Him to others.
The basic need to know God, however, is present within each of us, even if we are not yet aware of it, and so the basic, and perhaps the most effective, means of sharing the gospel with others is to simply share something about our own relationship with Him. This must happen, first and foremost, within our own homes, and can perhaps be as simple as reminding our loved ones of the many blessings that are poured down upon us each and every day, and who showers them upon us. When others see that God is personal to us, and that we thrive off of a relationship with Him, it becomes a little more conducive to developing their own personal relationship.
And do not be afraid, for even the psalmist struggled in his faith:
“I call with all my heart; answer me Lord,
And I will obey your decrees.
I cry out to you; save me
And I will keep your statutes.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
That I may meditate on your promises.
Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
Preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
But they are far from your law.
Yet you are near, Lord,
And all your commands are true. (Ps. 119:145-151)
