daily spiritual reflection - mar. 31

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

  ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains— 
   where does my help come from? ² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.
 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber; ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand; ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life; ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121)

THOUGHT:  Do we need to relate to God for him to protect us?  Honestly, I don't know and I'd be a fool to have a rigid answer.  All I know is that the knowledge that God wants to protect us is a comfort to me.  In this Psalm, it does seem that David's relationship with God is strengthened when David answers his own question:  Where does my help come from?  It comes from the Lord.  Maybe, this is a secret to the spiritual life.  Even though God is always watching over us, maybe something clicks when we invite God in to help us in specific ways.  This means we'll have to look towards God for the solution.  In my mind, a few rounds of this will encourage us to have a riskier life as we switch from praying for our TAs to give us extensions and instead for God to give us words for a depressed friend.  We'll start to trust him more and more to be our help - in all ways.

CHALLENGE: The challenge here is simple.  Find a problem.  Ask where your help will come from.  Answer yourself:  God will help me with this problem.  Then, wait and expect God to move.  He'll use you, your community, his own activity, and "coincidences."  It usually ends with a story.  Some people call it a testimony.  This is a story of God's goodness that becomes personal, and it becomes a record of God's good work for his creation.  Share it often.

 

Peace,

Josh