God's Perfect Vision

The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. Psalms 11:4 (NASB) One thing that stands out about Job is that when things went badly for him, he doubted everything - He believed that God was still God, but not that He was God's beloved. We look at him and say, "But, God knows what's going on! He hasn't forsaken you!" But how often do we do the same thing? How often do we sit and try to analyze why God is not seeming to work on our side, why He has allowed grief to descend upon us, what we've done to make Him so angry? I know I have done it, many times! Lately circumstances haven't been perfect for me and my family, but, to be honest, we've seen God's hand a lot. We've seen Him work in the difficulties we've gone through. But I remember times in the not so distant past when we didn't see His hand - at least not at the time. We can look back and see how He held us up, but it wasn't at all obvious then. I'm sure those times will come in the future as well, and I see many of my friends and loved ones who are there right now. But, I am challenged to be constantly aware that God is continually on His throne. Nothing surprises Him. He sees it all, and He engineers all circumstances for His glory. Period. He never explained to Job why those horrible things happened to Him. He just reminded Job of His sovereignty and power, His authority and control. No matter my circumstances, I must acknowledge that His character has not changed - He still loves me more than I can fathom, and He still is glorifying Himself as must happen.

Remember

As I read through Job this morning and prayed about what God wanted me to focus on today, remembrance kept coming to my mind. God has taught me so much, and it truly excites and energizes me to learn. But, sometimes I get so caught up in the present learning that I forget to remember, review, and keep in practice what He's already taught me. So, today, I'm going to prayerfully go back through some of my journaling and be reminded today. Be reminded of what He's done and what He's taught; and make sure I'm following through.

Letting Him Teach

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Psalms 32:8 (NASB) It is amazing to me how many times I make decisions with my own wisdom regardless of how much I want to follow Christ and honor Him in all things. Yesterday morning I made a list in my journal of some things weighing on my mind. I gave them to my Lord, and He took care of them. But, when I looked back over them this morning and made notes on how He spoke through the course of yesterday, I realized that I had a wrong approach to several of those requests from the get-go. There was something I thought we just had to work into our school day to help Olivia with some of her attention issues, so I simply asked that God give me wisdom to know where to put that activity into our day. This morning He showed me that I never asked Him if He wanted us to do the activity in the first place! Oops! On the surface of things, I fully desire to seek Him in all I do. But, in the practical working-out of that, I am so entrenched in my ways that often I don't even think to seek Him. So, He is challenging me to grow in that area. As I come before Him anew each morning, He is showing me new ways to submit to His authority and sovereignty as He teaches me in the way I should go. I am so thankful that He is a patient Teacher, and I am challenged to be submissive to that teaching at all times.