A Psalm of Encouragement

Well, FI-NAL-LY!!!"
Some of you may say as you read this post. Yeah, I haven't posted in about 6 months. But I still have this account, and for those of you who do keep tabs on it (if anyone out there does), I have finally found something short enough that is definitely worth posting.

This weekend, I went on my Crusade's annual Fall Retreat to Imperial Beach, CA (which, if any of you have been down there, feels like the edge of civilization, especially in the evening; it's the Southernmost beach on the U.S. West Coast). It was loads of fun, of course, and God was there, and that was wonderful, etc, etc. (Yeah. Typical canned statement about experiencing God at a retreat. I know.) But here's what God did show me in the brief time that he was there:

1) His faithfulness.
Whenever one stays right on the beach for a retreat, of course one is going to hear waves. It's
a natural occurrence there. So I was kinda chewing on it in my head on Friday night when I
arrived there, and thinking about how assuring it was to have God be faithful to us 100% of
the time when we are in a relationship with Him, even though we are not always that faithful
to Him. The next morning (Saturday), our speaker's first talk was on the greatness of God,
and we talked in pairs during that time about miracles God had done in our lives recently. For
me, it was kind of hard to put my example into a flowing statement, but I got it out anyways.
I am digressing here, however. After the speaker finished his talk, we went into individual
quiet times with God. And I thought again about His faithfulness, only this time as part of His
greatness. While I was thinking about this I looked out and saw the waves and came to a
prime picture about God: that His faithfulness is unceasing, like the waves coming in on the
shore. God inspired me to start writing about that, and this is what came out, in about 15
minutes time.

A Psalm of Encouragement
1 Look to the Lord
along the shore,
2 Behold! His faithfulness
is never ceasing, yes;
3 As unceasing as
the crashing of waves.

4 And look to the Lord
from the top of the mountain,
5 Behold! His strength
will lift you up, yes;
6 As the wind lifts
an eagle's wings.

7 Look to the Lord, again,
in the desert place,
8 Behold! He will lead you
through the wilderness, yes;
9 To find that oasis of life,
that is, His son, Jesus.

10 Look to the Lord now,
in the fertile valley,
11 Behold! His providence
is ever abundant, yes;
12 As increasing as
the reaching grapevine.

13 Look to the Lord
in the starry stillness of night,
14 And behold! He knows
all of those stars by name, yes;
15 And does He not know you, by name?
He knows all of you.

16 Look to the Lord
in all that you do, wherever you are,
17 And Behold! His power
will never, ever fail you, yes;
18 And He will never, ever leave you,
for He is yours, and you are His.
Amen.

2) If one walks along the beach looking for shells, one of the more common types you will find is the Mussel. It is small, shaped like half of a heart, and black on the outside. But, if you look inside an empty one, you find this amazing layer of pearlescent coating. The reason for this is that, when the animal lived in the shell, it made things amazingly smooth inside. It got comfortable in there.
This reminded me alot about a life with Jesus as one's Lord and Savior. Everyone, regardless of who we are, where we come from, and whatever society labels "define" us as, has sinned, and fallen short of God's greatness. Because of this, our hearts are hardened towards Him and towards others. In this way we are very much like the Mussel, in that we have a black coat of sin on the outside, which we always wear. But, if you have Jesus as Lord and savior in your life, and allow Him to do that in your heart, mind, body, and soul, you also become as the inside of a Mussel shell. This is because Jesus makes himself comfortable in there, and through his glory manifested in you, your heart becomes less deceiving, your thoughts more pure, your body, well... (ok kind of hard for me to put a word on that one), and your soul more like what He intends it to be: towards Him, knowing Him, and loving Him.
But then, you say, what about the fact that we still sin? Well, that's where God's faithfulness through His grace comes in. You see, because of His Grace through Jesus' death on the cross, our sins are forgiven. And, since He is 100% faithful to us 100% of the time, that grace is bestowed to us every time we sin. Therefore, we are becoming more like the inside of the Mussel shell on the outside as well as the inside because His grace refines and polishes us (this is not to say, however, that we should go on sinning; that grace should wean us off of sin, not increase it).
And to think that, later on this weekend, I found a Mussel shell that had had most of its black coat taken off by something or other. I picked it up and found that the pearlescent layer beneath was amazingly pure and uncracked. Just more evidence that the bonds of God's glory and grace in our lives are very hard to break; indeed, that is impossible. Quite mind-boggling, God sometimes is... but I don't mind. I'd rather just enjoy the ride.