Sound Words, July 1, 2018

Sound Words, July 1, 2018

He Takes Thought of Me

By Kent Heaton

          “But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (Psalm 40:17). There are a lot of things on the mind of God. It is an incredible volume of knowledge that is contained within the spirit of the Creator as He thinks upon all He has created. The universe is held together by His word and everything must work in complete order for life to continue. Without the sun being an exact distance from the earth man would not survive. The elements of the natural world must continue in an orderly form for life to abound on earth. Animals cover the face of the planet and not one is forgotten or neglected by the One who created them. Filling the world, nearly eight billion souls live among the four corners of the sphere in communities that vary by culture, language, economics, history and spiritual faith. Compiling all the stars in the heavens, creatures that dwell on the earth and abound in the sky and sea and the volume of the human needs pressing daily upon the mind of God – the mighty Creator, Savior, Lord and Protector takes thought of me. I am just one person out of billions and untold billions that have lived through the ages of history and the Lord thinks about me and my needs and my wants and my cares. David knew this well as he faced trials in life with enemies pressing about him and feeling as if he stood in a horrible pit and the miry clay. Yet in all of this he trusted in his God and the Lord brought him out of the pit and set him on the rock and established his feet. Why? Because God cared about this one lone shepherd boy in Israel who waited patiently on the Creator of the world to deliver him. Imagine that – God took time to think about David and to help him.

The world can be a cold and unfeeling place when it seems no one cares and no one takes thought. Everyone is focused on themselves or others and take little time to help those who struggle in life. Isolation sets in from fear of being abandoned and left for hopelessness in a miry spirit of despair. Men often fail others because they are incapable of caring for everyone limited by time, space and knowledge. That is not the case with the Lord God. Jesus reassured His disciples of the untold number of sparrows that inhabit the earth not one of them falls without the knowledge of the Creator. Isaiah writes the Lord has a name for every star in the heavens (try to count them if you can). If our God has such a vast array of knowledge then why would it seem impossible for Him to think about me? He knows my name, my needs, where I am and what I am doing and He cares about me. It was not the plan of God to send His Son to die for all men and then forget them. His plan was to send His Son to show all men that He takes thought of every single individual soul in every part of the globe at any time of the day or night in every generation that has lived and will live because He is an eternal caring God. There is nothing going on in your life that God is not aware. It is impossible to hide from God because wherever a person seeks to go the Lord God has already been there – waiting for you to arrive. There is an element of fear in this thought but there is an immense spirit of joy knowing that wherever I am in my life God will always take thought of me and help me. He is my omniscient and omnipresent Father who loves me.

When God created man He said it was not good that he be alone. Creating Eve was the secondary answer to the need of man. The chaos of man has always come from his desire to be apart from God and as long as he tries to live apart from the Lord he will find himself in misery and sin. David declares in his psalm that when you trust in the Lord and seek Him there will never be a time that man is alone. God will take thought of those who seek His love and His mercy. We look forward to being in the presence of the Father but we are in the presence of our Father now. He looks after us and takes care of our needs. In our prayers we ask that He not lead us into temptation and He will fulfill His promise because He takes thought of us. When heavy trials and weary days come upon us we can rest assured that God is thinking about us and loves us. Trusting in His grace we can be lifted out of the despair and loneliness because He takes thought of us. What greater message of love can the Lord give that to reassure every heart that seeks Him that He takes thought of them? It is a powerful testimony to how much God loves me to think about me – my needs, my failures, my sorrow, my repentance, my joy, my questions, my wonder and my hope. It is as if there is no one else in the universe but me and my God knows MY name and takes thought of ME!

“Seek First” (one)

            “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Someone, who had put one of those humming bird feeders into his yard, told this story about a particular humming bird. At first, several humming birds used the feeder. Later, however, one humming bird began to guard the feeder and chase all other birds away. The little bird sat days on end guarding his self-claimed feeder, so much so that he became a slave to it. He could go nowhere and do nothing but sit and guard his feeder. Thus, what was supposed to be an aid became a hindrance to this one bird. Isn’t this the case with many of us when we become overly occupied with things which hindrance us in our service to the Lord? The owner of the feeder decided to bring the bird feeder inside so that the humming bird could once again run free. Let us free ourselves of all slaving hindrances and truly put the kingdom of God and His righteousness first in our lives.

“Seek First” (two)

            “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). A man bought a new hunting dog. Eager to see how he would perform, he took him out to track a bear. No sooner had they gotten into the woods than the dog picked up the trail. Suddenly he stopped, sniffed the ground, and headed in a new direction. He had caught the scent of a deer that had crossed the bear’s path. A few moments later he halted again, this time smelling a raccoon that had crossed the path of the deer. Then a turkey, a rabbit, and so on, until finally the breathless hunter caught up with his dog, only to find him barking triumphantly down the hole of a field mouse. Often Christians start out with high resolve, putting the kingdom of God first in their lives, but their attention is soon diverted to things of lesser worth. One pursuit leads to another until they’ve strayed far from their original purpose. Let us do our best to put first things first.

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