Psalm 119.132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is
your way with those who love your name. (ESV)
Well, here it is: the
day after the Big Dance. The presents have all been opened, the dinner was
cooked and consumed; the trash was taken out and the dog, bless her heart, got in
a walk. I’m thinking about grace right now because I found grace in my reading
this morning: Turn to me and be gracious
to me, as is your way with those who love your name. God’s way is gracious
to those who love His name. Grace, the Gift that keeps on giving!
I cut my finger pretty badly last night. David* is,
today, in deep emotional turmoil over a relationship that seems to have gone
sour and his relationship-ee lives in the one-bedroom apartment he shares with
her. Freddie* is, this morning, in Ethiopia trying desperately to undo an
adoption that has turned out to be a disaster for he and his wife and child.
Christmas didn’t bring the peace and joy to some, and here it is the day after…
the turmoil is back - or it never left...
Christmas isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. The
sirens still went off. My friend Bart* is laying in bed in what appears to be
the final hours of his fight with cancer. For Stan* my friend in central Oregon,
his fight with ALS didn’t take Christmas Day off.
But then I read this, tucked away in the vast treasure
that is Psalm 119: Turn to me and be
gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name. Really it’s
me turning to Him to remember in the midst of all my comings and goings that He
is indeed gracious to those who love His Name. Audrey May Mieir wrote: His Name is wonderful…
Yes, the Big Dance is over and there are problems that
still need to be resolved and fights that didn’t take a Silent Night, but He is
indeed gracious to those who love His Name. In seven short days there will be a
new year according to our calendars, but today, in the midst of what we all
face and in the pre-dawn of what may be coming, it is His way to be gracious to
those who love His Name. His way is to be
gracious to us all.
In 1983 when I finally got it that He is gracious to those
who love His Name, I believed. It finally clicked that His grace is for His own
and His own love His Name. But He is still gracious to those who haven’t got
there yet. He is actively working in the lives of people who don’t yet love His
Name. That’s just Who He is. He is the Restorer of relationships. He is the
Advocate for families with a wife and child who need an Advocate. He undoes our
doings. He saves us. He is the Healer of diseases. He is our Home. He is our
peace when a day off doesn’t bring a day off from the thing with which we
struggle.
Today, O Father, now that the Big Dance is over, turn to
me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name. Now
that life goes back to what it was 24 hours ago, and the fight continues in our
struggles, turn to us and be gracious to us, as is Your way with those who love
Your Name. May these fights renew our resolve to bend the knee and give it all
to You – it’s all Yours anyway.
*Real people, different names, but would ask you join me
in a quick prayer for them…
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