Psalm 116:1-2 English Standard Version

I Love the Lord

¹ I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
² Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

Loving the Lord just because He hears you sells short the reality in relationship with our Lord.

He does more than just listens, He does more than just answer. Snippets of scriptures that sound good do not tell the whole story no more than saying “I love you” proves you love another. It is in the actions associated with the relationship that proves love, on both sides.

Verse 8 says “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;”

That is only three aspects of this love relationship and there is so much more. It would take a whole book to even glimpse at a small portion of His immense love for us.

John 21:25 English Standard Version (ESV)Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Note carefully the end of that first sentence, “things that Jesus did.” His words were life and yet He did not stop there. Words weren’t enough, He did things not even spoken of in the bible.

Because His love, mercy and grace are perfect in performance, we can accept that He goes above and beyond His Word. To say they are just words sells Him short. He is more than just words.

Each of us has a testimony of what the Lord has done in our lives. If it were left to only words we would have a testimony of our own strength and God would not be glorified in the telling.

He is more than an ear to hear or a mouth to speak, His love enacts the will of the Father and keeps His promises.

Psalm 94:18-19 English Standard Version

¹⁸ When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
¹⁹ When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

I could have used this verse a few days ago. Emotions were getting the better of me. There is a reason that psychiatry was invented. Emotions can lead you astray of the truth.

My truth for today is that love, agape love at least, is not an emotion. It is a choice. God’s unfailing love is not touched by emotions, is not altered, damaged, hidden nor withheld just because we are feeling bad about ourselves.

God’s consolations are always available but just like a psychiatrist’s appointment we have to show up to get any help. When we stop reading our bibles because of our emotions we do net get the consolations we so desperately need.

A doctor of theology once taught on the slew of despond. A slew is a large troth that carries logs down the mountainside to a river below. Once we get on that log it feels like we are in mortal danger to jump off and we cling to the log as if our lives depend on it. The log is depression and the only danger is clinging to it.

The slew is not moving the log is moving and the water in the slew is moving. The trick is to not jump off the log onto the hillside but to let the log go, enter the troth and let the water wash over you.

Picking up our bibles is the first step in getting off that log. Allowing the word to wash over us slows our descent and allows us to come to grips with where we are in truth.

Those who do not slip are not moving.