Walking

This morning I went for a walk prior to my quiet time. My inconsistency bothers me and brings back internal debating about my lack of discipline and will power. That is some of the motivation of a few past posts. It irritates me that I fight some of the same battles over again. It makes me feel weak. I hate my divided heart and unfocused mind. These were the things on my heart as I walked.

The normal routine in the morning for me is to make a cup of coffee and sit on the deck with the Lord. I usually review a recent outline of my pastor’s sermon – reading the context, thinking about the point he’s trying to make, etc. It is quite common that I get stuck in a passage that Holy Spirit doesn’t give me peace to move on. Today, after my walk, I started out in Jeremiah 10:6-10:

There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in
might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

I have been reviewing this passage since Monday morning. I followed the cross-reference to Psalm 86:8-11:

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like
yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O
Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Verse 11 snagged me and I meditated and prayed through this passage. My hearts desire is that Father teach me His ways so that I will walk in His truth. This will then unite my heart to fear His name. Father, unite my heart to fear Your name. Thank You, Father, for uniting my heart. It is Your doing. There is nothing in me that can do this. I want to know His ways. I want to walk in His ways.

So I followed the cross-reference once again to Jeremiah 32:38-44:

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. "For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, 'It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their
fortunes, declares the LORD."

Notice the focus. It is what Father is doing and our response to His purposes. It is God that unites our heart to fear His name. Left to ourselves we would wonder off into a ditch. I work with these people all the time. My tone here does not convey contempt but a humbling to know “but for the grace of God go I.” I don’t have to micromanage myself. I don’t have to fret over my decisions or beat myself up for my failures. Father has his purposes in my life that He will carry out. I make myself receptive to His working.

This is only a sliver of the process of my mind before the Lord. It is difficult to articulate my meditations.