Quit Squirming!
Is your heart turned to the Lord? What motivates that heart attitude? The Psalmist in Ps. 80:19 understood something about repentance that escapes most believers.
Psalms 80:19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
This verse depicts the light in God’s face causing men’s hearts to turn to Him in repentance. The picture is one we can all understand. If you are sitting in a darkened room and a bright light is turned on, it is instinctive to turn toward that light. The phrase “Turn us again, O Lord” appears four times in the scriptures, three times in Psalms 80. It comes from a Hebrew word that means “to come back again – repeatedly…” Is your heart turned toward God today? As the mercies of God are renewed every morning (Lam. 3:22-23), we indeed recognize WE NEED a fresh instance of God’s mercy every day more than perhaps we care to admit.
Jesus made a statement in line with this in John 14:6:
[Jhn 6:44 KJV] 44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…
Notice what Jesus is saying here – no man comes to salvation unless the Spirit draws that person. In other words, getting saved wasn’t your idea. The English poet Francis Thompson called the Holy Spirit the “Hound of Heaven,” pursuing us until we collapse in exhaustion and admit we need a savior. Bob Mumford describes this as the “Hound of Heaven” pursuing you until you fall prostrate, and He puts His foot in your neck and says, “Do you give up!” Then we dare to go to the meeting next Sunday and claim, “we found the Lord!” I’ve got news for you – you weren’t looking for the Lord. The only reason you were (or are) concerned about your soul is because God FIRST put that concern in your heart.
Martin Luther speaks of “God’s sovereignty in salvation” by saying, “God is always first.” What does that mean? I believe A.W. Tozer said, “man in pursuit of God is like a mouse in pursuit of a cat!” In other words, your hunger for God doesn’t come naturally. How do you benefit from this?
In the gospel of John, we read the following:
[Jhn 1:13 KJV] 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Your human will is involved, but it was not the prime mover when you gave your life to Jesus. The benefit in realizing this and being reminded of this is that you are not hanging on to God; instead, God is carrying you by His sovereign grace because He chose you and made you accepted in the beloved before the foundation of the world was laid (Eph. 1:6).
Do you see this truth? God is carrying you. Have you ever held a baby? When they are tiny, they are easy to carry. When they get older, it’s a little more of a challenge. Remember carrying your three-year-old when they didn’t WANT to be carried? What did you tell them? You scolded them, saying, “quit squirming!” I hear God saying this today. They have their ideas about what they want to do and where they want to go with their lives, but they aren’t paying attention to the fact that God is in charge – not them. What is the word of the Lord, then? The word is simple, loving, firm, and direct.
Quit squirming!
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