Psalm 103

I'm reading Psalm 103 this morning in the Message...a few highlights....

He forgives your sins--every one.
He heals your diseases--every one.
He redeems you from hell--saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy--a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness--beauty eternal.
He renews your youth--you're always young in His presence.
God makes everything come out right; He puts victims back on their feet.
God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, He's rich in love.
He doesn't endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever.
He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is His love to those who fear Him.
And as far as sunrise is from sunset, He has separated us from our sins.
As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear Him.
He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud.
God's love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear Him, making everything
right for them and their children as they follow His covenant ways and remember to do whatever He said.

So what do you think? Can we trust Him? Can we ask for His help when we've messed up? He is always and ever seeking our hearts. If we've made a mess of something we have a choice to make. We can try hard to clean it up ourselves knowing that we were responsible, or we can come to Him still taking responsibility (that's called confession), changing direction (that's called repentance), and ask for His help and provision (that's called trust). We must know who God is see that we can trust Him with EVERYTHING. ALL His promises and provision are available to us, but He generally waits until we ASK...right out loud. Yes, He could sweep in and fix the whatever. But He wants our hearts. So He waits. Waits to be asked...not just a one-time "please", but a persistent knock on the door that will not give up trusting in Him to answer. Waits until we bring our heart to Him in confession and repentance, trusting Him to love and care for us. He will let us wallow in our own mess until we bring it to Him. Take all of it to Him and keep taking it to Him. As you get to know Him better and better you will trust Him more and more. It is pride to set our faces and determine to fix things ourselves...it is faith to know that we can't do anything apart from Him and ask Him to step in. His process may look different than we expect, but He CAN be trusted. And in knowing and trusting Him we can walk in peace, even as we continue to ask and pray. Ask, seek, knock; and continue to ask, seek, knock. You have the assurance of a God who loves you and cannot lie that you will receive.