Trusting and growing

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.                             Psalm 25.1

The psalms are man’s words to God. Yet God inspires them with Holy Spirit presence and authority and uses them to minister, in turn, to man.

Psalm 25 is a glorious hymn to God encompassing His love and mercy towards His creation. The psalmist also acknowledges the frailty of this creation and our susceptibility to fall. But there is great encouragement here. As sinners we will not bring about our own recovery. But our great God, in tender love, will rescue us.

As a sinner I am not content to sit back and do nothing myself. My God means so much to me that I want to do what I can to be more pleasing to Him. I will always be a sinner and, sadly, I know even now that I fall into sin continually. Notwithstanding this, I want to press on – seeking God and the strength and solace that I receive in Him, but also allowing myself to grow in His ways, applying myself to good ways and positively spurning those things I know to be unhelpful.

Lord God,

I come to You this wonderful new day amidst the growing busyness of a shopping centre. Yet, even as the world cranks into gear around me, I feel quiet and peaceful here with You. I thank You for this, Lord, for it is Your doing and not my own. I join with the psalmist and I dare to echo his words as I rejoice in You and release myself to You.

I do indeed lift up my soul to You. I trust implicitly in you. I realise – and what a realisation it is - that I cannot trust myself. Lord God, I put my trust in You. Let me not be put to shame. I cannot fight off my enemies (seen and unseen) on my own, but You are my champion and I look to You. I thank You that I can do this. I trust You, Lord. I thank You.           Amen.