I love it when I wake up with a song in my head. Maybe not just any song, but often it's an uplifting, encouraging one. This morning it was the chorus of "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"....
- Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
- Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
(But I change the last line to, "and there's grace to trust Him more" because the original sounds to me like the writer feels God is holding out on that last little bit more grace I need.)
The 4th verse of the song has these lines:
- I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
"Will be with me to the end." That's our Emmanuel, God with us.
Joseph is said to have prospered both while in slavery, and in prison after being falsely accused, because "God was with him". Moses wanted to disqualify himself when God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, but God assured him that He would be with him, and what else could he possibly need? Moses encouraged the people at the end of his life to go in and take the land, because God had promised to be with them. Joshua, having to take over the leadership after Moses, was admonished to "fear not; be of good courage" because God would be with him. Gideon never saw himself as the "man of valor" that God called him to be, until he was convinced that indeed God was with him.
Even more wonderful than the assurance that God is with us is the knowledge that He is actually in us. He hears our thoughts, He knows all our deepest secrets, He sees our hurts, and He whispers His words of encouragement and approval in our spirit.
The challenge is to bear this in mind. The very Spirit of God Himself, with all His power and glory and wisdom and grace and goodness and love and light lives in our spirits.
Help us, Lord, to go through our days recognizing Your presence, and to depend on that never-ending supply of "grace to trust (You) more"!
