Sweet Lullabies

Tags

Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, God singing, love of God, lullabies, music, precious God, singing, singing lullabies, singing over children, sweet God, sweet Lord, the Lord singing over us, waking up with God singing, Zephaniah

Have you ever thought about why we sing lullabies over our children? How did we think to do that? Who was the first human to hum a little tune over their newborn? It seems so natural, but someone had to have thought of it first. Was it Eve? Since she was the mother of all living at the time, did she naturally croon a lullaby over her newborns? Had she sung with God Himself while walking through the Garden? Or, was Noah the first? As he was cradling his boys in his arms, with destruction and sin all around him, did he look in those innocent newborn eyes and well up in praise to His Father? Was it Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who first sang to her child? Did her age cause her to hold Isaac a little longer than most first time mothers and she naturally began to sing over him?  Who was that the first lullaby singer? What did they sing? Why did they sing it? Did they feel silly? Did it seem natural? Who knows?

Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God Himself sings over us. How beautiful is that? It says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” This verse assures us that the God of the universe, the God who holds the world in place with a word He spoke centuries ago, sings over us. Wow!

This verse became very real to me some time ago. For several days in a row, I woke up with a beautiful song rolling around in my head. Most days it was a Christian tune, but one day I remember so specifically was a secular song. When I woke up that morning the song was playing in super stereo in my mind. It was loud! I laid in bed just listening to the words being sung in my head. Tears came to my eyes at the beauty of it and I laid there having a full realization of Zephaniah 3:17. I knew that God had sung that song over me all night. It was a beautiful song about love, a song I had never considered relating to God until that very moment. I knew that the God of the universe had sung a precious love song over me all night and He wanted me to know it!

I think that’s where we get our need to sing lullabies over our children. I think our sweet Lord gave us the desire to sing to our children because He sings over us. He wants us to know the pleasure that it brings Him to sing over us as we sing over our precious ones. God Himself sings over us from the moment of our birth, so why wouldn’t we do the same over our children? In fact, we might even be singing a duet with God. How sweet is that?

So, listen closely. Pause a moment. Do you hear Him singing over you? What song do you need to hear? He’s already singing it. Do you need peace? Your song today just might be that beautiful old hymn, “He Whispers Sweet Peace to Me”. Do you need love? Your song might be “Never Let Go” by David Crowder. Do you need to know that you are not forgotten? Your song today night be “Not Forgotten” by Twila Paris. Whatever you need, your faithful Father knows and He is singing over you this very minute. Praise Him today!

Seeking Hearts Ministries

Being Preserved

Tags

all things for good, battles, canning, Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotions, gardening, God preserving us, our future, preservation, trials

Psalm32:7 says, “Thou art my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble; Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.”

The Lord will preserve us from trouble. He is our hiding place. He surrounds us with songs of deliverance. You might be thinking, “Really? All I see is trouble. All I know is abandonment and all I hear is madness.”

Look closely, my friend. He is here. He is your hiding place. He was in your past. He will be in your future and He is here now, in your today. Even if your trouble surrounds you, you are winning your battle because He is on your side. In the midst of it, know that He is preserving you.

Remember what it’s like when you are canning vegetables from your garden; things get hot. This is all in the process of preserving, isn’t it? Through that process, things get hot and uncomfortable (for us and the vegetables). Just like those garden goodies, we would like to stay on the vine, being watered gently daily and basking in the pleasant sunshine. We don’t like the boiling water bath, but that’s the only way true preservation can take place. God’s preserving methods sometimes feel just as uncomfortable as canning must feel to a vegetable (if it had feelings), but rest assured you are being protected, preserved and sheltered for the winter ahead. I Peter 5:10 says, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm,  strengthen and establish you.” What better preserving could we ask for?

To take our example a little farther, nothing tastes sweeter than fresh vegetables from your own garden. You can buy things from a local Farmer’s Market, but the absolute best is knowing that through God’s provision and your own hard work, the food you are eating came from your own plot. So it is with God’s spiritual provision for us, we can hear other’s testimonies (and they are encouraging), but there is nothing like experiencing our own tests and coming out victorious. We are then experiencing our own fresh fruit from our own God-given garden. Spiritual preservation can then provide fresh faith for us in the middle of our spiritual winters. We “open up” our jar of faith and remember God has already provided in times past and He can and will provide for our now. We just have to open up what’s already on the shelf. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

How frustrating is it to buy tomato juice at the grocery store only to discover another stack of homemade, well-preserved juice that has already been provided? Somehow, you had managed to shove it to the back and it was forgotten. Yes, it can still be used, but oh, how great it would have been in that homemade soup last week!? Just like those forgotten jars of juice, we need to remember that God has provided for us. He has preserved us and established us with exactly what is needed. Sometimes though, His provision gets relegated to the back. Let’s ask Him to help us remember what has already been preserved in us. Let’s open up what He has already established in us! Let’s feast on what He has already provided.

Psalm 32:7 also talks about God surrounding us with songs of deliverance. I really enjoy singing when I’m in the kitchen, don’t you? There’s nothing like humming (or belting out) a little tune while going about our tasks. So, just imagine that while God is in “our kitchens” preserving us for the coming winter’s trials, He is actually singing over us as He works. I love that! He is molding us and preserving us into the men and women that He designed for us to be. God is excited throughout the preserving process knowing that what He is making us into now is exactly what we need to be in our future. The process may be hot at times, but He is lovingly watching the clock, knowing exactly how many minutes we need in the boiling water to produce the desired results, all the while singing precious songs over us. When we allow Him to guide the process, He never allows a jar to crack; He never ruins a batch. He is the Perfect Preserver.

So, no matter if we are in the middle of needing to hide in Him, being preserved by Him for the coming winter, or hearing clearly His songs of deliverance, let’s rest in Him today. Let’s rest in Him knowing that He will never leave us, or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He will not ever stop loving us (I John 3:1) and He will always perfectly preserve us for the coming days (Psalm 41:2).

Seeking Hearts Ministries

A God Who is Near to Us

Tags

Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, Creator, encouragement, fellowship with God, God desires intimacy with us, God loves us, God wants to be near us, God wants us, intimacy with God, reconciliation with God

Throughout all of mankind’s time here on earth, the Creator of all the universe has desired to be with him. I find that incomprehensible. How could the God of all, the God whose ways are not our ways and thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8) still desire to spend time with humans? It’s truly amazing, isn’t it? You would think that He would find us crass, verbose and totally unlikeable. We are so beneath Him and yet He has provided ways for us throughout all of time to fellowship with Him. It’s unfathomable to me, but yet so true.

In the very beginning of the book of Genesis, we find the Lord walking among His children to talk with them and delight in them in the Garden of Eden. He spoke with Adam and Eve and provided everything they needed for the sheer joy of being with them.

Another example we find is in Genesis 5:24. In this verse we see that “Enoch walked with God; and he was not for God took him.” Enoch and God had such an intense relationship that death was simply cancelled. God desired an even closer walk with Enoch, so his flesh was simply gone. Enoch continued to walk with God right into eternity.

Throughout history God has made ways for companionship with us and we, as fallen humans, keep destroying that intimacy. God makes a way, we mess up, fellowship with God is broken and God makes another way. He never gives up on us! He keeps wooing us to His side. Over and over again we see this in Scripture.

God once again makes a way to communicate with His people in Exodus 25. He wants fellowship, but He is such a holy God that He must find ways to communicate without destroying us. We simply cannot handle His glory. So, He instructs the children of Israel to build the Ark of the Covenant. Once again, we find God making a way for us to fellowship with Him, a way for us to know that He is indeed God, but He still wants us. His patient pursuit of us overwhelms me. Every time we mess up, He finds a way. Even the punishment we see throughout the Old Testament is simply a tool to bring humanity back into fellowship with Him. Good and bad, blessings and curses were all designed to foster in them (and us) the desire to seek the Lord.

When we get to the New Testament, we see the ultimate sacrifice to gain communion for all time with humanity in the life of Jesus. God Himself became flesh for us to walk in complete fellowship with us. He stayed with us for thirty-three years walking among us, teaching us, healing us and then sacrificed Himself for all mankind so that permanent fellowship with God could be achieved. Indescribable! It’s one thing to cajole and encourage throughout history and quite another to give Your own life. Oh, what a Savior!

Do you think that was the end of it? It’s not. We have still more evidence that God desires relationship with us. Ever hear of the Holy Spirit? Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we now not only have external fellowship with God, but internal fellowship as well. The God of the universe chooses to live inside of all those who receive Him as Lord and Savior. Unbelievable! I am in wide-eyed wonder that God’s Spirit resides in us to have continual communion with us. I know me and I wouldn’t want to live inside of me, but God loves me so much that He invades every part of me so that I can have intimate fellowship with Him. We can have this fellowship continually with no interruptions. How precious is that?

Do you think we are done? Not quite. Remember I Corinthians 15:51-57? It says, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” Here we see that Jesus not only wants our souls and our spirits, but eventually He even wants our old, corruptible bodies to be redeemed so that every part of us can have eternal fellowship with Him. He wants all of us in complete communion with Him. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says, “… and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

So, what do we do with this knowledge? I just want you to be inspired today. I want you to realize that the Lord of the universe wants to be with you. He doesn’t have to be because He’s God and that’s His job; He wants to be with you. You are not the exception. If you were the only human being on the planet for all time, God would still have made every provision for you to commune with Him. He loves you. He desires to be with you. Ask Him to show you every way that He has lured you to Himself and stand in wonder of His work. You are loved. You are wanted. Rest in that today.

Seeking Hearts Ministries