Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Tuesday 03/08/2011)

Never Too Far Away…

Psalm 139:1-6 (New Living Translation)

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  ² You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. ³ You see me when I travel
      and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. ⁴ You know what I am going to say
      even before I say it, Lord.  ⁵ You go before me and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

            This weekend I had hit a couple of weeks of being sick, and so I have been in the house for the most part with a few exceptions.  I always think when I have too much time to think it is never a good thing, but in this cases, I think it was a good thing that I was forced to slow down, and spend time talking to my young adults and spend time talking to God and sit still, instead of ripping and running, attending meetings and putting out fires.  But I also had time in the stillness of the night when I could not sleep, to lie in bed and pray for those God laid upon my heart, but also to think of all the places I have been, and all the things I had been blessed to see.  I also thought about everything God had delivered me from and all He had healed me from, and even when I thought I was out of His reach how He was able to remind me that no matter where I was and no matter what I tried to do I could never get away from what He had placed His hand on me to do. 

            To me one of the most amazing things is to realize that God knows us.  I am not just talking about knowing of us, or even knowing who we think we are or who we are trying to be, even when we are running away from Him, or trying our hardest not to be who He has called us to be. God knows us, and He knows just how to get to us.  He knows how to reach us, when even our family and closest friends give up on us. God remains and we are not out of His reach or His grasp.  God knows our rising and our falling, He knows our successes and our failures; He knows when we are no more thinking about Him than He is forgetting about us.  He knows when we are too embarrassed to lower our head and bless our food because of the company we are in.  He knows when our lips are towards Him, but our hearts are far from Him.  He knows when we are at the edge, even though our words say that we are just fine and have it all together.  He knows, He knows what we think in spite of what we say, He knows where we are going before we even decide to go there, He knows. One of the most amazing things is His mercy and His grace, because no matter how far we go, or how out of His will we may become, we are never too far that God cannot reach us.  For there is no low that God cannot reach down and redeem us from. There is no height that we reach that He cannot reach up and ensure we do not tumble and fall from.

            There are some of us who cross the line, and wonder will we fall so far that God cannot get to us. The answer is God can always reach us, we are never too far.  All we really need to do is open our mouths and tell Him that we need for him to rescue us.  All we need to do is to accept the love that He has to give us.  We only need to open our minds and understand that God is unlike a human being and He is not limited to time and space.  We only need to confess that we want Him to reach for us as we reach for Him and He will be right there to pull us out of whatever situation we are in and provide us a way of escape or a provision for success instead of failure. It is so easy to believe that God is like us and He will fail us, and let us down, that He will leave us high and dry and treat us as we have so many times treated others, but God is not us, and He desires the best for us, He desires that none of us would perish, but that we will come into repentance and obtain everlasting life.  You are not too far from Him that He cannot touch you. You are not too damaged for God to use you.  You are not to sick, for God to heal you, you are not too weak for God to make you strong.  You are not too much in sin for God to save you.  We are never too far, for God knows us, He knows where we are, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically, and He is still only and whisper of surrender away!