Aug. 24, 2008 - ~The foreskin of my heart~
I'm home today with our littlest one. He woke this morning throwing up. No fever....nothing but this tummy thing. I have a sneaky suspicion it was the jelly on the side of the garbage can that he couldn't resist!
He finally fell asleep and I hopped online (ever so quickly) to do a little scripture study. Gary and the children are at church getting their daily feeding and I surely don't want to be left out, so I head over to the Bible gateway looking up interesting facts on 'praise'.
If you're close to me you know that I think there's something special about praising the Lord. I believe that there is a spiritual power that is literally unleashed in the physical when we do what we were created to do....'Praise the Lord'.
One of my favorite verses is: 'The Lord inhabits the praises of Israel'. Love it! That's a pretty short statement, but it's jam packed - don't you think?
So today I head over to the gateway and read this:
Deuteronomy 10:16+ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that my heart has foreskin! I must have read that 5 times thinking 'never have I imagined that word used in correlation with my heart!'. After I got over the shock of that I read on and realized how wonderful the word of God is. The Lord really cuts to the chase, doesn't He? I must have gotten my southerness from Him >grin.
He has this way about Him....able to use the perfect words, the perfect pictures, to give me a visual of something absolutely fantastic! It would take a theologian 150 pages just to try to pass along the same truths.
The first thing I noticed was that my being stiffnecked is a heart issue.
Then what was really interesting was that the next sentence was full of praise to the Lord. God of gods, Lord of lords, great, mighty....
After this- it speaks of the fatherless, the widow, the stranger, a person needing food and raiment.....
THEN it says HE IS OUR PRAISE!
This is what I thought was interesting (and remember that very smart theologian - I am not), just an interesting perspective from a wife and mother who has been bothered by lots of grief in the world lately....
He addresses our heart. He speaks of His greatness. He speaks of the lowly or the hard times we face. Then He says HE IS OUR PRAISE!
See, it's in the hard times that we find it difficult to praise the Lord. But we have to see that He wants us to circumsize the foreskin of our heart, not be stiffnecked, and do exactly that! We want Him with us as we face struggles, adversity, etc..... etc....... Trials will come to all of us. It rains on the just and the unjust. But it is the just - the ones who have been saved by His grace, that have an opportunity to unleash his love, mercy, strength, peace in our lives, etc... during that time....during those moments.
There have been times where I've faced circumstances with absolute fear and trembling. I have had NO PEACE. Honestly, that is my bent. I can easily get totally freaked out over the smallest things. I wish it weren't true....but it is. I'm easily bothered :O(
Then there were those times where I have experienced the power of God. He literally made it known to me, in that moment, to praise Him. The difference is absolutely unbelieveable! There is no possible way that I can ever put into words what happens when I knew and acted on this truth.
I have no idea if someone will come across this blog today and need this post. I do know that I need it. God is so good and merciful. His word and truth are such an encouragement to my heart!
Comments
Sep. 12, 2008 - I needed this!
Posted by Anonymous
I came over here from the MOMYS yahoo group to see the picture of your cistern--haven't seen it yet, but this post was really what the Lord brought me here for--today (9/12)
Thank you!
