DIVE IN

My, Devotion to Him #178

Verse Passage: James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” – NIV

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote the passage above. This passage is a great one because it shows that James recognized something. James points out that the source of the “good and perfect” gifts we receive come from God. God the Father is the source of everything good. He’s always good. Not only is God the source of everything good, but He loves to give and He loves us perfectly and completely.

Another great thing about this verse is that James points out how God does not change. Which is a biblical truth. God is forever the same and will forever be the same. 

I point these things out to support what’s next. 

Sometimes in life it feels like your swimming through life and your energized by what you doing and the people around you. Life seems to be a nice breeze and everything is just fine. It feels incredible. However, there are those times when it feels completely the opposite. It’s like your all alone, and your in some dry desert. Nothing is going as planned and everything is falling apart. You cry out to God and it feels like He’s a million miles away. You can’t help but think your doing something wrong. You don’t now what the problem is. 

In the Bible there is a book called Psalms.  Now if you’ve ever read the Psalms it’s pretty easy to see that many of these poems seem to have complaints attached to them. That’s because they do. These complaints are directed towards God. The writers of these Psalms were in circumstances that were horrible to them and maybe considered horrible to others. These writers cried out to the Father. 

We are going to look at one of those Psalms today which is wrote by King David. You might be able to relate to his emotion for a moment but what is striking about this Psalm is how David does not stop there. David dives in and remembers that God moves and treasures him. 

Verse Passage: Psalm 63:1-8 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.” – NIV

Take time and ponder on this passage. Take time and go over every single word and verse. 

God loves you and He treasures you. He loves to give good and perfect gifts. Take time to dive into how good He is to you and know that you are His child and He is never far away. 

When things are not going the way you think they should, go to Him. When He feels far away, go to Him. So many times we have this expectation that God has to do all the work and we never have to do anything. This is a relationship. We need to spend time with Him. If you struggle to see the good that He’s done, go to Him.

If your not happy with what’s going on, go to Him. We need to get to Him. We need to DIVE INTO HIM. Into His presence. Into His love. Into His Word. Don’t be afraid to DIVE IN.

In closing I want to point out a few things from David’s poem.

1. David said that he earnestly seeks the Father. 

Earnestly meaning: To do something with sincere and intense conviction. 

2. David has a thirst for the Father

Thirst meaning: a strong desire for something.

3. David puts love over life. 

David states that God’s love is better than this life. What a way to exalt the Father. By stating that God’s loves is so good and amazing to us that it is better than this life that we live. 

4. David becomes exclusive to God

Exclusive meaning: excluding or not admitting other things.

David does this when he says “my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.”

David says “as long as I live”

This is the type of exclusive relationship we should seek and desire to have with God. 

5. David acknowledges God Helps us.

David’s states “Because you are my help” 

6. David is clingy

David’s states “I cling to you” 

Cling meaning: remain persistently or stubbornly faithful to something.

People don’t like clingy people but David doesn’t mind stated that he is. We need to be stubbornly faithful to God and clingy to him. 

7. David acknowledges God is his strength. 

David states “your right hand upholds me.”

David dived in because he knew what he treasured but do you? 

God bless. 

Copyright © 2019 by Jacob D. Olinger