“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
~ Psalm 143:8
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you ever feel like every kid who is living on planet Earth is against you? Do you ever feel like you cannot do anything right? Do you ever feel like you got up in the morning on the wrong side of the bed? Do you ever feel like God has completely forgotten you? David sometimes felt that way. David wanted to sense God’s presence all the time in his life. David really missed feeling God’s presence when he did not feel God’s presence in his life. When David would sometimes sense or feel like he did not have God’s presence in his life, do you know what David would sometimes do? David would sometimes write a Psalm song. David would write his Psalm songs to God. David would tell God in the Psalm songs that he wrote how he was feeling. David would be transparent with God about his feelings. David did not hesitate to tell God that he was really hurting because God just did not seem to be there for him when he really needed Him. How do you talk to your dad and/or ma when you are really upset about something? How do you talk to your dad and/or ma when you feel like every guy, gal and kid who is living on planet Earth – including your dad and/or ma, are against you? How do you feel when it seems like your dad and/or are just not listening to you? What to you is the difference between your dad and God? Your earthly father is your dad. Your dad can be seen. You can sit on your dad’s lap. You can hear your dad answering your questions. You feel protected by your dad’s presence. You are always glad when your dad is home. Your heavenly Father is God. God the Father’s presence cannot be seen. God’s presence – as God the Spirit, is all around you and in you. You cannot sit on God the Father’s lap. You cannot feel it but God the Father is holding you in the palm of His hand. You cannot hear God the Father answering your questions or prayer requests; you will just sometimes see or sense or know that God the Father has or is answering one of your questions or prayer requests. You may think that it is your dad who is protecting you all the time from all the dangers and badness that is all around you; but it is actually God the Father Who is doing this. Your grandmaa and grandpaa believe that God the Father’s presence is in your home today because your dad and ma made decisions of faith to believe in God the Son and what God the Son did on a cross for them. Once a guy, gal or kid – such as your dad or your grandpaa or David, has sensed, felt and experienced having God the Father’s presence in his or her life, God the Father’s presence will be really missed when God the Father has a reason for not letting Himself be felt for a time in the life of a guy, gal or kid who has a genuine personal born again relationship with Him.
To find out how much you feel about another kid is to not be able to spend time with that kid for a period of time. When your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn were living in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, your grandpaa would make about an eighteen hour train trip about every six weeks to a railroad town called Chochís. Your grandpaa liked going to Chochís. When your grandpaa made the long train trip to Chochís, your grandpaa would always take with him a leader from the Santa Cruz Christ-follower community or an expatriate missionary. While your grandpaa was in Chochís, your grandpaa would visit with Chochís Christ-follower community’s families. Your grandpaa would take Fuente de Luz (Source of Light) studies to Chochís with him. Your grandpaa would pass out to and collect from the guys, gals and kids who wanted to complete the different Fuente de Luz studies. Your grandpaa would almost always take a film with him to Chochís. Your grandpaa would show the film outside – on the front of the Chochís Christ-follower community’s church. Your grandpaa would also make several trips a year with the President of the Asociación de Iglesias Evangélicas al Oriente (A.I.E.O.) to visit Christ-follower communities that were associated with A.I.E.O. that were in different villages. Your grandpaa would be away from Santa Cruz for over two weeks sometimes. Your grandpaa one time on one of these trips with the A.I.E.O. President was gone from Santa Cruz and his home for nearly a month. Your grandpaa did not have any way to call your grandmaa when he made these trips. Your grandpaa did not know how your grandmaa, dad and Aunt Lynn were doing when your grandpaa was making the trips that he made when he lived in Bolivia. Your grandpaa spent two weeks in Chile this year and a week in Slovenia. It was harder for your grandpaa to leave your grandmaa this year – even though it was a lot easier for your grandpaa to talk to your grandmaa by telephone when your grandpaa made his trips this year than it was for your grandpaa to leave your grandmaa twenty years ago.
Psalm 143 is about David really missing having God the Father’s presence in His life. David really wanted to have God the Father teach him His will. David in verse 8 says to God, “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” How will you know how much you care about someone else when you are always with that someone? How will you come to know God the Father’s love if God the Father does not take His love away from you at times? God the Father is always through life lessons teaching His specially elected guys, gals and kids – who He elected for Himself before He created planet Earth, to trust in Him – even when His love and presence are not being felt. The next time that you feel like you are totally alone on planet Earth maybe it is because God the Father is teaching you a life lesson to help you sense His presence. God the Father will never stop teaching you through life lessons that He is always with you.
Psalm 143 (274)