Thanks In Advance (Thoughts on Psalms)

I sat in church yesterday and listening, but also perused some Psalms.  There were a couple that spoke to me deeply, as Psalms have a way of doing.

Still mulling them today, I wonder what would happen if we injected the power and presence of Christ into David, as Christians today have?  What if, in reading, we consider that we have the power of Christ IN us?

Another New Testament scriptures comes to mind which says, “We grieve, but not as those who have no hope.”

I grieve.  I feel deep emotion.  I get depressed.  I feel panic, frustration, disappointment, and sometimes for longer than I’d like.

But, I also realize that I can choose to trust God.

I don’t have to stay there.

I don’t want Satan to steal anything further from this earth than he already has.

I cannot change everything, but I must do all I can to stop that.

In “moving on”, that is what I choose.  It’s not that it doesn’t hurt.  It’s not that I don’t pray…intensely.

Yet, I choose life.

I choose joy.

I realize that I cannot control everything.

I am not responsible for everything.

I certainly cannot carry everything.

“Standing in the gap” doesn’t mean that I stop living by grace alone.  It doesn’t mean that I start “striving” that can only be done by God alone, in his time, without losing his breath.

I don’t waste unnecessary time wondering who will think about what, or how this with affect that.

I am not God.

I don’t have to be.

I pray, casting my burdens on the Lord, letting him sustain me.

I pray, giving my anxieties to him, WITH THANKSGIVING, sealing the deal.

Our church secretary often signs her requests “Thanks in advance”.  She is saying, I know it’s as good as done by my asking.

That is what my “thankful petition” prayers say.

“God…thanks in advance!”