"in life"
My pastor spent several minutes on this point Sunday. He talked about not being afraid or worried about death, but consistently worried and scared in life. It is overwhelmingly peaceful and comforting to know I don't have to be scared of death, but the gospel also promises our lives are his. All of our doubts and fears, highs and lows, wins and losses belong to him. At the end of the day, we make our choices and do our best, but even in those decisions we can know he is performing his perfect will in our lives. He even weaves our failings into his redemption story.
He has a plan for our lives. He has a plan for our specific personality and gifts. We are not accidents. We are fearfully and wonderfully made to live lives that glorify him. The details of our lives, from the first step out of the bed in the morning to the last tooth brushed at night, are his.
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
1 comments:
I cheated, I read ahead in the material. Found a copy of the HC online and need you to answer for me the question of Jesus' descent into hell set forth in the HC, and in the Apostles creed, I think..What is the scriptural bases for this? My brother-in-law asked me the other day, and I balked. I hate to balk, but there you go. Thank you for the posts on the HC; I am encouraged and humbled by the awful truth of the Gospel.
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