Apples of Gold

Last week I celebrated another trip around the sun. My life has belonged to Jesus for 52 out of my 55 years. For that, I couldn’t be more thankful. I do, however, find myself at a stage in life where I could benefit from a new song. 

I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Psalm 40:1-3

During my public school years  The Pledge Of Allegiance was recited every morning at the start of the school day. By the time most of us hit high school we were mumbling along mindlessly with the rest of the class, instead of renewing our heart-felt commitment to our country. 

It was not that we didn’t appreciate the words and their meaning, but the compulsory, repetitive nature, over the course of years rendered them routine and monotonous. 

When our walk with God becomes routine and monotonous we find ourselves stumbling through our devotions with the emotions of a robot. Church attendance becomes the thing we do because it is Sunday. 

The journey we take with God has many twists and turns and unexpected outcomes. If you have been walking with Jesus for any length of time, you likely find yourself with dreams that have withered, unreached goals and perhaps an uncertain course for the future. 

God always has a plan for us. We know that it is good, but when you find yourself with a deflated or misplaced song, in that place between laying a dream down, and finding a new one, things can be pretty discouraging.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

During this time it is crucial that we stop and take the time to realign our heart, our mind and our hopes and dreams with those God has designed for us. It is possible that at some point our focus drifted from pursuing God to chasing after something else. 

Moses was on to something pivotal:

The LORD replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest-everything will be fine for you.” Then Moses said “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.” Exodus 33:14-15

If God isn’t in it, I don’t want it-even if I think I do.  Moses didn’t stop there:

Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.” Exodus 33:18

Just a few verses before this we read: 

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Exodus 33:11

Moses already had frequent, close interaction with God. God was already greatly using him, and yet we find Moses asking for something more. 

Can we recognize that same longing within ourselves? God, I don’t want to just go through the motions. I don’t want to merely be used by you. I want to see you. I want to know you. 

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things nor that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Philippians 3:8-12 

In my own strength I cannot press in far enough. If I hang on to my own song I cannot whole heartedly sing the Lord’s song. So I am asking the Lord for a new song, HIS song. I trust the One who holds my life in his hands to choose the words and the music that will bring him glory. It might not sound much like the song I expected, even the one I might have originally prayed for, but if it is HIS song, I want to eagerly embrace it as my song. 

But forget all that-it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19

Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! Psalm 96:1