Coffee With The Lord

I can tell you, there are some things I love to remember and recall… beautiful things, pleasant thoughts, enjoyable experiences!  There are other things I’d like to forget… but it’s not as easy as that … they’re persistent unpleasantnesses – painful memories!

I’m so glad God’s not like that… He remembers what is really important – He recalls what is eminently helpful.  On the other hand, He has the incredible ability to forget some things – thinks I find it difficult to forget – things that I’m ashamed of and are wound in my memory.  In fact, I read this wonderful passage in the Bible this morning…

“REMEMBER your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.  REMEMBER NOT the sins of my youth or my transgressions; ACCORDING TO YOUR STEADFAST LOVE REMEMBER ME, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!” (Psalm 25:6-7 ESV)

This brought another wonderful passage to my mind… “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth [and that’s incredibly high!], so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west [and that’s infinitely far], so far does he remove our transgressions from us!” (Psalm 103:10–12 ESV)

Gotta tell you, I’m incredibly relieved… and grateful!  Aren’t you?!  Thank you!  Thank you!!  Thank you, Lord!!!

Sometimes pictures say it all!  Read these words in Isaiah 61.10 today during “coffee with the Lord and the following kinds of images flooded my mind.  (Wish I could have found digital copies of my own children and their spouses… after all they’re the most beautiful and handsome… know what I mean? J  But these will have to work… thanks to Google)

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself, like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels!”

The point?  When we experience salvation, the ugliness of sin is replaced by the “makeover” of Christ’s righteousness – what was “homely” becomes “heavenly”!!  “For our sake He (God, the Father) made Him (Christ Jesus) to be sin Who knew no sin, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5.21)

and the Lord as the shepherd over the flock that you’re a part of? That is the unstated assumption of the 23rd Psalm you know! Come on, use your imagination – picture yourself as one of the sheep of His flock… and Him as your shepherd – the “Good Shepherd” (John 10… read it!) I did this morning!! Incredibly uplifting! Wonderfully peace bringing! Let the pic I’ve posted make it live in your mind…

Listen, if you know Jesus, you’re one of the sheep in His flock … not the only one, but one of the “sheep” in His flock that is important to Him. In fact, Luke’s gospel declares that if you, or any of the other sheep, would go astray He’d put everything else aside to seek you and find them (or you)! (Luke 15:1-8) The 23rd Psalm declares He provides for those who are a part of His flock, He leads them, satisfies their deepest hunger and thirst, He heals their wounds, walks with them through the valleys as dark as death, is their security and protector, and causes abundant lifelong blessing to come their way. In fact, being a part of the Lord’s flock has as its benefit blessings that never end… in this life AND the life to come!

Psalm 23 (ESV)
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever!”