MEDITATIONS
FROM THE PSALMS
November 10, 2004
Reading
“The
LORD thinks upon me" Psalm 40:17
This wonderful
thought is unqualified other than in the light that I am “poor and needy.” Even
if I were rich and had need of no worldly possession, it would be an amazing fact
that the Lord Almighty would have me in His thoughts. But my cry to the Lord is
honest and sincere when I acknowledge that “I am poor and needy.” Why then should I collapse or give up under
any burden? How dare I think that some happening or circumstance has overtaken
me of which my God is unaware? If I entertain such a thought, surely my God is
not the God I profess Him to be. He knows every physical ailment, emotional
stress, and spiritual struggle. “He knows your trudging through this great
wilderness” Deut 2:7. It does not matter how dark is the valley I may walk, no
darkness can hide me from my God who thinks about me. “He knows what is in the
darkness” (Dan
I think about when my child left home either to attend college or pursue a career, he may be a long way from home, yet my thoughts are constantly with him. I may know where he is but I do not know his immediate circumstances. I may think about him attending classes but am unaware of the difficulty he is having grasping a certain subject. Perhaps, while I am happy with the good sense he has always shown when making decisions, he is going to take a step that will change his life for ever. But when God thinks upon me, he is perfectly acquainted with my situation, my dangers, and my needs. He knows all my ‘trudging’ through this great wilderness, and can give me the strength, support, and wisdom I need at any time.
The knowledge that I am in God’s thoughts transforms me from poverty to riches, from needy to completely satisfied. My poverty and need are relative to my relationship with Jesus Christ. When I consider them, and any other circumstance, tools by which God is leading and guiding me into a closer walk with Himself, I will be satisfied. When I am fully convinced that He is able to meet my every need by His riches in glory, I will no longer consider myself needy.
What a tremendous contemplation that I, with all of my weaknesses and struggles, am in the thoughts of my Creator.
Dear Lord, remind me
at all times that I am in your thoughts at all times. When I remember that you
have me on your mind, I am strengthened in my weakness, revitalized in my
poverty, and satisfied in my needfulness.
"I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you a future and a hope” Jer 29:11