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Creation Picturing God’s Control
I sat in the beach chair. One of the few people that early morning.
Listening and Noticing …
to the sound of the ocean
wave after wave;
to the sound of the wind
tumbling seaweed across sand;
to the rhythm of the waves
being pulled by the invisible (to me) moon;
to the tiny crab scurrying just inches before me
bringing a smile to my face;
to the great variety of birds walking the shore
searching for breakfast;
to the leaves of the deciduous, the fronds of the palms, the cacti
all dancing with the breeze;
the white-caps, the breakers
as far as I can see;
the ocean crawls closer
tempting a dip.
Enjoying God’s gift of winter on the island.
Enjoying creation picturing God’s control.
It was January 31 so I opened my Bible to Psalm 31.
David is in a hard place. The scriptures don’t share the specifics which leaves us a broader ability to apply its truth to our hard places. Throughout David’s lament, he acknowledges God’s control.
Creation pictures God’s control. David’s story in Psalm 31 exemplifies God’s control — particularly in the midst of the hards of life.
So many things God highlighted for me. Let me share just three:
1. In the midst of his own hard, over and over David acknowledges God’s control.
2. In the midst of his own hard, three times David speaks of God’s steadfast love.
3. In the midst of his own hard, David boldly asks God to rescue him speedily.
“Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!”
Psalm 31:2
Speedily — David boldly asks God to rescue him from this hard place speedily!
I have not been that bold. Timing has always been a place of insecurity for me when I pray. After all God is sovereign; He is in control. And even David admits a few verses later, “My times are in your hand;” Verse 15.
But David’s prayer in verse 2 sets an example; I (we) too can ask God to respond speedily. My prayer life is changing.
“Let us then with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need”.
Hebrews 4:16 (bolding mine)
Have you signed up to “follow” Echoes of Grace?
I hope so. To those who follow I also email a brief devotional note every few weeks. In this next one I’m sharing one of our Valentine stories that speaks of waiting on God — kind of the opposite of asking God to work speedily.
I’ll also be sharing more about reading through the Psalms with the calendar, a practice I’ve used off and on for many years.
So please sign up to follow Echoes. I don’t want you to miss out.
Copyright: Sue Tell, February 2023
Always a blessing that arrives just in time. As he promised.
Hello Carol,
What a treat to see your comment. I imagine you can guess one of my prayers that has changed since listening to God and seeing David’s example of asking for a speedy rescue.
Your words and thoughts stirred up so many of my memories about hard places that I have been through and some I still am going through.
I know I have always come out stronger after each trial.
I am so glad God is in control. And I pause and think, wow, would things be scary if He was not?
So many times, I have wanted God to answer me “speedily,” and waiting has never been easy.
But again, as I reflect on those waiting times, it was those very times that my spiritual growth happened the most!
I enjoyed reading your bible study methods, especially how you go through the book of Psalms. So I will give it a try! And I plan on diving deeper into Psalm 31 today.
Oh, and your time on the beach story – so lovely and meaningful! One of my favorite places to be that God has created for us to enjoy!
And I appreciated your easier-to-read format – people like me tend to get overwhelmed with too many words with no spaces, lines, or breaks in between.
Shalom Shalom!
Hi Sandy,
Your words are so very encouraging on so many levels. Thank you.
Encouraging that they drew you to Psalm 31.
Encouraging that the format helped.
Encouraging to hear of your confidence in God’s control.
Encouraging to know that you too love the beach!
One thing I’ve noticing … and I need to do more studying on this … is that when the phrase about God’s “steadfast love” appears in Scripture, it is often in the context of hard things.
Praying for you my friend. Thank you for sharing yourself, sue
I am glad you were encouraged. You are so welcome!
Isn’t it great how our words minister so deeply.
And Sandy, did you notice, the little picture of me is one of the ones you snapped early that morning.