The word for this year at Journeys In Grace is Lean. There is a relational dependence that is tied into that word, for me. The act of leaning implies a willful moving towards another object, person, or idea in order to shift the crux of balance in one direction or another. When we lean upon God, we are shifting ourselves to balance upon HIM. I hope you will join me as I visit this word, time-to-time, in order to draw a bit closer into the blessing of complete dependence upon the fullness of his reliability to hold us when we LEAN IN, LEAN ON, LEAN TOWARDS the Holy.
True peace is found at the filling of His perfect nature. It is embodied in the concept of TRUST.
You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. ~ Isaiah 26:3
{Let me ask you: Do you trust God?}
If our eyes and our mind are focused on His eternal Truth, then trusting is not objectionable.
However, if we take our eyes off of Him, and the promise which hope brings with it, we are elevating the temporal to a place of ruling authority. That, my friend is dangerous, because the temporoal ‘thing’ is not fully capable of being a fair master, nor can it truly meet your needs adequately.
Time, here in the natural world, is bound by the physical laws of nature. Creation which was forever changed by the fall, where death was introduced and sin’s grip claimed the crowning glory of God’s handiwork. Boundaries are necessary, the laws are in place for a purpose, and it wasn’t an accident.
Time, however, to God is a concept too lofty for us to fully grasp. We have never really KNOWN the timelessness and weightless peace, unhindered, which exist In Him. However, we are promised the security of perfected peace when our time is spent thinking upon Him.
Leaning is an action word. It has to be intentional. It has to be consistent. It has to be real.
His perfect peace becomes the passionate pursuit of the hopeful when we Lean Towards the Lord in our thoughts, actions, and deeds. God’s peace is abundant as we steady our thoughts upon Him. The more time we spend in faithful attention to the Word of God, in prayer and meditating on what it means, the more real He becomes and the stronger our faith becomes.
Faith is related to the amount of time we spend studying the Word of God.(Rom10:17) Our ability to trust someone is also relational to our knowledge of that person. We trust those who have shown their faithfulness. We can rely upon those who are consistently available. The people who are steady and intentionally a part of our lives are the ones we lean towards in times of joy, sorrow, and struggle. They are the people that we ‘do life’ with.
Today I am asking you to lean towards the One who will never leave you nor forsake you (Isaiah 41:10); He is strong tower able to steady you in any storm.(Proverbs 18:10) Allow yourself to be receptive to the words He may be whispering in your ears, directing your steps and leading you further down the road towards your destiny. Trust that He is faithful. ( 1 Thes 5:24)
Praying for the faith to lean towards God’s heart and press in to His strength.
~Blessings,
Linking up with Lyli at Thought Provoking Thursdays, Carmen at Thriving Thursdays, Crystal @ Serving Joyfully, and Jessica @ Thoughtful Thursday.
*All content is property of Dawn Boyer (c)Journeys In Grace. www.journeysingrace.com
Oh Dawn, how thoughtful this is. I agree that we are called to lean in and get to know Him more. “We trust those who have shown their faithfulness. We can rely upon those who are consistently available.” Yes! He is so faithful and always available. We must get to know Him.
Amen. God will keep us!
I love your word lean! And how you used it in, “LEAN IN, LEAN ON, LEAN TOWARDS the Holy.” It was great to contemplate how I need to do all three! Thanks for linking up at Thoughtful Thursdays on Creative K Kids.