Psalm 50:14-15 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
    fulfill your vows to the Most High,
and call on me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

In this Psalm God makes it very clear that He doesn’t need us, in any sense that we fulfill some lack on His part. However, He does want us to recognize that we need Him. To the degree that we recognize that, we will give Him the gratitude and obedience that He deserves. I have long been convinced that the reason the Lord allows trials in our lives is to teach us to turn to Him and depend on Him. Otherwise, we are all too prone to stupidly think we are self-sufficient and don’t need Him. Nothing could possibly be more wrong! The simple fact of the matter is that God created the universe, and specifically, mankind, because He wanted children. He is by nature Father, and the perfect one at that. Children aren’t pets, nor are they robots, and that opens the door to all sorts of problems. Pets can be adorable, and sometimes amazingly intelligent, but they do not grow to be human. Robots can be useful, as we are beginning to see as that whole category is developed, but again, they aren’t human. Sin and gratitude aren’t issues with them. However, children are messy in every sense of the word, and not just physically. Children have free will, and can choose to obey or not. Giving us free will, in order to make us children, cost God everything, because His Son had to die in order to atone for the sins of mankind. We know that as theory, but until it really penetrates, so that we understand that Jesus died for my sins, we don’t have the gratitude and obedience that are called for. It is when we call on God in our times of trouble and discover that He is really there that He becomes more than theory to us, and that is valuable beyond words to express it.

I have had moments when I was more sure that God was real than that I was. When I have told some people that, they couldn’t even grasp what I was saying! I grew up in a home where God was a given, so to speak. My parents were missionaries, and not just by title or job description, and that was evident in every part of their lives. Growing up in such an environment was an incredibly huge blessing, but it was so familiar that I took it for granted, and even after my baptism at age seven, which was by my own decision and choice, I descended into pride that went into conceit that extended to hubris. It wasn’t until I was 24, and a married father, that the Lord very kindly and graciously allowed me to see, just for an instant, what I had become, and I collapsed in tears of repentance. In the 50+ years since then, I have grown, more slowly than I might have, to know that every breath I take is a gift from my Lord, and every moment of my life on this earth is to be returned to Him in gratitude and obedience. When bad things happen, and they do, I don’t say, “Why me?” Rather, I say, “Why not me?” I am sharply aware of my imperfections, and realize that I am totally dependent on God’s grace.

Father, thank You for this reminder. There are things potentially in my future that the devil tries to use to tear me down, but I know that Your grace will always be sufficient for me, just as You told Paul. (2 Corinthians 12:9) May I indeed look forward to heaven, but not to a degree that distracts me from what You have for me to do here and now. May I indeed call on You in every difficulty, with the peace and assurance that come from knowing Your love and grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!