Pour

Have you “poured” your life into something or someone? I think we all can imagine the response. Some of you may have regrets because you did not receive what you gave. Some of you might have been rewarded for your investment.  How many of you thought of pouring yourself in or out to God? My thesis today is that if you did or do, then you have chosen the wiser and all other investments will be rewarded because of your choice.

Some of my readers may have read my book on the psalms, Great is God’s Faithfulness. In it I write on Psalm 62 about the control of God. This consoling psalm says, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is your refuge” (Psalm 62:8).  What a promise. But do we believe it or do we trust in no one except ourselves. This American society has been all about our happiness to do what we want. As our Declaration of Independence states, “they (we) are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Does this revered document say that life is all about my freedom to do what I want?  Notice that it says that God gave us these rights.  Now there is the key to our happiness. We cannot find it except by trusting and resting in God. Psalm 62 begins by saying, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken”  (Psalm 62:1-2).  What a promise again stated with several strong provisions of rest, salvation and fortress. I will never be shaken it says.

My own psalm story speaks of my life of pain and fear until I gave up my control to God. My life growing up in an alcoholic and mentally unstable family brought anxiety. Only God can bring us rest.  For me unfortunately it took a crisis of faith in my life in my early 40s to come to a place of submission of control. That submission brought a change in my center from myself to God. It has only been when I have been obedient and sought God first in all things that I have found “happiness.” Actually it has been joy in the Lord that has been my fortress and peace. This state has grown as I have undergone trials as James 1:2-4 tells us. These trials or suffering have required “perseverance, which must finish its work so that I may be mature and complete lacking nothing.”  The next verse tells us that we must ask God for wisdom for this journey and He will give it generously if we truly trust in Him.

Our Creator, God really wants to give us His power and blessing. “Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant…For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessings on your descendants”  (Isaiah 44:2,3). This Scripture is about the tenderness of our Creator and the coming Messianic Age.

Throughout the Bible God pours out His blessing on His people who are obedient. He also pours out His wrath on the disobedient. Understand this basic truth, God loves us, yet there is consequence to disobedience. In Revelation (the revealing) it says, “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth”  (Revelation 16:1). This last book of the Bible tells of the “End-times” and the coming of wrath and the “Great Tribulation” of the Lord on the disobedient earth. At this time in future history God’s people or believers will have been taken to heaven in the “rapture.”  So if you want to miss the wrath, I were you I would make sure my affairs were in order, starting with our relationship with God’s Son.