A Passage With Volumes

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:22-26

Wow, what powerful words are these that I read this morning. They really just jumped out from the page to me. They speak volumes! First, it starts by praising God...just truly worshipping Him. How often do we get to do this? Not only get to, but actually do it. Just find special things to praise Him for! His mercies are NEW every single day! Not a day goes by when something is less amazing because it is new and given to us by our Father. How breathtaking is the fact that He can give us something to find every day that is new and different than the day before?? His compassions are without fail...they fail not. And it is only because of the mercy of the Lord that we are where we are today. We are a saved and elected people only because of the mercy of the Lord. He had no reason to reach out and save us...we were the ones in great error and wrongdoing but He still sought us out to bring us out of tribulation and sorrow into His kingdom of light and glory. How merciful...and how great He is.

The Lord is my portion...I am content to rest in Him alone. He satisfies me. He fills me entirely. There is nothing else I could possibly want or need other than just Him forever. My portion...my delight...my desire. How powerful those words really are when you think about them. He fills us up so we hunger and thirst no more! Because of that we can't help but have great hope in Him. The Lord blesses those who seek after Him...He takes care of His own. Not a single of His sheep wants for anything. This is due to being satisfied in Him and also because of His blessings to us, His people who consistently seek Him and hope in Him.
One of the most powerful parts of this passage though, is the last verse. It is good that a man should both hope *and* quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. His timing is precise...perfect...more accurate than Verizon time. So not only are we called to hope in Him (hope meaning to safely and securely trust) but also to quietly wait for Him, His salvation, and His timing (another aspect of trust). Isn't it amazing how a relationship with Him (or really even people) is built out of total and complete trust? Anything that we can establish strong with God is then spread out into our lives here on earth. I've heard it said, "First we have to straighten out the vertical relationship before we can have good horizontal relationships". In other words, we have to get it right with God before we can have anything here on earth that works well.

Trust in God must be established first...a solid trust and a healthy fear of Him. After that can we know what to look for here on earth with those who surround us. Are they good and healthy relationships? Uplifting? Encouraging? Sharpening one another in good ways? Do they benefit and glorify? Is it a solid relationship that is built mutually of trust and genuine Christian love? Or is it comprised of taking advantage of one another for selfish purposes? For selfish ambition and advances? Is there anything that we do with the people around us that would only benefit us? Are we seeking to forward others the best possible?
So that's something to look at in our lives. Do we have a solid vertical relationship? Is it healthy? Is it one of trust...do we hope and quietly wait? Or do we control and brush over God? How does our relationship with God fan out and display itself with our relationship with others? Our family and friends? How do we live? Who do we live for? And why?