Cry out to Jesus

I'm back to working the lectionary after a month of sermon series, and immediately I find something God has to say about this week. Isn't that always the way?

In the Psalms it reads: I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything. On the day I called, you answered me; you increased my strength of soul.

I love that last part. You have increased my strength of soul. The Message reads this way: The moment I called you, you stepped in. you made my life large with strength.

I tend to live as if I was weak, emotionally, spiritually, even physically. I don't live as if I have the faith that sustained a group of 12 and changed an entire world. I dont live as if i believe in my own work. I doubt there are people who find these musings meaningful. I doubt the book I sent out last week will have any impact, nor will be read. I doubt the book I'm rewriting now, the novel, will ever be read. I doubt.

But the Bible tells me that when I call out to God, he answers. The Bible says that when He answers, my life is made large with STRENGTH.

Emotionally, I have my tears dried and my grief made manageable by a God who loves me.
Spiritually, I have a relationship with a Spirit who lives in me and guides me and even walks with me.
Physically, I feel better, I act like I feel better and I am able to walk and even stand without pain.

All because I remembered to cry out to Him. When I do that, when we all do that, doubts that are as real as our autos are washed clean.

Again, at the bottom of this Psalm, it says: Finish what you started in me, O God. Your love is eternal -- don't quit on me now.

I know I test God with my antics, my doubts, my grief, my sorrow. I know I test those around me who would prefer a pastor, I think, who is impervious to doubt. But I think that I am real in a way that some are not. I doubt. I worry. I succumb.

But in the end, I think, God is there for me in a real, realy way. He lifts me up at the end. He make me happy in the end, even in my obvious sadness.

Psalm 139 reads: Oh, yes, you shaped me first inside, then out, you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God -- you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made; I worship in adoration -- what a creation. You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Friends, when you get down this week, look up. God knows you. God loves you. God is ready to lift you up. He knows every bit of your DNA. He knows your hurts. He knows your joys.

"The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day," says the Psalmist.

I don't have the big picture. God does. That's why I cry out to him.