July 7, 2010 (2 Samuel 10, I Chronicles 19, Psalm 20, 65-67, 69-70)

My heart's desire is to be faithful to God. He has been so faithful to me - faithfulness is His very character - and He deserves nothing but faithfulness from us. I'm looking forward to vacation in Wyoming. I'm looking forward to some real "down" time - fishing and relaxing and napping and spending quality time with God and family. I feel "rushed" right now. I feel like I'm doing my reading to 'check off the box', and not to really connect with God. But I know this - I need Him. I can't "do life" without Him. I love His word. I love the wisdom and the promises I find there. But too often I find myself just 'doing life' without considering Him at all. That is so wrong. He deserves our devotion, love and obedience. God help me to honor You with my life. To bring glory to Your name by living in dependance upon You.

^{Psalm 66:5} Come and see what our God has done,
what awesome miracles he does for his people!
⁶ He made a dry path through the Red Sea,
and his people went across on foot.
Come, let us rejoice in who he is.
⁷ For by his great power he rules forever.
He watches every movement of the nations;
let no rebel rise in defiance.

Over and over He has delivered me. I have seen His faithfulness in so many ways. He has been with us through this year long deployment. He has sustained us. He has surrounded us with good people, sometimes in spite of ourselves. As I read the following I thought of how often I just cry out to Him for help without praising Him, but today I want to praise Him. I think the true test of faith is to praise Him when things aren't going as we want. When we feel overwhelmed, to praise Him for His promise to sustain. To praise Him that our lives are in His hands. To truly trust that. May a song of praise be on my lips all day today, and then after that, all day tomorrow. One day at a time until it is so deeply ingrained in me that I can do nothing but praise Him for His goodness. May I live my life differently because of my love for Him.

^{Psalm 66:16} Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what he did for me.
¹⁷ For I cried out to him for help,
praising him as I spoke.
¹⁸ If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹ But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
²⁰ Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
and did not withdraw his unfailing love from me.