Choose This Day

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63: 1-8 (NIV)

I don’t think of this too often when I am reading in Scripture but – I think I could have written this! The writer has expressed what is in my heart. There is a contemporary song called “Draw Me Close to You” by Kelly Carpenter that is like that.

When I close the door on the noise and distractions – the insanity – of the world that I must live in – the cries of my heart come out and God smiles. Maybe He even weeps with joy because His child, His daughter, has come to the end of her rope and is reaching up to Him! I let all the ‘stuff’ that I have accumulated over the days, weeks, months, even years just pour out and cry out with unvarnished truth – and GOD – the One, only One who can lift the ‘stuff’ and take it all from me. He does that. GOD – the One, the only One who can – not just cover the ‘stuff’ – not just neutralize its poison and its heaviness but can OBLITERATE IT. He does that. All I have to do – is make the time – make that time a priority.

“I will praise you as long as I live”. Talking to the Lord every day is where I ‘learn’ or grow a habit that is good and strengthening.

“I will be satisfied as with the richest (best tasting) of foods”. THERE with God I find what truly satisfies me. It is not a band-aid over the hole in my life – it FILLS the hold with good.

“On my bed I remember you”. God – The first thing I turn my thoughts to and the last thing at night – there is a good life. It is a choice.

I sing. I cling. I can do that because I am in the Lord. That’s not a religious thing. It is a good choice. It’s choosing to do something good instead of something that will feel good for a moment and end in weakness and destruction.

God loves me. God loves you. CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE. (Joshua 24:15)