The King Adores You

““Now listen, daughter, don’t miss a word: forget your country, put your home behind you. Be here —the king is wild for you. Since he’s your lord, adore him. Wedding gifts pour in from Tyre; rich guests shower you with presents.””
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭45:10-12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

I love the month of June! My Bible reading plan always brings me to Psalms in June.

This particular set of verses is good advice for a woman approaching marriage. The writers, the sons of a Koran, advised the young woman to leave behind her ties to her country and her family and adore her husband. The Psalms is warning her to come into the relationship with intentionality. On the wedding day, her husband is wild for her. To keep that love alive, she must give up some things, put some stuff behind her.

Even now after 39 years, I am constantly fighting against my selfishness and my desire to put myself first. When I fight to keep my needs at the front, Mark is less likely to adore me. I need to put some stuff behind me. He likes me a whole lot better when I stop trying to be first and fight for my needs to be met over his.

However, these verses are about so much more than marriage. It is describing our relationship with Christ. When we come into a relationship with Jesus, we have to intentionally leave behind our past. We have to come into this new incredible marriage with our Savior, giving up all of us(our country) and letting Him be the Lord and King.

If we continue to put our desires first and not die to ourselves, He will still adore us, but we lose the whole point. We keep trying to bring our past country. We need to enter into the relationship bringing nothing because we have nothing to offer. Absolutely nothing! He adores us and He does everything.

When we need a reset button, as my sister calls it, we reset by dying to ourselves and letting Christ take over. We can't do anything to help ourselves. The enemy tells us we can by working harder. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we begin to walk back into wide open spaces. Today is the best day to quit trying to fix ourselves. We can't.

“If you do these things, your light will begin to shine like the light of dawn. Then your wounds will heal. Your “Goodness” will walk in front of you, and the Glory of the Lord will come following behind you.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:8‬ ‭ERV‬‬

Life's Biggest Choice

“And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭7:20-23‬ ‭ERV 

If you read through the list of things that make a person wrong, you will find at least one thing on that list that would condemn you. This verse says that these things make you unacceptable to God. I think we all want to think that we are pretty good. We only have a few sins and most of our life is okay and that God is pleased with us because we are "pretty much" alright. 

But that is not true. We actually stink in God's presence. The entire book of Leviticus is filled with things that needed a sacrifice so that God could allow them to continue to live. Two of Aaron's sons died on the spot because they offered a wrong incense. God was and is warning us that He is HOLY and that we cannot stand in His presence. 

 At this point, many want to give up and say that no one can meet that standard of holiness. When you reach that point and you understand that you cannot stand in the presence of a Holy God, you have a choice. 

““If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship GOD, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship GOD.””

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24:15‬ ‭MSG‬‬

God is always allowing us to make a choice. If we want to worship Him and inherit all that He has for us, then it requires one thing...accept His only Son as payment once and for all as covering for our sins. No other way will do. If you don't accept His way, then you are choosing any other god...not the one true God. Believe me, there are a lot of other gods to serve. Problem is they can never satisfy. False gods that you created will always disappoint you. Today chose to have a relationship through Jesus Christ with the only true God.

Do Not Put God to the Test

"He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump off, because the Scriptures say, ‘God will command his angels to help you, and their hands will catch you, so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Psalm 91:11-12 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’””
Matthew 4:6-7 ERV

The second temptation of Jesus is a familiar one that we all face. Satan spoke the truth about God's promise to rescue. God has the power, the desire and the reason to save Jesus from harm. When  God rescues us from a trial he receives glory. Win-win situation. So why is this the temptation that Satan chose? 

When we are facing a trail, we all are tempted to "put God to the test." We put him on trial. We place our self imposed demands on God. We say, "God, because you CAN save me, you MUST save me." We are misquoting truth about a promise that we think we read somewhere in the Bible. 

Notice the way Satan made this a test for Jesus. "Jump off and let God save you." Jesus was totally submitted to his Father. He defined the word submission! He said things like,

"You will know that whatever I do is not by my own authority. You will know that I say only what the Father has taught me.”
John 8:28 ERV

Wow! Even the Son of God did not tell his Father how to save him. On the night before his greatest trial, he says,

“He fell to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, don’t make me drink from this cup. But do what you want, not what I want.””
Matthew 26:39

But Satan cleverly suggested that Jesus tell God what to do. Gracious, how many times do we fall guilty of that? We suggest ways to rescue us and the timetable that he should take to save us. We put God to the test. Worse yet, when he fails to do OUR will, we get mad and bitter and decide that he wasn't all that powerful. 

Next time when things don't go as you planned and life throws you a curveball, use the Word of God and speak the same truth that Jesus spoke. Declare that you will not put "God to the test." He is not the one being tested. You are.