How About a Change of Clothes?

S - Psalm 30:8-12 (NIV): " To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help." You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever."

O - David, the skilled warrior, general and leader had no trouble and no hesitancy is crying out for help, admitting his weakness and lack as well as saying exactly how he was feeling.  He's not forgotten God's greatness or majesty or power.  He's remembered that he is a child and called to come near and stay near the One, the Father, who is in heaven.  The result, amidst strong adult pressure and imagery, is a child being comforted, encouraged, helped (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) to change garments from sackcloth to joy and then inspired to sing out the confident love which is available to all who join David in choosing childlike living (cf. Matthew 11:25-30).

A - It's amazing how difficult childlike living is for this (and think all) adult(s).  Our world trains, imposes, shoves and requires us to think and live in its masquerade called "maturity".  Words like stewardship, responsibility, pull your own weight, control your own destiny, etc. all converge to inspire us to actually live polar opposite to the words of Jesus and the rest of the Scriptures. This sad inspiration is not reserved to the secular but is promoted and upheld by the religious world as well.  The Pharisees of Jesus' day were not all that different from the Roman Conquerors who ruled them.  It is the same today.  Each day I am to choose love, trust, faith, hope, in childlike simplicity above all other concerns. If these are not leading, shaping and determining my course of thought and action then I am set to claim maturity and end up like the rich fool and those who think they are in and are actually shutting themselves out. Today, I feel the press of my adult world trying to shove me forward as it wishes.  I am choosing to be led rather than driven and believing that my/our Father in heaven is bring us (Jan and I) a change of clothes, the refreshing of mercy, the song of love and a future bright with hope because he is helping, shaping and adding "all these things."

P - Father, Friend, Helper, King and God,
I praise you for this day and join the shepherd King in crying out for mercy, for help and for you to be to me my Father.  I thank you that you are willing to do more than just what I cannot do for myself!  I praise you for loving me/us first and most and for refusing to change your mind. I welcome all that you are doing and wish and prefer and look forward to the change of clothes, the song we'll sing and the dance which will be unavoidable as you make yourself and your purposes known to us.  Lord, thank you for working and for calling me/us to work with you, not for you.  O Lord, I love you back. I will give you thanks forever.
Steve