“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that You have done; I ponder the work of Your hands.” – Psalm 143:5
As we approach the final days of this decade, I think it is helpful for all of us to get a little bit contemplative about the last ten years. That sense of things moving more quickly as we get older is difficult to deny as we wind up the last of the two-thousand-and-teens. It hardly seems possible that it was twenty years ago when we were all wondering if the world was going to implode on Y2K – would some unavoidable computer glitch shut down the global grid? Of course, that never occurred, and we have been able to continue cruising through the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The psalmist wrote above of his practice of slowing down and intentionally centering his thoughts on God’s ways and God’s works. The highest place upon which he could set his mind was on the goodness of God. I think we would benefit greatly if we did the same thing as often as possible. When I get intentionally thoughtful towards God, I become increasingly thankful toward Him.
Thank you, Father, for another year filled with Your grace. Thank you for shepherding us through moments of intensity that we never would have signed up for if you had asked us. Thank you for the wisdom and depth you supplied us through trials and testings that took us outside of our own resources and capacities. Thank you, Father, for new friends we made this past year and how they have enriched our lives. Thank you for reinforcing to us that our relationships are far more valuable than our possessions. Thank you for your astounding mercy and grace as we said goodbye to those that we would have kept by our sides forever if it had been in our power. We said our forever farewells to some this year. Only by your grace did we not fall apart in our grief, never to arise. Thank you, Father, for sustaining grace that we could only experience in the moments where it was needed. You have upheld us with Your hand for another year. You are an unspeakably good Abba.
Thank you, King Jesus, for ruling faithfully and wisely over the entire cosmos for another twelve months. I close my eyes right now and envision you seated majestically upon Heaven’s throne, smiling in unbridled confidence over how you govern all of creation. With the psalmist, I meditate on all that you have done, I ponder the work of your hands. As the nations rage and proud, ignorant men beat their arrogant chests in thunder and fury, you royally and sovereignly await that moment when you will rise from your throne and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, showing yourself to every eye just who it is who rules and reigns. While American politicians continue to direct their empty streams of polluted platforms, you, Lord Jesus, abide in the strength of your decrees which abide forever. What joy it will be when the foolishness of man is forever silenced by your uncontested authority. I am immeasurably blessed today to ponder the bedrock of this one thing: the word of my King eternally endures, and he will own the final statement. Every other voice will fall silent. All that will be heard will be the bending of every knee just before the global confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. I say reverently, Jesus, that I cannot wait for this moment to manifest.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for patiently abiding with us as we sometimes stumble our ways toward our appointed finish lines. The more I know you, the more humbled I am that you are willing to abide with us in the midst of our too-frequent follies. We say such foolish things at times – things unfitting for those who are forgiven and redeemed. We bark and bite at others instead of blessing and building them. We are prone to grieve your holy heart. We quench the flame of your power within us because we spend unprofitable time dialed in on things that will not matter in eternity. You are the undeterred teacher and trainer of our souls. You are relentless! You strive with us, yearning to bring about the full manifestation of who we are as the sons and daughters of God. We so deeply need you! It is not our might that sustains us. It is not our collective power that wins the day. It is you, Spirit of God, who inhabits us, empowers us, sanctifies us, seals us, gifts us and delivers us. Thank you for being God in us! Thank you that, as with the Father and the Son, your special mercies to us are new every morning. Do not relent, Holy Spirit! Let the glory of Jesus be released through us in greater measures as we decrease, and He increases in our lives.
With the psalmist, we must remember who is our God.
With the psalmist, we must meditate upon the goodness of God toward us.
With the psalmist, we must ponder in childlike wonder the marvelous works of God.