When Was The Last Time...

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126

For most people the response to last Sunday's psalm has been easily forgotten. Afterall it has been almost a week. Nevertheless, it has remained a focus of my prayer and ministry this week. For a variety of reasons I did not preach about the psalm this past weekend but it did inspire me.

I cannot help but thing of the Israelites of old. There was a certain sense of a deepfelt relationship with God.

God was responsible for their livelihood, their work, their play, their families, their bounty...everything. When things became difficult, they prayed harder; when things became bountiful, they were fillled with joy.

I asked myself this week: when was the last time I truly felt deep and lasting joy in God's Presence in my life? It is an honest question. God's will was that each of us take delight in His creation. Do I take delight, I mean REAL delight in God's gifts to my world? The Israelites were very much in touch with that on a deep and personal level.

Have I grown to accept God's activity in my life as being commonplace and no longer extraordinary? Have I taken my family, my loved ones, my ministry, my work, my life for granted and they no longer fill me with a joy that can only come from God? God who knows me intimately more than I know myself and who has provided for me according to my needs.

This Psalm challenged me this week to see something personal about my relationship with God. It challenged me to see that God has given me everything in this life that I have. I need to remember to not take this for granted and to be joyful over what I do have and who I have in my life.

The Lord has done great things for me...I can say "yes" today, I am filled with joy!