A Different Truth

If you read my last post, you know that I recently discovered I've been living out of a fear that God would not keep His promises to me. Well since then He has been showing me quite a bit in His word about His promises.
I love to read from the Message bible. It's my favorite translation. It speaks directly to me and has helped me to foster a love of scripture. I'll be honest, reading the bible has never been my favorite pastime. I'm a sucker for a good novel and beautiful words and somehow New King James just felt flat and impersonal. I read it because I knew it was God's word and that it was something I should learn from and apply, but I didn't really enjoy it.
The Message reads like a story. The words practically leap off the page and dance in front of me. The truths are not passionless, far from it! I feel moved and compelled when I read it. I want to jump into this adventure of living life with God.
Here are some of the verses that God has been showing me lately.
Deuteronomy 7:9 God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.
Isaiah 49:23 No one who hopes in me ever regrets it.
Jeremiah 29:11-14 I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out, plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. God's Decree.
Romans 11:29 God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty, never canceled, never rescinded.
1 Corinthians 1:9 He will never give up on you. Never forget that.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!
Hebrews 6:17-18 When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee. God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.
Hebrews 10:23 Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.
James 1:16-18 So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.
Wow. Just look at all that! God has so much to say about His faithfulness and constancy. He always keeps His word. Wow.
As Christians we "know" that God is faithful and that He always speaks the truth, but it's one of those things that can very easily be a head truth and not a heart truth. That's what it was for me before. I had never read for myself that He would keep His word and so I didn't believe it in my heart. I knew it, but I didn't believe it.
There is such a delicate and yet vast difference between knowing and believing. We don't base our lives off of the things that we know. We don't make decisions solely on knowledge. We live by what we believe. In fact, if knowledge and belief conflict, often it is the belief that will win out, despite logic.
I knew that God spoke the truth. But I believed He would change His mind and break His promises.
Why do we base our view of God off of our own experience instead of what He says about Himself? We are flawed and fickle and somehow we think that God is human too. We are treated badly, disappointed, hurt one too many times by somebody close, and we suddenly decide that God must be like that too.
That is why it is so vital that we get His word deep inside us. Psalm 119:77 "Your revelation is the tune I dance to." Until we have a revelation of God, we're going to continue living with these twisted views of Him.
I don't want to be crippled by the lies and negative expectations that disguise themselves as truth. I would much rather dance in His revelation! And you know what? He is willing to take off the chains and blindfolds that we have unwittingly put on. Not just willing, He wants to! He wants to dance with us! Isn't that enthralling?
Discovering that we're chained and crippled is painful and surprising. But if we let Him open our eyes to our own disabilities, He will heal us and teach us to dance.