4/7/09

The Creator, a Worthy Confident

The Creator, a Worthy Confidant
Cynthia Heald “Intimacy with God”

God is Righteous – God is Fair

Psalm 9:3-5, 9-10
Psalm 71:14-16
Psalm 103:6-11

Eugene Peterson
We survive in the way of faith not because we have extraordinary stamina but because God is righteous. Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own; finding the meaning of our lives not by probing our moods and motives and morals but by believing God’s will and purposes; making a map of the faithfulness of God, not charting the rise and fall of our enthusiasms.

It is not about taking justice in our own hands.
It is not what we think is “right.”

It is about God executing judgment.
It is about what God knows is right.

Isaiah 26:9
With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early. For when Your judgments are in the earth, the in habitants of the world will learn righteousness.



God is Trustworthy – God Never Fails

Psalm 22:4-5
Our Fathers trusted in you;
They trusted, and Your delivered them.
They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

George Mueller
-Life was marked by unrighteous living
-God saved him at the age of 14, after the death of his mother
-Over his lifetime he took care of over 10,000 orphans.
-He travelled all over the world preaching the gospel.

Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you. As an older brother who has known the Lord for forty-four years, who writes this, says to you for your encouragement that He has never failed him. In the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust Him He has always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of His name.

Psalm 31:20,23-24
Psalm 40:1-5
Psalm 56:3-4,8-11

Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, not will cease from yielding fruit.


God is a Refuge – The Only Place to Find Real Peace and Quiet

Psalm 46
Eugene Peterson – LORD OF HOSTS: a powerful God – IS WITH US - befriends
GOD OF JACOB: a personal God – IS OUR REFUGE – protects
Psalm 61:3-4
Psalm 91 – Familiar to all/good Psalm to memorize
Psalm 142:3-5

What caused the Psalmist to call out to God for a refuge?
-His own enemies
-The earthly catastrophes
-His own strength had failed him

What/who has failed you?
-Cry out to God and He will be the refuge that you need.

Cynthia Heald
It’s important to realize that making God our refuge does not keep us from trouble. Rather, it guarantees us that in any affliction, we will not be alone because the Lord is with us. Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” …This is intimacy when we need it most.

Amy Carmichael
HIS THOUGHTS SAID: Before me continually is the grief of wounds, confusion, suspense, distress. HIS FATHER SAID: Behold, there is a place by ME, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Then as a frightened child on a storm-swept mountainside would gratefully take his father’s hand, and stand on the rock in a place by him, fearing no evil – so it was with the son. For he knew that though the earth by removed and the waters be carried into the midst of the sea, that rock by his Father would never be moved.



God is Responsive – God is Listening

-I often tell Jason that there is a difference:
-Hearing: being able to repeat what I’ve just said
-Listening: being able to respond to what I’ve just said

Psalm 34:4,15,17,18-19,22
Psalm 107:6-7
Psalm 116:1-2

God responded:
-He heard
-He listened
-He delivered
-He watched
-He was near
-He guarded
-He redeemed the souls
-He led
-He satisfied

Our condition to see/hear God’s response?
-Seek Him
-Cry out to Him
-Trust in Him

Psalm 88 tells the story of a man who was struggling with God being silent. There will be times when God is silent, but remembering all of His past actions gives us hope that He is still there, even when we can’t feel/see/hear Him respond.

Cynthia Heald
What’s the point in a counselor or friend who listens to you pour out your soul and does not respond? God isn’t like that! We can rejoice in that promise.

Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.

James 4:8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

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