God’s Provision for the Broken

^{January 12-14, 2016}

God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”

 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life. (Genesis 3 21-24)

 Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend. (Psalm 5:1-3 MSG)

I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed
    has been floating forty days and nights
On the flood of my tears.
    My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.
The sockets of my eyes are black holes;
    nearly blind, I squint and grope. (Psalm 6:6-7) MSG

God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye. (Psalm 11:7) MSG

God made my life complete
    when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
    he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
    I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
    I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
    and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
    when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Psalm 18:16-24 MSG)

We were created to glorify God. That is all. Just that. We turn away from our calling. From Eden until today, we get distracted. We look the other way. We get wrapped up in ourselves, in what we think we need.

God is always there, providing covering and safety. We lay out our messes, and God somehow for some reason puts things straight. Because, that is just what God does.

Pay attention, don’t miss his mercy, the way he works. God rewrites the text of our lives. He likes to make things straight. Moreover, all he asks, when we get our act together, is that we glorify – honor, praise, worship – turn the lights on, and shine our phone light on Him so others will know how to get a fresh start.

Pain takes over my body, my life, my brain. From head to toe, my pain is so intense, I often forget the reason I am here. I am bent and broken; my limbic system is skewed. I found, somewhere along the way, that if I pay attention to how God works, I discover all I need to set aside the pain for praise.

All I need is to set out the pieces of my life, messed up as it is, and God will rewrite it. Then I do have reason to glorify my God. Where did I leave my phone?

Peterson, Eugene H. The Message (MSG). Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/ downloaded 1/12-1/14/2016.