LET’S MAGNIFY THE LORD

The Spirit often reinforces the lesson that I am insufficient to deal with life’s challenges (2 Corinthians 3:5) and that, without Him, I can do nothing (John 15:4-5). Instead, He often assures me that He is my sufficiency:

·       Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears…When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:3-4, 17-19)

I want to magnify the Lord. Once again, He has delivered me. Repeatedly, He has shown me that I cannot even control my own anxious and tormenting thoughts. I try everything but fail. It was only when I turned to His Scriptures, specifically the Psalms, that the torment was swept away, like the storm fleeing the driving winds. I had been broken and “crushed in spirit,” but I was suddenly released. Once again, He proved that:

·       If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)

However, the Spirit doesn’t work according to formula: if I do “A,” He will do “B.” Or if I read Psalm 34, He will deliver me from my tormenting thoughts, and for good reason. If He acts formulaically, I will treat Him like a formula over whom I have control. Instead, it’s essentially according to His will. Yes, there are Biblical principles that I can follow, but these will never give me the control that I’d like to have over my life. This is why Scripture advises us to wait upon the Lord:

·       For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation…For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. (Psalm 62:1, 5)