Power Belongs To Him

As I started writing tonight, the Lord brought a verse into my mind, “Truly God is good to Israel.” (Psalm 73:1) I had been reading Psalm 62 earlier, and I thought that’s what I would be writing about, but when the other words came into my heart, I knew there was something there that the Lord wanted me to share. That verse ends with these words, “to such as are pure in heart.” It sounds like such a deep breath of thanksgiving, and it is, and that is what came into my heart. That breath, that realization that yes, God is good. No matter what is going on around us, no matter what our situation looks like, God is good. Then the Psalmist continues in verse 3, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” That breath of life comes just at the moment it’s needed – the Psalmist tells us, “my feet had almost stumbled” – almost, not they had, but they had almost. It is just in that moment when we are about to stumble that God will bring us upright again, will give us that breath of life so that we don’t lose our way and find everything coming crashing down around us. In verses 25-26, the Psalmist writes, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” We may stumble, our hearts may fail, but there is a strength we can call on that is beyond us and greater than anything that we could ever do on our own.

I heard someone talking about something a while ago and the Lord spoke a verse to me when I heard what they were saying, “None calls for justice; nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.”(Isaiah 59:4) It was so ugly an experience what I was hearing that to read those words was a balm to my aching spirit. He knew how I felt, and He was telling me that He sees the truth that I was seeing. I didn't like seeing it, but it was good to know that He saw what I saw. Truly God is good to Israel, He keeps my feet from stumbling.

When people begin to walk down a treacherous path, they seem to get sloppier and sloppier. It is almost as if the sloppier they get, the easier it is for me at least to stumble into the mess they’re creating. The ugliness starts to bleed all over everything, bringing a poison to my spirit. Thank God for the blood of Jesus that is more powerful than anything else. If I were not covered with that blood, I would have stumbled that first day I heard what I heard, and many times afterward. Truly God is good to Israel.

Isaiah 59:19 is a verse I just wrote about, “ When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” Because that chapter is coming back again just now and that verse is with me again, I know it’s a confirmation from God, “the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Truly God is good to Israel.

Psalm 62:11-12 has these words for us, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy; for you render to each one according to his work.” That is from the New King James version, and here it is from the New Living Translation, “God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done.” Unfailing love and mercy, and power. And not just any power, or power that he shares with someone else, or power that was given to Him, but power belongs to Him. He owns it. When we know that, we can know that even as we walk through a time of trial and testing, even when we almost stumble, it is God’s unfailing love, His mercy, and His power that will bring us through any storm. When we listen to Him and not to the empty words, we will be filled with a portion that will never run dry.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan