Psalm 18

So, I was recently thinking about how I might be done with this blog because I didn't have anything to write about. Today is different. I sat down this afternoon and opened up my Bible to Psalm 18, reading it out loud as a prayer. It seemed to really apply to my current situation, especially in the first few verses, like 4-6: "The cords of death encompassed me;the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help." I used the passage as a prayer up until verse 20-22: "The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me." Dang. I read that, and I thought, "I haven't done any of those things...I can't use this as a prayer for God to help me in the same way, Then I read the next two verses: "I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight." Whoa. It's one of those things that I knew, of course, but that God decided I needed to relearn straight from Him. I am blameless before God because of Christ's sacrifice...I should be keeping myself from my guilt and rejoicing, not telling God through my actions that Christ needs to be sacrificed again for all my horrible deeds. That passage really made my day (week, actually) a lot better.

Also, just a little bit of encouragement:
You know what's really hard? Praying without ceasing.
You know what we can do through Christ? Yeah.

Peace.