Psalm 121:7-8 Watch Over Me
The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:7-8
Sounds good, although it may not seem to be the case. If He was watching over my life, should I not be doing better? On the other hand, there might be a point of reference from which I am comparatively doing better; much better than I was. OK then, why was I doing so poorly?
Perhaps it is not a one party determination; rather, relationship based with the relationship requiring willing participation on both ends. In other words, He has always been there, always had a plan for our lives. At some point, depending on the form, content and amount of revelation He has afforded, we as the 2nd party become accountable for recognizing and choosing to enter into said relationship. This type of detailed analysis can only be undertaken by each individual, in cases where they have the intellect to contemplate. I think it reasonable to conclude that anyone reading this falls into that category.
Hurdle #2, the premise He is there. If one gets past that and concludes yes, then we can consider where we are at in possessing a willingness to seek Him. Whomever He may be.
A realization there may be a need, a hole to be filled. A hole we may have tried to fill with a lot of things to no avail; attempting to fill it, in some cases, over a period of years and years. Until, maybe, we got knocked around enough and finally did some knocking of our own. Revelation 3:20:
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Speaking of knocks, the only set of data we can know in sufficient detail is our own, and the choice to knock might only come after being educated in the proverbial school of hard knocks. Hard heads and hard hearts are hard to break, and some knocking around becomes necessary. And from this comes the answer, recall my earlier question: “If He was watching over my life, should I not be doing better?” Not necessarily, as a large part of it was spent with me in the driver’s seat, and the expedition got way off course. Ended up at the door referenced in Revelation, and knocked. He opened it and began a reconstruction project. It is no longer about me. Rather, about Him and I. He was always watching, even stepping in at times to bide time until we got to the door. A concept known as longsuffering, the type we ourselves have employed with our own children; waiting while loving, as the child in some cases must learn the hard way. My dad, used to say to me, “Frank, why do you have to always learn the hard way?” Because dad, I have a hard head and that’s the way it is.
I think He has always watched, the difference now being He is recognized and accessed. Things, in the relative sense, have indeed gotten better; just have a ways to go.
Could’ve, should’ve and would’ve are worth reflecting on in terms of what we have learned, but hope in the future should take precedence over longing for the past. After all, what would make me conclude I would have done anything different if it was suddenly 30 years ago? That guy is long gone and it’s a good thing, called out in the Bible as well. 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Flesh constituting the old still there, indwelt spirit offsets it. The spirit is new, the promise being that He will ultimately perfect it. Until then, life remains somewhat of a battle, difference being we can eventually win. Lost a few rounds, had to get up a few times. But a win is still a win. Winning ugly is still winning.
