Personable God

I love how our Father is such a personable God. I often think of Him as the One who sits “high and mighty” in the heavens. The One whose powerful voice spoke the world in to existence. The One whose strong hands formed the very bodies we inhabit. Yes, He is that. Yes, He is grand. So marvelous, wonderful, amazing, awe-inspiring, spectacular, and on and on I could go about how much of a “god”, God is. Yes, He commands and deserves our reverence. Yes, we should humble ourselves daily to Him. And one day we will even bow in full submission at His feet. However... when I read the verse below, I reminded of a loving, compassionate, caring Father who is close to us. Who loves us just where we are. A patient One, who despite all our flaws, loves us and delicately reveals Himself to us. I love this verse in The Message Bible. It reminds me that God is real. His love is real. His desire to show Himself to His children is real. The Author of this passage is having a very rough day, or maybe even a rough year. The poor guy just can’t catch a break. (Sound familiar?) Things are tough for this guy... He’s tired and he can’t quit see God in it all. And from the depths of his heart he is (humbly) asking God to cut him some slack.

Psalm 90:12-17 (The Message Bible)

Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you're best at—
the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
confirming the work that we do.
Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Ah. What a great God! That He would desire for us to call out to Him from our depths - and ask for mercy. So often, I forget that He cares in that way. We don’t always have to be “spiritual” with God... Just honest. And He will lovingly accept us right where we are.