I Would Never
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. Psalms 9:9-11 (NIV)If you were to look up "never" in the dictionary, you would find that it means "not ever", or "at no time in the past or future". Over time, my wife and I have discovered God's sense of humor. To be honest, it is more like we have experienced His graciousness upon obedience to Him in spite of our initial closed-mindedness and pride. We created a list of things we said we would never do, and the date that we made such a comment. Under each item, however, is a description and date of what we actually did do and when, followed by how God graciously blessed us once we obeyed Him.
For us, these items ranged from places where we desired to live or not live, jobs we did or did not want to have, and people we did or did not want to be around. We desired to not repeat previous bad experiences, thrived on a fear of the unknown, or simply relied on our short-sightedness rather than trusting God for his timely provisions. Suffice it to say that for some things we were quicker to respond to the Lord's leading, while others took us years to obey Him. The funny thing to us was that contrary to the position we held before, the most memorable people and enjoyable times we have had resulted from many of the statements of "I would never." I am thankful that our Lord never gave up on us but that He softened our hearts and minds to His promptings.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your unending love and mercy and for never giving up on us. Soften our hearts to the people that we come in contact with today. Help us to take the time to be as gracious to them as you are continually with us.
By Todd (California, USA)
