Resting in Abba’s Smile of Affection

May 2, 2016

Resting in Abba’s Smile of Affection

This I know: God is on my side!

Psalm 56:9b

When God looks at you, what do you think He sees? A good spiritual exercise is to take a blank sheet of paper and draw an image that you believe reflects God’s thoughts for you. Some people make the smallest mark they can make in the lowest corner of the paper. This reflects their belief that they are infinitesimally small and insignificant to God.  Some people draw something similar to the theatrical mask for tragedy which makes it look like God is frowning at the thought of them. Some people will draw a face that looks angry or disappointed with them. The truth is that if God is sad and disappointed at the thought of us, it is simply because we cannot see His smiley face when He thinks of us. God takes great delight in us, and He wants us to take great delight in Him. This is the truth God wants us to know and experience.

The United Methodist Church’s Modern Affirmation helps me grasp this truth about God: “We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, power and love, whose mercy is over all His works, and whose will is ever directed to His children's good” (The United Methodist Hymnal, Nr. 885). The psalmist in Psalm 56 affirms all the attributes of God contained in this affirmation. The psalmist is trusting in the wisdom and power of God to be sufficient to help him. He is also affirming the very personal relationship he has with his God of mercy, power and love; he is resting in the sure knowledge that he is God’s child.

Whatever your thoughts may have been when you first considered the spiritual exercise above, take a few minutes to contemplate these verses from Psalm 56. Then think again about drawing an image of God’s thoughts for you. 

You keep track of all my sorrows.

    You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

    You have recorded each one in your book.

This I know: God is on my side!

For you have rescued me from death;

    you have kept my feet from slipping.

So now I can walk in your presence, O God,

    in your life-giving light.

Psalm 56: 8, 9b, 13

The unfailing love of God for us keeps track of our sorrows, collects our tears in His bottle, is on our side and has rescued us from death. His love for us keeps our feet from slipping so we can walk with Him in His light. He will personally go ahead of us and will be with us. He will neither fail us nor abandon us.

If you are like me, you will need a bigger sheet of paper to draw your image of resting in Abba’s smile of affection.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.