Monday, April 6, 2009

Writing His Law on My Heart

I've been discovering lately that I really know so much less than I give myself credit for. Yeah. I have also found that Satan is very clever in the lies that he tells college students. IMHO, "cram season" is one of his favorite times to mess with the minds of believing scholars. In my devotions tonight, I was reading again from Jeremiah and saw this verse underlined,

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people . . . For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:33 and 34b.

Okaaay . . . this is what I WANT so badly. It is so easy for me to make excuses about why I am too busy to do my devotions during cram time and to discuss why God really understands what I’m going through, so it’s really all okay. WRONGO (as Dad likes to say)! This is the time that I need it the most! When things get hardest, during the roughest times, I need to rely more fully on God, not listen to the lies of the devil.

Time with God makes every day so much better. Recently, I’ve been trying to find ways to keep Him ever before my mind. I want the law of God written on my mind and heart. Perhaps I have not because I ask not? God has promised that He will not withhold any good things from His people—keeping Him ever at the forefront of my thoughts sounds like a good thing to me. I was just telling Julia this week (or maybe last) how I sometimes wish for the phylacteries of the Pharisees, not because I want to look spiritual or trying to impress others, but because I truly think that my life would be a better offering if I were constantly thinking on the Lord. How can I honor Him (my main purpose and goal in life) if I can’t even REMEMBER Him?!?

In desperate attempt to do this, I’ve been trying little tricks. If the people who saw me smiling and moving my body in rhythm to the song in my head knew WHAT the song in my head actually was, then they would be in for a huge surprise. Steve Green’s “Hide Em’ In Your Heart” songs were always a central part of my childhood, and I have found them to be the easiest way for me to memorize scripture. When my day is bad, I force myself to sing “A joyful heart is good medicine, good medicine, a joyful heart . . . but a broken spirit dries up the bones, a broken spirit dries up the bones . . .” ba dum bum bum . . . and after about ten times through, there is joy in my heart and a smile on my face as I dance-walk to my next class across campus. Amazing what a HUGE difference just a little bit of keeping God before my eyes makes for me. I actually have the whole CD in my car for those times when I need reminders. “G-O-D is L-O-V-E” is another favorite of mine. Whatever works.

What do you do? Do YOU seek God’s face? Do you know the love and sheer joy that comes from being a child of God? If you don’t, please ask me about it. I hope you can see it, at least in some measure, in my life.

Please pray for me as cram season begins and my stress levels boost to levels unknown. Pray that God would keep Himself ever before my eyes, and please pray that He would keep be sane during this time.

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