^{Psalm 25:1-3, 16-21}

¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

² in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame,

   nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³ No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they

   will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

Someone once said a deliciously joyful thing in the middle of a church service that is the most clearly truthful expression of this verse. "If we feel dirty, then we will act dirty but, if we feel clean, then we will be clean."

This quote is the perfect expression of two powerful truths King David walked in that expressed our ability to not only not feel shame but he showed us the way we can walk in the face of threats from our enemies. These truths are hope or confidence in who God says He is and who He says we are and a complete and total trust in who God is that helps me to walk with my will completely surrendered to His Will.

The verses below, prove that this worldview was living and active in David's life and were consistently a part of his prayer life before God.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

¹⁷ The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my

     anguish.

¹⁸ Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my

     sins.

¹⁹ See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate

     me!

²⁰ Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I

     take refuge in you.

²¹ May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in

     you.

Even in the times of trouble when David's soul was troubled by every manner of loneliness of soul and trouble of heart, David's trust in the character of God was strong and his confidence in God was sure. His circumstances didn't always line up, the Cave of Adullum isn't the easiest of places, but He still put His trust in God and cried out to God for justice against his adversaries.

David took refuge in God and he knew the basis for his character and integrity was in God. Because of this, David reason for hope, confidence, and a simple trust in God that came from the place of intimacy he had with God.

Here I am waiting to receive prophecy at the International House of Prayer and yet all I can think about is how highly God is lifted up and how lowly I am in His presence except that His love compels Him to come low and seek me out.

What a humbling mercy that God the Father of glory chooses to come near me because of the Son's sacrifice and through the agency of Holy Spirit. I am so grateful that there is only one slain sacrifice that was found worthy to make this possible and that is the slain lamb, Yeshua the Messiah.

Persevering in working out my salvation with fear and trembling means learning how to persevere in the waiting as much as I would in the activity or the persecution that I might endure. This would be quite difficult to do in my own strength, but, thankfully, I don't have to do it that way.

Philippians 2:13 (NIV) states, "for it is God who works in you both to will and to act according to His good purpose." God's work in me and His work alone is what places in me the strength to persevere in the waiting and places in me the strength to do what He alone could enable me to do. "...for without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5b - NKJV)

ABANDONED – From Streams In The Desert Devotional

Utterly abandoned to the Holy Ghost!

Seeking all His fulness at whatever cost;

Cutting all the shore-lines, launching in the deep

Of His mighty power--strong to save and keep.

Utterly abandoned to the Holy Ghost!

Oh! the sinking, sinking, until self is lost!

Until the emptied vessel lies broken at His feet;

Waiting till His filling shall make the work complete.

Utterly abandoned to the will of God;

Seeking for no other path than my Master trod;

Leaving ease and pleasure, making Him my choice,

Waiting for His guidance, listening for His voice.

Utterly abandoned! no will of my own;

For time and for eternity, His, and His alone;

All my plans and purposes lost in His sweet will,

Having nothing, yet in Him all things possessing still.

Utterly abandoned! 'tis so sweet to be

Captive in His bonds of love, yet so wondrous free;

Free from sin's entanglements, free from doubt and fear,

Free from every worry, burden, grief or care.

Utterly abandoned! oh, the rest is sweet,

As I tarry, waiting, at His blessed feet;

Waiting for the coming of the Guest divine,

Who my inmost being shall perfectly refine.

Lo! He comes and fills me, Holy Spirit sweet!

I, in Him, am satisfied! I, in Him, complete!

And the light within my soul shall nevermore grow dim

While I keep my covenant--abandoned unto Him!

--Author Unknown

From Streams In The Desert

The End Of Our Strength

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

How strong is the snare of the things that are seen, and how necessary for God to keep us in the things that axe unseen! If Peter is to walk on the water he must walk; if he is going to swim, he must swim, but he cannot do both. If the bird is going to fly it must keep away from fences and the trees, and trust to its buoyant wings. But if it tries to keep within easy reach of the ground, it will make poor work of flying.

God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength, and to let him see that in his own body he could do nothing. He had to consider his own body as good as dead, and then take God for the whole work; and when he looked away from himself, and trusted God alone, then he became fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform. That is what God is teaching us, and He has to keep away encouraging results until we learn to trust without them, and then He loves to make His Word real in fact as well as faith.
--A. B. Simpson

***

I do not ask that He must prove
His Word is true to me,
And that before I can believe
He first must let me see.
It is enough for me to know
'Tis true because He says 'tis so;
On His unchanging Word I'll stand
And trust till I can understand.
--E. M. Winter

This is the consistent work of God in our lives when we totally surrender our wills to His Will.

The mercy that God gives me anew every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) is unsanctified mercy without my total surrender to God's Will on a daily basis.

There is no time left for any of us to give ourselves even a single day without a will that is totally surrendered to God's Will.

I must, like David, delight in God's law every day and meditate on God's Word both day and night making God's tabernacle my dwelling place.

The goal of the five-fold ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11) is two-fold, unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God and to become mature attaining to the fullness of Christ. The goal is unity and maturity and the purpose is to be built up into these two goals. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

Christ is the nourishing root and vine by which we the branches grow into these two things. (Ephesians 4:14-16; John 15:1-8)