Bend, Stretch, Reach, Stand Still and KNOW!

One fall day this week as I was walking back to school after fleeing for a bit for some fresh air, I saw the prettiest fall leaf I had seen in a long time. I couldn't resist. I had to bend down and pick it up. When I did, I realized it wasn't real. That was very disheartening. But as Nik was driving me to school today I realized this is a great illustration to show that sometimes things are not what they seem to be.

As I first started reading and studying Zephaniah, I read that he was killed. I assumed it was because of the stand he was taking for the Lord, proclaiming His Word. Now that I've dug in a little deeper, I'm seeing this might not be the case. The answer isn't jumping out at me very easily so I am going to work on that this weekend.

Just like the pretty artificial leaf, we need to remember to closely examine something before we wholeheartedly attach ourselves to it, whether it be a boyfriend/girlfriend, a thought or belief, TV shows... And it goes the opposite way, too. Closely examine God and His attributes so that we can firmly attach ourselves to Him.

As we see in Psalm 139, God searches us. He knows us inside and out. I challenge you today to search Him.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Search Him today and rest in the knowledge that even though God knows us inside and out, He loves us anyway. That's a pretty awesome love to think about. Bend down to pick up a piece of God today. Stretch to pull down a bunch of hope. Reach out to grab hold of a branch of joy. Stand still and KNOW that 'I AM' is with you ALWAYS. Rejoice in the abundant life that God offers to us when we give ourselves wholly to Him.