Mud

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14 If we truly seek to follow Him, to worship Him and give ourselves wholly to Him, then we have surely experienced those times when our doing so feels empty and ineffective. We will have those times when it feels like what we offer Him is feeble, even worthless. Like what we bring to Him in our weakness is an offense to Him. We feel like we have completely disappointed Him, that it would have been better not to pray or worship Him at all. All of it is a lie, but it's a lie we so readily believe. Joni Eareckson Tada wrote on this. She said, "When my worship seems fragile and feeble, when my heart is muddied with misgivings, Jesus does not impatiently tap His foot, fold His arms and look at His watch, and think, "This girl better get her worship on. He graciously remembers that I am made of nothing but mud." This reminds me of an illustration from my professor of theology at Bible College, Dr. Arnold Airhart, concerning His receiving of our imperfect offerings of love. He used the picture of a small child who, with dirty hands, got a cup of cold water for their father. As his small hands carried the cup, pieces of dirt fell in, muddying the offering. He said the father didn't notice the dirt in the water, just the love in the heart of the child. He took it and drank. It's a beautiful picture of His love for us, and of us His love of what we bring to Him in love, even when we do so imperfectly. There have been so many times when I felt my prayer, my praises, my thanksgivings were beyond feeble. That they were worthless. The devil loves for me, for you, to believe it is so. It isn't. He sees our heart. He remembers that we are dust, mud. Weak, imperfect dust and mud. He looks beyond that. He looks deeply into what is in our heart. He doesn't focus on all the imperfections we bring. He focuses on our love for Him. Even when our love feels so weak and shallow. May we never lose sight of the illustration of the water mixed with dirt. Nothing we could bring Him can ever be worthy of the Savior that He is. He desires us, dirty hands and all, for it is Himself who makes all our imperfect offerings acceptable. Praise and worship, even at its weakest, is still praise and worship. It is still precious in His eyes. He remembers we are mud. Blessings, Pastor O