Numbering my days...

As I look back on my last week or two of posts there are a few things that stand out:

-the lack of pictures

-the promise to share some good "habits"

-a desire to dive deeper into what it means to "know God" (with the help of J I Packer)

-a lack of posts

Of course, the first three are summed up in the last point and the last point is summed up in a lack of time, not desire. And therein lies the dilemma that I have been wrestling with. Here is the dilemma: There are lots of good things to do...even great things to do...and not enough time for little ol' me to do them all! The wrestling...well, that comes from wanting to "do it all", realizing I can't, and then trying to figure out what exactly I SHOULD do!

I was talking to Bryan about it last week and summed up my sinful (yes, please note, I said sinful) thoughts this way: I am either feeling guilty about what I didn't do or what I did do that I wish I hadn't done OR I am feeling overwhelmed with all that still needs to be done.

Thoughts like that are completely void of the gospel and, therefore, completely sinful but they are the very thoughts I find myself battling and seeking to take captive.

There is so much to be done and that can be done! There is so much that we have the capability of doing in the day and age we live in. Reading an endless number of good blogs, communicating via the internet with people we knew 20 years ago and haven't seen in almost that long, listening to sermons and messages from great godly people, staying in touch with family and friends with just a couple clicks of a keyboard or a few buttons on a phone, learning the latest trends in healthy eating and exercise as soon as the experimental results are in, get-togethers, sweet fellowship, emails of encouragement, notes of care and love, church events and ministry opportunities, missions projects, music lessons, Bible Studies...shall I go on? Notice how all of those things are good things, great things, and/or many are even biblical commands!!!! What do we say yes to and no to? How do we discern between doing one great thing over another great thing? How do we not feel guilty over what we have or have not done? How do we joyfully rest in knowing we are following the will of God for our lives?

My hearts cries out with Moses, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). I can't even begin to imagine all the "good" things he could have been doing. Leading an entire nation would create endless opportunities for doing good things. How did he do it?

Hebrews 3 says that he was "faithful in all God's house". God's word was his very life (Deut. 32:47). He spoke to God "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). Moses KNEW God!

God does not call us to perfection and an ability to do it all. That's what makes HIM God. The more we know Him we see our sin and inabilities and they keep us clinging to Him. He knows that we are but dust (Psalm 103:14). He knows that we will grow tired and weary (Isaiah 40:30). He knows that we have hearts prone to be like Martha and He calls us away to chose the good portion (Luke 10:42) as He often did with Moses. He calls us to fellowship with Him and to love Him most of all. He calls us to hope in Him, to rejoice in all things, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks (I Thess. 5:16-18). He calls us to not grow weary and give up (Galatians 6:9)...He calls us to be faithful (I Timothy 3:11)...to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). And, as we do that, He directs our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). He leads us in the way we should go through His Word, the Holy Spirit, and the godly council of our husbands, friends and leaders. He uses those things and others to encourage our hearts that "this is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21).

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

And, in the light of His glory and grace our guilt finds no resting place and is swallowed up in mercy and the cross and all those good things start to fall into their proper place in the light of the Great...our Lord Jesus Christ!