Wobble or Worship?

I’m not sure why I wobble. After all that I’ve seen right in front of me you would think that I would be steady on my feet. You would think I would automatically shift gears to deeper trust when circumstances get more rigorous. You would think my default would be faith, given His faithfulness to me.

But I do wobble. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one. At least, based on Psalm 73, I know I’m not the first wobbler.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. … When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward You. 

And since the psalm starts by declaring God’s goodness, we know that the author had a change of heart. He didn’t let stumbling and slipping become a way of life. Even as he reflects back on his past struggle, he summarizes the whole episode by first declaring …

Truly God is good. 

Since God truly is good in every sense of the word, why would any of us ever stumble, slip, be embittered … Why would we ever wobble? And when we do, what will bring us back to the point where we declare that He is good?

Somewhere in the middle of his struggle he was able to say …

Whom have I in heaven but You? … There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heat and my portion forever. 

What was the turning point for him? We have reason to hope again if we can identify – and then remember for the next time we get wobbly – the cause of the heart change. What was it that steadied his shaking legs?

Nevertheless, I am continually with You. 

But for me it is good to be near God. 

It’s simply being with Him, being near Him, that makes all the difference. His loving nearness, His powerful presence changes everything.

Our hope returns and our faith is refreshed …

• IF we are aware of Him.
• IF we remember who He is.
• IF we marinate in the truth of Who abides with us.

You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel,  and afterward you will receive me to glory. … the strength of my heart and my portion forever. … the Lord God, my refuge  

The ancient reality is that we do wobble. But it will pass if we stop and

• take time to be with Him,
• remember who He is,
• abide with Him,
• ask Him to stir our hearts with exclusive desire for Him,
• stay near Him.

Being near Him is being in a posture of worship.

If we do kneel in worship, we stop the wobble and our story becomes part of the mighty symphony of His grace.  It may take a bit of time. It may not happen immediately. We may need to stay quietly before Him for a while. But, if we settle in and “be continually with Him,”  we will once again join the psalmist to …

tell of all His works. 

Worship or wobble, what’s it going to be?