Psalm 139:13-16, 23-24
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me to the way everlasting.
We can appreciate the wonder that comes from our becoming aware of how we became, and, hopefully, when we begin to understand why. It’s true that we know more about the making process that our ancestors did, but we still struggle with the relationship with God that comes with the mystery of our existence. John Wesley helps us a bit as he provides insight into what he termed “Spiritual Respiration.”
Our need for God can be compared to our need for air. We must breathe air in order to live physically, and we must breathe God in order to live spiritually. Wesley uses this comparison to help us think about the closeness we ought to have with God – constant and intimate. When God fills our lives the way air fills our lungs, we are refreshed, alert, and energized for God’s work. Of course the image also gives us a powerful warning about what can happen when we don’t pay attention to that relationship.
Our relationship with God is not as automatic as our breathing usually is. We need to work at it through prayer, Bible study, worship and the other practices that we learn to use that help us grow our spiritual lives more completely. What we come to realize is that this need to participate in our relationship with God is constantly renewed and encouraged. It’s easy to get off track, but we cannot get off without knowing the danger. God is faithful and will remind us to refocus. Trust God because He made us and not we ourselves. The relationship is the why.
Only Trust Him – v. 1
Come, every soul by sin oppressed, there’s mercy with the Lord; and he will surely give you rest, by trusting in his Word.
Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now.
He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now.
Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola
Teach us, good Lord,
To serve you as you deserve;
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
To labor and not to ask for any reward,
Except that of knowing we do your will;
Through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Pastor Dave Brosnan