CALL UNTO ME

I have some friends who have said from time to time, “If you ever have a need, feel free to call me.” What reassuring words to “carry in your pocket of remembrance”. Knowing them, I rest in the knowledge that if it ever became mandatory I have recourse at my finger tips.

When Patsy and I started out in the ministry, God laid it upon our hearts to claim the truth of Philippians 4:19 as indicative of a promise from God. We were aware of how others begged and pleaded, but it was not our desire to follow that pattern. We believed God then and through our years of serving HIM. At times it became more challenging, but He has been true to His Word.

It is relatively easy to find Israel’s failures, but it is equally available for us to discover our own if we are honest before the Lord. Honesty is not high on our priority list when we have to identify our “mistakes” as “wicked”. That they are!

Isaiah hit the nail on the head when he identified that the Lord is “near” and can be “found” (Isaiah 55:6,7) if we first recognize that “wickedness” is any activity that occupies our minds and hearts in leading us away from our righteous God.

Thus, we are instructed to “return to the Lord.” The road that leads one away from the Lord is pitiable. It reminds me of the old ruts and rocks over which we travelled in our childhood. It becomes most reassuring to know that if “I seek the Lord while He is “near” or “found” He stands ready to move with compassion and that He will ABUNDANTLY pardon. Fortunately for us, “His ways are not our ways, and our ways are not His ways. He does not think like us nor do we think like Him.

Turn to Him; find in Him forgiveness; do so now because He is NEAR!

Our Lord rejoices over anyone that He has forgiven. (Isaiah 62:3, 5)