LORD, have Your way

Psalm 147:11  
The LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.  

Psalm 37:23-24 
If the LORD delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.  

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I am intrigued by the thought of The LORD delighting in me.
Delight - to please greatly; to accept

I tend to think more often on the fact that I am to take delight in Him (Psalm 37:4) not that He (The LORD - Jehovah, The Self-existing One) takes delight in me.  He delights in "those who fear Him".
Fear - to revere, be afraid, to stand in awe of, be awed, honor, respect.

I find that reverence and awe, even honor and respect is hard for me to show sometimes.  I find that in my pride I am more often trying to prove that I am self-reliant, attempting to help myself even when I think I am seeking the LORD, or desiring to.

How do we right our mind-set when all around us we are expected to handle things ourselves?  Through praise and thanksgiving.  I must praise my LORD, recognize who He is and my mind-set, my vision even, begins to change.  This is hard for me.  I struggle with renewing my mind and not allowing myself to be conformed to the pattern of this world and because I do I then have trouble being able to test and approve what God's will is (Romans 12:2).  I do not necessarily often overtly conform to the pattern of this world but internally I am conforming because I begin to think that I "know" what I need or everyone else needs.  I have strong opinions and convictions.  That is a good thing when my convictions and opinions are the Truth of the Word of God, but when they simply become my judgments then I have succumbed to pride and I am definitely not revering the LORD but my own opinions.

"Fearing the LORD":  It is my job to look to Him and recognize His Greatness, His Power, His Mercy, His Grace, His Sovereignty... then I am in awe of Who He Is and then He is taking delight in me.

What does it mean to 'put my hope in His unfailing love'?
Hope in this verse means to hope for, to wait for, to expect (to trust).  Does this seem intangible to anyone else?  Does it seem difficult?  It is for me.  I have found that I am not so good at waiting (at being still).  I often find myself taking off on my own so to speak and then getting myself in a mess; whether it be through anxious thoughts or lack of peace, even hope.  Thankfully, my LORD never leaves me there, He convicts me and allows me to confess and begin again and then He shows me His unfailing love.

Now for Psalm 37:23-24.  If the LORD delights in my way, He will make my steps firm (or establish them) though I stumble I will not fall.  I often accuse myself of falling when truly it is only stumbling.  Stumbling over my pride and over what I have placed as an idol in my life.  The problem is that I begin to look at myself and my part - the stumbling - rather than looking at the fact that The LORD upholds me with His hand.

This is mind-blowing really... The LORD, who is all-powerful, all-knowing and who loves me unfailingly is holding me up with His hand!  How ridiculous it seems when I look at it through the Truth of His Word... I need to focus on Him and His strength, who He is rather than my mistakes and failings.

I want with all that is in me to be delightful to the LORD and yet I often allow my feelings, the enemy and others approval or disproval to convince me that I am not when the truth is that I already am delightful and through no effort of my own.  The LORD, my Father Himself, has made me acceptable (and delightful) in Jesus.

Ephesians 1:6b-9 "...to the praise of the glory of HIs grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved (Jesus).  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself..."

So the Old Testament guides me in the fact that I need to fear Him, put my hope in His unfailing love and know that He will uphold me and the New Testament relieves me from the standpoint that Jesus has done the final work by making me delightful (beloved in Himself) and ultimately my job is to trust Him and look to Him and stop trying to make myself delightful, but praise Him and recognize Who He is at all times.  And to realize that though I will stumble He has me and I am secure in Him.

LORD, so often I find myself basically spinning my wheels, trying to figure out how to put my trust in You, to make myself delightful to You, to put my hope in Your unfailing love and yet feeling as if I am free-falling.  My faith is often weak.  I am often double-minded.  I am full of pride.  Forgive me for doubting myself so often and thus having my eyes fixed on me and my capabilities rather than on You and therefore I am doubting You.  Forgive me for being full of myself and thinking I need to figure out what is next or why I am in this season etc.  Help me to learn to rest in the completeness of all You have done, Jesus.  Help me to not excuse myself from doing my part in having awe in You, or not making a deliberate choice over and over to put my hope in Your unfailing love.  Forgive me for wasting so much of life being distracted, allowing myself to be deceived in all kinds of ways and for forgetting the lessons that You have already taught me.  Thank You for the redemption You provided for me, Jesus and for making me acceptable to the Father.  May I live my life in this truth, moment-by-moment, and day by day.  May I trust that You will make my steps firm, regardless of what I think I see, may I have the faith (trust in what is unseen) to know that You uphold me and when I stumble to not get stuck there trying to fix myself or figure out what happened but rest in knowing that You will keep hold of me.  Help me to forgive myself and let go of what I feel and TRUST IN WHAT I KNOW.  Father, may Isaiah 43:18-19 become truth in my life..."Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old.  Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming.  Do you not see it?  Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." Give me eyes to see, LORD.  Have Your way in me.