This I know . . .

This Sunday we looked at the encounters Jesus had after the resurrection. Why did he appear again? Why not just head back to heaven? After all, He had already died for our sins. He had already risen from the grave and conquered death once and for all. Why hang around for six more weeks and talk to Mary, then the disciples, and then several hundred other people?

Maybe King David’s view of God gives us a hint. In the midst of a life filled with riches and poverty, kingship and shepherding, sin and obedience, victory and defeat – David says these words:

“This I know, that God is for me.” (Ps 56:9 ESV)

Really? God is FOR me? He is on my side? He doesn’t just love me, but He LIKES me? That changes everything! I wrote the following words on my blog on February 9, 2010 (the day I first came across this verse):

David recognizes that God being for him is not just God loving His creation, but God choosing to celebrate His creation.

How differently – more fully, more abundantly, more joyfully, more purposefully, more passionately – you and I would live if this truth permeated our every thought: that the God who created us, who knows us, who sacrificed Himself for us, is for us.

Sit back and soak in that truth for a moment. God celebrates you. God is on your side. God rejoices over you. God wants you. God chooses you. God cherishes you. God is for you.

And now…take a deep breath and say these eight words out loud:

This I know, that God is for me.

How would you live this day differently if you believed that God is with you in every circumstance and for you at every turn?
How does it feel to know that God doesn’t just love you…but He also likes you?

Put it on your bathroom mirror, your computer monitor, your refrigerator door, and your car’s dashboard: This I know, that God is for me. Then spend every minute of every day living under the umbrella of that good news. (Because it happens to be true.)

Alongside,

Keith