Amazing God

Question...Is God amazing because of the things He does for us...or is God amazing simply because He's God? I posted on Facebook yesterday..."Wow! What a mighty God we serve." in response to our last night of revival where we saw several students give their lives to Christ. Then I've been thinking. This is not a bad or wrong reason. But, are we more likely to say God is amazing when we see Him do amazing things? Shouldn't we give Him praise all the time? Ever express affection toward someone or compliment someone out of the blue and they question you why? I'm not sure God would question our affections but there are several examples were God questions or even rejects our expressions of love and devotion through offerings. He'd rather have our lives devoted to Him than our gifts. Just maybe He'd rather have our praise for no reason at all than only when He seems to "perform" to our liking. 

God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. 
With that being said, if God was amazing yesterday, then He's amazing today too. 
If we were blessed by God last week, guess what? We're blessed by God today too. 
If we felt an extra measure of God's grace and mercy several weeks ago, we've received that same amount of grace and mercy today. 
Many of us are so conditional with our love, devotion, care, etc. that we believe God must be too. But that simply isn't true. 

If Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord before the flood, we can find grace in Him today.
If Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness to Him, then our faith will be counted as righteousness now.
If David found forgiveness for his many sins and still held the title, a man after God's own heart. Then if we confess our sins, God will call us men and women after His own heart as well.
If Jesus could love the woman at the well with her messed up life, then He can love us with our messed up, broken lives.

All this rambling just to say God is amazing...yesterday, today and forever...regarding of how I feel or what He's done for me.

What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say

If you could write a letter to anyone, what would you write? What would you say? I was asked this question this week. I gave my answer rather quickly. Why would I know what to say to someone I haven't spoken to in years and yet struggle to say what needs to be said to people I see every day? 

One of the things I've learned over the years is that words aren't always necessary to communicate one's heart. The power of presence often speaks volumes. For most of us this struggle is real because we can't handle silence well. There needs to be some noise. Something has to be said. Usually our awkward silence is broken by an awkward but well meaning joke. That's not bad but does the silence need to be broken? 

The best thing Job's friends did for him was to sit with him in silence. Once they opened their mouths, it was all down hill for them. Blame God, blame yourself, blame God and yourself. Not the most productive chapters of the Bible to read. 

Sometimes the best things to say when you don't know what to say is nothing. Let your presence be enough. Let your hugs speak louder than words. Let your shared tears bring peace and comfort. Yes, God still speaks through us today but sometimes we represent Him best when we say nothing at all.