"You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, so that I can sing to You and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever." -Psalm 30:11-12
This portion of scripture creates such a beautiful picture for me. It looks like my daddy coming to my rescue and turning something that was meant to hurt me into something good. He picked my crying, dirty self up out of the mud; cleaned me up; and kissed all my boo-boos. He made me beautiful and joyful so that now I sing instead of cry. I sing out of a grateful heart to my hero, my Daddy, my Abba.
Would God do that for me if He didn't love me? Somehow I doubt it. He has nothing to gain but my love and gratitude.....and maybe a small amount of entertainment from my singing if I stay on key. I have nothing of real value to give Him in return. Even my love is not as pure as His and hardly worthy of the King of Kings. Still, He seems to want it. He seems to want me. He wants relationship with all of us. So much so that He's willing to pull us out of the muck, clean us up, heal our hurts and give us joy. That's love, man! To do all of that for nothing but a little love and gratitude?! I think God gets the short end of that stick and we get a sweet deal!
We get a relationship with The Creator of the universe, and all that that implies. We receive unconditional love, divine guidance and direction, protection (nothing comes to us without crossing His desk first)......the list goes on. It's amazing what all God has for His children who are called by His name and created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). The sheer joy of being in His presence is more than we deserve. "You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures." - Psalm 16:11.
Regardless of whether we deserve it or not, our Heavenly Father stands ready to rescue us when we call, and work what the enemy meant for harm in our lives into something good. That makes Him more than worthy of eternal praise in my book. How about you?
