His Lovingkindness

Do you guys have "life verses"?  I didn't hear about them until I was well into my adult years.  In case you're unfamiliar with the term, a "life verse" is one that God reveals to you as so strongly pertinent and meaningful to you that it kind of becomes your "theme verse", so to speak.  It's a verse that you will carry with you your whole life.  Some verses may end up being more "life phase verses" and that's OK, too.  It's all a gift.

Somewhere along the line, I came across a verse that hit me right between the eyes with such a huge amount of comfort that it has become one of my life verses.  It is Psalm 59:10b in the New American Standard (NASB)

"My God in His lovingkindness will meet me."

In that little verse - half a verse, really - I hear the echoes of some other verses in the Bible.  Verses that speak of God's intimate knowledge of us, His tender compassion on our weaknesses, His love for us, and His humility in loving us and wanting us close to Him.

. "For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust."  ~ Psalm 103:14

. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."  ~ Romans 8:1

. "But the very hairs of your head are numbered."  ~ Matthew 10:30

. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."   ~ John 3:16

. "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross"   ~ Philippians 2:8

. "You have taken account of my wanderings, put my tears in a bottle; are they not in Your book?"  ~ Psalm 58:8

. "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!"  ~ Psalm 139:17

. All of Psalm 139 really.

There's lots more, I'm sure, but these are just a few.

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me.

What this verse says to me is that God will meet me right where I am.  As regards to my Christian maturity, He isn't standing on the other side of a chasm, chastising me for being on the wrong side, curtly telling me "You're SUPPOSED to be over HERE! Get over HERE!"  No, the God of the universe will actually meet me where I am.  He longs to take me by the hand and lead me to where I'm supposed to be.  It says to me that I can meet Him, face to face so to speak, in prayer without first having to get myself right, without moving even.  And truly, that's all I can bring to Him...my honest position, my true reality,  my real heart.  It's all I can give Him to work with.  And frankly, that's all He can work with.  What He can't work with is my denial, my avoidance, and facades.  This verse offers great comfort to me that God wants to meet me right where I am, even if that place is so wrong, so confused, or so messed up. 

Your God in His lovingkindness will meet you.

Isn't it beautiful how some verses are written in the first person, so that we have the joy of reading it exactly as it is and applying it so personally to ourselves.  No translation required, no changing "you" to "me"...it's just right there...as-is.  I think God planned some verses that way.  That's why I love the Psalms.  They are first person and they are so real.

Say the verse to yourself, just as it's written in the first person.  And know that it's true.

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me.