A Bowl of Taco Soup and the Bible

Graham's napping. I just fixed myself a bowl of taco soup and sat down to eat while listening to an Indelible Grace CD. I was trying to think of all the things I could do while he was sleeping, and suddenly I realized that I should grab my Bible. I opened the Bible to a page and laughed to myself as I thought about a recent Bible study discussion over randomly reading Scripture verses. You know, when you don't know what to read, so you just open to a page, twirl your finger around as if you are about to cast a spell on someone, and point to a verse on the page. Well, I didn't twirl my finger, but I started reading the first chapter that struck me. It was Psalm 73. "Truly God is good to Israel.." it stated. As I read, I heard, "Surely God is good..." being sung almost simultaneously. I thought to myself, "surely this can't be?" I continued to read and listen. Yes, I was reading the words of Psalm 73 as they were being sung on the CD. The translations were different, but still! I was in awe. When I came to the end of the page, I almost expected the CD to "ding" alerting me to turn the page like those follow along audio books in elementary school.

I have to admit that I often think its cheesy when people start talking about things like this, but maybe its just because I rarely experience them. My eyes watered as I continued to read. "Surely God is good," and "But for me it is good to be near God," are still stuck in my head. As ridiculous as this sounds, I often forget that God is good. I thought about the Psalms and the men of women of Scripture. Often when it was difficult for someone to see God's faithfulness in a situation, they dwelled on what God had done in the past and they implored him to be faithful like he had been before. This enabled men and women to persevere in the midst of hardship. Maybe that's how I can trust in God's faithfulness in the future. It is God's character to be faithful and nothing can change that. Even if it is difficult to see his faithful hand in my life at a given moment, I know that he has always been faithful in the past and he will continue his faithfulness in the future. And even if something terrible happens....even if Graham hadn't been okay...God is/was still FAITHFUL. It is who He is. I hope I can be like Asaph in verse 28. "I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." God's faithfulness should motivate us to tell everyone what he did, does, and will do. There is no one tense than can capture His faithfulness- it is past, present, and future, and that is where my consolation lies.