Lord, Thou Hast Searched And Seen Me Through

Lord, Thou hast searched and seen me through,
Thine eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh with all their powers.

My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak
Ere from my opening lips they break.

Within Thy circling power I stand;
On every side I find Thy hand;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.

Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the powers I boast,
Is in the boundless prospect lost.

Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit Thy service and Thy love,
Where, Lord, could I Thy presence shun,
Or from Thy dreadful glory run?

If up to Heav’n I take my flight,
’Tis there Thou dwell’st enthroned in light
Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigns,
And Satan groans beneath Thy chains.

If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest Thy fugitive.

Or should I try to shun Thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night,
One glance of Thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.

The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from Thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize Thy foes as soon
Through midnight shades as blazing noon.

Midnight and noon in this agree,
Great God, they’re both alike to Thee;
Not death can hide what God will spy,
And hell lies naked to His eye.

O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where’er I rove, where’er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.

-Issac Watts

Christian Warfare

“...And now in this warfare we are engaged. The temptations of Satan are not to be escaped: no sheltered position, no seclusion from the world, no sacredness of occupation, can screen us from them. The only question is, shall they prove infinite damage, or shall they be made to recoil harmless and pointless? It is the most awful question which we can be summoned to answer; and yet the decision of this answer may be said to have been placed by the infinite grace of God within our own control. If you yield to the tempter, you become his helpless prey. If you steadfastly resist him, confiding in the grace of God and the salvation of Jesus, he cannot touch a hair of your head. Temptation and sin, if you bravely resist them, will react to your everlasting welfare: your position is impregnable, the protection is ample, the armament is invincible, the supplies abundant, and the fortress can never be entered by the enemy, unless betrayed into his power by your own treacherous hands.”

-William Henry Green (The Book of Job Unfolded)

No Internet...

Since there just isn't a way to get internet out to where we are living at the present, there will be a dearth of posts appearing on this blog, as well as on PhotoJewels. I do have internet on my phone (how this post came to be. :] ) and at work, but by far, when I do have free time, I don't have online access.

It's been quite freeing, actually. I have no excuse now to stay up to all hours of the night doing work or researching something new that really doesn't matter anyway.

God is so good at teaching us what things are truly important in life, if we let Him. How many times I let trivial things interrupt my time with Him, yet He patiently waits for His errant children.

Oh, that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, for his wonderful blessings to the children of men.

One of the things that God has been trying to teach me is contentment. I know it seems like a given, that we are to be content, but so many times I find myself wishing things were just a little bit different-wishing that perhaps God had me in a different place, or learning a different lesson. May I learn to rest in the blessed fact that my heavenly Father knows best!

Psalms 9:10

And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.