After God's Own Heart

I'm in the process of reading Psalms. It's one of my favorite books for quite a few reasons. For one, they're written lyrically like poems and songs and use similes, metaphors, and images. Second, most of them were written by David. And third, they're relatable. The psalms cover so many different topics. One thing that is great about David is that not only is he a man after God's own heart, he's also completely and utterly human. He makes mistakes; most of the time they're pretty bad ones (like the whole Bathsheba incident). Despite all of David's mess ups, he still comes to God. You can learn from him. I now know that if I pretend to be crazy I can keep from being beheaded (see Psalm 34), and that even David felt like God was distant from him sometimes (see Psalm 4).

One passage that really jumped out at me was Psalm 16:5-8. "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

David knows that God is always with him. He wants to shape David into the person he was meant to be. David knows that God has a plan for him, and it's better than anything he could come up with. He doesn't have to worry about the future. With God beside him, there's nothing he can't do. This passage gives me great comfort every time I read it. God is always with me, he knows what's best for me, and he wants to make me into the person I'm meant to be. I don't have to be afraid of the future because God is already there. I tend to over think things and make myself worry, but knowing God is there calms my fears. He will never give me more than what I can handle. I've been trying to keep this verse in mind whenever I feel anxious or nervous about something. Everything is going to be okay, because I am in God's hands.