“In” the LORD

This summer I spent some time reading and pondering over several of the Psalms.  As I was reading Psalm 37, I noticed in verse 7,

“Rest (Be still) IN the LORD.“

IN

Imagine yourself small and surrounded by His strong, loving arms that He wraps around you.

IN

In other words,

  • remain IN or intimate with Him through constant awareness of Him and obedience to His commands.
  • Be still IN Him by trusting in His faithful love for you and His mighty Power to save.
  • Rest IN Him knowing He’s got everything under control, and you can let it go.

As you abide IN Him, be still IN Him; rest IN Jehovah, you will find peace through surrendering to Him!

In the same verse,

“wait patiently FOR Him” can also be read “wait longingly for Him.”

How our hearts should long for Him, to see Him face to face!

 

But even as we dwell and rest IN Him,

IN His loving Presence,

we can,

in the here and now,

have a foretaste of His divine glory!

The LORD saves the righteous “because they take refuge IN Him.” Psalm 37:40

IN.

There it is again! It must be important!

We think of God as being a Person, but would it be too much of a stretch of the imagination to also consider Him a place (perhaps a Spiritual place, He being a Spirit), since He and His name are so much bigger than we are that we can run IN to Him and be safe?

100_0758

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10 ESV

“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalms 32:7 NASB

So, I’m having some random thoughts about this possibility.

  1. If we can run IN to Him, can we also run out of Him, or away from Him?
  2. Psalm 139 says, “You have enclosed me behind and before,” verse 5, and ” Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
  3. So, no. I cannot run from Him, because there is nowhere I can go that He is not there!  (Jonah found that out the hard way!)

 

When I first realized how close God was to me, I found great comfort in that reality, because I already knew Him as my Savior.

Imagine my surprise when I heard that some people find this a frightening fact!

I suppose if a person recognizes his sinfulness and either does not know that Jesus died in his place to save him or refuses to repent of his sins, he would have a reason to be afraid.

20180329_193241

But God has made a way

through the sacrifice of His Son

to bring us out of that fear

and into a place of peace and joy.

(John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9)

He has provided the pardon, and when we accept it, as His gift, He washes our sins away and makes us clean in His sight!  Once we are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ, we have no more reason to fear.  His “perfect love casts out all fear”!  (1 John 4:19)

That is why I can now rejoice IN Him!100_2560

“Sing for joy IN the LORD, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright.”  Psalms 33:1 NASB

 

30 thoughts on ““In” the LORD”

  2. I could add a few thoughts here but just don’t need to – there are so many sections in the post as you nicely address the “in” theme – 😉
    And the only thought I do want to add is that this is why it bothers me sometimes when people use some Old Testament verses – like when David prayed or when certain rituals were done – we must not forget that with Christ IN us it is a new world and we boldly come to the throne of grace with an advocate but also with the INDWELLING presence of the Comforter and Counselor
    “I am with you always” he reminds.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m not sure what you’re referring to that bothers you. In the topic of this post there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and New Testament verses on the subject. Yes, in the Old Testament most people were not always indwelt by the Holy Spirit as Church Age saints are. However, even though He is IN us, we are still IN Him.
      “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN Christ Jesus” Rom. 8:1;
      “Therefore if any man be IN Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2Cor. 5:17;
      “For as many of you as have been baptized INto Christ have put on Christ.” Gal. 3:7;
      “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus:” Eph. 2:6;
      “For we are his workmanship, created IN Christ Jesus unto good works…” Eph. 2:10;
      “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art IN me, and I IN thee, that they also may be one IN us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 17:21

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Oh no no no
        Nothing at all
        In your your post!
        It was excellent and seamless!
        Sorry to infer that!
        My comment was a rabbit trail and side note about others that do that!
        So sorry!
        This is why I like your blog –
        You are not doing that and it is “sound”

        Liked by 2 people

      3. And In and through Him is how we succeed – and you explained it so adeptly (even though it has a bit of paradox and sometimes the only only way to really get what this means is to experience it)

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Thanks again! Yes it is a paradox. If He says we are seated with Him in the Heavenlies IN Christ, we just believe it, even though we don’t understand it. It helps me to try to imagine it, to picture it in my mind. Also, the more we walk with Him, studying and memorizing the Scriptures, the clearer our understanding will become. Little words like “IN” that we once read over as insignificant words suddenly pop out at us as significant in meaning! It’s a journey, and we need to keep walking it in faith and surrender to Him.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. You know –
            I do think there are times when God says I’ll show you cos He knows the humans he made sometimes really need to see it and experience and thank god I do not have to just wonder and believe with vagueness – but he rocked my world to show me through and through

            Liked by 2 people

  4. Very sweet devotion and words of truth. I LOVE that He is ever so present IN our lives even when we feel far from help and hope, we must always remember to live IN His light and be quick to seek the comfort He has to offer!

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a reply to T. R. Noble Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.