Make Your Bed!

"If I make my bed in hell… even there… your right hand shall hold me."

- King David, Psalm 139:8,10 (NKJV)

"The only way I can survive the minor hell of losing the approval of people I like… is by knowing the approval of the God who created me and loves me even at the point of my greatest failure."

- A Pastor

There is a prayer that I pray every single morning for my five grandchildren -- it's the same prayer I continue to pray for my children, as well. The prayer goes...

Dear Jesus,

I pray that Your Spirit will help each one of my grandchildren to totally love Who You have made them to be…. That they will always believe what You say about them over what anyone else will ever say about them…. That they will love the way they look, the way they laugh, the way they think, the way they create, the way they relate. May their confidence about who they are always and forever come only from You! In Jesus' Name… Amen.

That's one of the most important prayers that I pray for those I love… Why? Because one of the biggest struggles in my life has been seeking the approval of someone other than God to feel good about myself.

Anyone else know what I'm talking about? You and I are really good at confusing God's approval for someone else's approval. I know… because I confused my Dad's approval for God's approval for way too long in my life… and the problem was that Dad's approval didn't come easy. In fact… it never did.

You talk about "making my bed in hell."

My Dad was unpleasable. But for years, I knocked myself out trying to be good enough, smart enough, handsome enough, strong enough, successful enough… to earn his "pat on the back." I finally collapsed, angry and exhausted, at 23 years of age under a mountain of misery that came from seeking approval from someone who would never give it. And so I fell. I fell away from his approval… away from his validation… away from his "well done my good and faithful son" that I realized would never come… AND I fell… into the strong, validating, justifying, approving nail-pierced hands of Jesus.

King David said, "If I make my bed in hell… even there your right hand shall hold me." I found it to be so!

God's Hands are the strength of His love for you, and that says we don't have to be good enough to be loved by Him. He created us and loves us just as we are! His hands are the power to convince you and I at the core of our being that we have infinite value and unparalleled worth even in the moment of our greatest failure! Today, I can flourish without my Dad's – or anyone else's – approval…

… because I know the approval of the God who created me that whispers to my heart, "I am right… I am good… even when everything else is wrong!"

Listen… You ever lose the approval of someone you thought you needed in order to feel good about yourself? That's a mini-hell of your own making! Only God's approval can give your soul the confidence that you are right… even when everything else is wrong!

Today, I invite you to pray the prayer for yourself that I pray for my grandchildren… AND make your bed… not in hell… but in the Heaven of God's unconditional approval and love for you!

AMEN

Pastor Harry

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