Balanced

​Kathleen and I ascended as the elevator began to shake noisily.  The two women beside us discussed when the old box was going to fall, evidently used to its rattle.  But as we walked into the office there on the eighth floor we noticed the building swaying.  It was an eerie feeling.  Less than 150 miles away, Olympia and Seattle were riding a major earthquake.  Yet we were safe.  The receptionist informed us that the building was constructed to bend a foot or more during quakes so as not to collapse.  Thank God for good engineering.

Meditation
Psalm 54:4--God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.
Psalm 73:26--My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.
 
Tremors test the integrity of our structure.  They also reveal our convictions and habits.  Adversity tests how we are doing in our quest to know God.  If we are secure in our relationship with Him we maintain spiritual equilibrium in the day-to-day living as well as in the midst of dirt-moving trials.  We recognize that our strength comes in the Lord.  He is the One who sustains us.  Redemption has permanently countered the effect of sin and afforded us hope while on an evil earth.  
​
Are you spiritually balanced?  Do you emerge through conflict, pain and trauma with your faith intact?  Do those around you see stability in your perspective and quiet confidence in your character?  Do you live your life with a quiet consistency that reveals the Holy Spirit’s leadership? Are you able to set aside what is less important to focus on what is most vital?  Do you eat right, get enough rest and exercise regularly so that your temple is maintained properly?  If not, get out of the sinkhole caused by building on sand and start building on the Rock!  
 
Inspiration
Absorption in practical work is one of the greatest hindrances to discerning the call of God.  Unless active work is balanced by a deep, isolated solitude with God, knowledge of God does not grow and the worker becomes exhausted and spent.  Our Lord said that the only men He can use in His enterprises are those in whom He has done everything (see Luke 14:26-27, 33); otherwise we serve our own ends all the time.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where
Holiness means a perfect balance between our disposition and the laws of God.—Oswald Chambers in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
We signed up for a hike with a ranger, who told us a remarkable thing: when a tree’s life is threatened, stressed by the elements of fire, drought, or other calamity, it twists beneath its bark to reinforce and make itself stronger.  On the surface, this new inner strength   may not  be  visible, for  the  bark often  continues to give the same vertical appearance.  Only when the exterior is stripped away, or when the tree is felled are its inner struggles revealed.—Marilyn J. Abraham in First We Quit Our Jobs
 
©2001 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)