What do I treasure?

These devotions are meant to encourage you and me, but I think they must also challenge us.   However, I know that is difficult to believe, when every waking hour you may wonder how you can ever be normal again (whatever normal is).  I know it is hard to concentrate, and what you are reading now may barely be getting through the fog.  I can say that because I have been there, and I still have times that find my focus and concentration impaired.

Since I have been ill, I have often questioned my commitment to God as a Christian, more than I ever did in the past.  Everything in my life changed:  I no longer had the energy to serve outside of my household, I got out of the habit of reading God's word, the Bible, because I could not focus on it.  It simply became too hard, especially when the CFS was at its worst.  If I was able to glean comfort or instruction out of one or two verses, I was doing well.

The verses that stayed with me through this illness are the ones I have memorized or I have read over and over again.  Psalm 23, the Lord's prayer, Romans 8: 27-28, 1 Corinthians 10:31, and 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 -18 among others have comforted me, because I knew them.  I have tried to memorize some new verses, but I have a hard time remembering them for long.  Besides the fact it is best to follow God from a young age, maybe that is one reason the psalmist said, "How can those who are young keep their way pure?  By living according to Your word . . . I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You."  When I was young and healthy, it was easier to memorize.  Those verses have been a part of me from the time I memorized them.  So memorization is good, but there are other ways to keep God's word close at hand:  put them on our computer desktops, write them on post it notes and stick them around the house, or keep a favorite quote journal.  I often remember the gist of a verse or what is being taught in that verse, even when I cannot retain the exact words and even the "address."  And when I am being particularly inattentive to God, my index cards on the refrigerator and the scripture on my calendar cry out to me, "Be still, and know that I am God. " Spend time with Me.  I am your Salvation.  God loves you."

Psalm 119: 9-16

Today's New International Version (TNIV)

   ב Beth
 ⁹ How can those who are young keep their way pure?
   By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
   do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
   that I might not sin against you. ¹² Praise be to you, LORD;
   teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
   all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
   as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
   and consider your ways. ¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
   I will not neglect your word.

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