HEAVENSREEF

I learned something last night from a huge golden retriever………stare down your fears with worship.

I am currently dog sitting two very large 100 pound golden retrievers.   The male in particular is scared to death of fireworks.  Most dogs don’t respond well to them.  We were sitting in the family room and all of a sudden we heard that familiar noise and the poor baby was beside himself.  He was whining and panting and eventually got up in my lap where I could put my arms around him to make him feel secure.

I decided to put on praise and worship music very loud to drown out the fireworks as much as possible.  And when I began to sing along with it, I noticed that Beau began to relax!   Probably he could sense my calm and he eventually stopped shaking. 

STARE DOWN THAT FEAR WITH FOCUS AND WORSHIP OF THE LORD

There really is something to be said for keeping our gaze on GOD and only glancing at life. 

1 CHRONICLES 16: 29  “ASCRIBE TO THE LORD THE GLORY DUE HIS NAME; BRING AN OFFERING AND COME BEFORE HIM.”

I’m afraid in my humanness I tend to look to life more than my GOD.  And when I lose my gaze,  I lose my way.   Fear robs us of the truth, truth that only the LORD gives.  Truth that is only found when I gaze upon the WORD and when I inquire of HIS temple.

PSALM 27: 4 “……..TO GAZE UPON THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD AND TO INQUIRE IN HIS TEMPLE.”

Oh how I desire that my gaze is not tainted by this ugly world, because gazing on the LORD is gazing upon all that HE is………a good and gracious GOD.  HE knows all my fears and knows my soul needs to just turn to HIM, worship and watch the fears melt away.

So in all my pondering last night watching the poor pup Beau go through his fear of fireworks, I learned to worship, praising the LORD in the midst of my own fears and to not let those fears sidetrack me again in the future.   What a wonderful lesson to learn and what a wonderful GOD to know! 

PSALM 95: 2  “LET US COME BEFORE HIM WITH THANKSGIVING AND EXTOL HIM WITH MUSIC AND SONG.”