Rabbi Schneider - Keep Looking
Beloved, I'm schvitzing here on the southern steps leading up to the wall. That sun is beating down. I'm sweating out here. But it's so good to be able to be in God's Word, because the Word of the Lord restores us and revives us. I'm gonna share with you now one of my favorite verses in the scriptures. I'm going now to Psalm number 73. I'm reading verse number 28. Listen to the Word of the Lord for you. "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good". What a beautiful verse. In other words, the Psalmist is saying, "My portion in life is the nearness of God to me".
I don't know about you, but that just comforts me. That just blesses me just to read it, to say it, to declare it. The nearness of the Lord, the nearness of God, is my good. Wow! And how much more you and I today that have been given the abiding gift of the Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit, in our lives. God is so near to His children. He is near to those that fear Him and call upon Him. And I want to encourage you to really focus on looking for God in your life. In other words, sometimes we feel that He's not near. We sometimes feel, because maybe we're facing a problem, or because of our emotion, that He's far away.
But I want to encourage you just to look for Him in your life. Look for Him to manifest Himself in your circumstances. Look for Him to speak to you in your dreams. Look for Him to give you wisdom through another person. Look for Him in divine synchronicities. God is so near, but we have to be looking for Him or we'll miss Him. Again the Psalmist said, "The nearness of God is my good". And beloved, He loves you and I more than we realize. He is nearer to you than your own breath. I want you to open your heart. I want to encourage you. I want you to believe that God loves you. He's with you. He's near you and He'll never leave you or forsake you. Beloved, this is a great word of encouragement. Pass it on to a friend and I look forward to being with you God willing next week. Shalom.