Draw Close when the tide feels out

Track 16 Adagio by Alessandro Marcello 1669 - 1747 from a Concerto in D minor, second movement From daybreak till midnight the tide will turn four times, even as the clock continues its chimes. Let nothing hinder the incoming tide, as You prepare Your Heavenly Bride. Draw close when the tide feels out, and we are tempted to begin to doubt. May we trust Your purposes in each low tide, when You appear to hide, then bravely catch each new wave that You so lovingly provide. Even through the deepest drought, we owe it to You to seek You out longing for the place of deeper release as we yearn for Your Spirit’s return. The prophet JONAH declared "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD." So often, Lord, when we are feeling insecure, it is because we are using the wrong set of measuring tools. Were we to see the weighing machines that You use to value all we do, we might not recognise them at all, for You evaluate by entirely different criteria, seeking less the outcomes the world considers good than the love and devotion with which we carry out our tasks, and the measure of obedience that lies within them. So realign our heart’s desire to be more in tune with Yours, for the more we succeed in doing this the more joy we will know in our spirits and the deeper the comfort we will bring to others too. Lord, we often feel let down by others in the course of our pilgrimage and grieved by the way things work out. But it is amazing how you bring good out of seeming catastrophes and turn situations right round for your glory. Help me not to be disappointed but to praise and to trust that You can turn our disappointments into Your appointments. For this truly honours You.