Praising Your Wisdom When It Hurts

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. (Psalm 73:21-23 ESV)

This verse burdens my heart, and sets it free. Jesus, how often I allow my heart to become encrusted with bitterness. I willfully pout that your path for me is not the direction that I have desired. I bewail and moan as your loving hand prunes away the unfruitful branches, preparing me for a useful lifetime of service. Even as you seek to answer my lifelong prayers, removing the veil of flesh in my heart, "pricking it", I scream at you in animal fury, "brutish" indeed.

NEVERTHELESS.

You do not leave nor forsake. You are always with me, waiting for me to lift my head and acknowledge that even when I do not know, you do and that shall ever be enough for me. Thank you that do not do everything I ask, for surely I would be a much sorrier soul if you withheld your loving hand from healing the hidden places where strongholds abound and sin waits in the darkness. Thank you for your grace, and today as I see the truth of this verse I ask you to never stop your heavenly surgery until your image is stamped across the whole of my being. Thank you Jesus. I ask this in your precious, life-giving name, amen.