Seeking God has honestly become a chore. Keeping our eyes on God is no easy task. I'm going into a rough week of school (aka there's an organic chemistry exam this week) and I feel like there's a weight on my shoulders at the moment. No matter how much I pray, this burden doesn't go away. No matter how many times I try and set my heart straight, it ends up fixated upon a performance based measurement of success. Each day that I read God's word, I do so more out of duty than desire. My attitude is poor and I feel like even when I blog, I'm going through the motions. Here's the awesome part though. Even though my attitude is poor and my heart is else where, God works through that. The presence of the Holy Spirit is not deterred by my shortcomings. God is still God and He is still willing to speak to me even in my present condition. I cannot give up meeting with Him even when I feel like it. When my heart is out of this state that it's in, it won't be because of my efforts or anything that I did. It will be by God's grace alone.

Psalm 18

This is probably one of the longer Pslams that I've read. I find it a bit redundant at some points but the message is very clear. Right from the beginning, David says the following things about God:

1) Rock
2) Fortress
3) Deliverer
4) Shield
5) Horn of salvation
6) Stronghold

Talk about protection! David then talks about how He called upon the Lord for help in times of trouble. In his description of God's response, we get the image of this majestic divine power, one that shook the earth and parted the heavens. No wonder why David felt so secure with God. So often we forget who our God is in times of trouble. The very God that created the universe is the same God that desires a relationship with us and unconditionally loves us. Our God can do anything. Do our prayer reflect that? Do we pray boldly with faith or do we just pray the small prayers in fear that He can't answer the bigger ones? David was so helpless in his situation and He prayed to God with faith and God delivered him. Simply put, without God, we can do nothing.