Yesterday in church I had the chance to give my testimony. Sharing what God has done in our lives can be one of the most powerful things and is always an encouragement to those around. If you ever have the chance to share what God has done in your life, I hope you will take that chance!

My testimony and the message went hand-in-hand. I spoke about how God’s favor is always there, our perspective is what changes. 

The scripture for this week is Psalm 124 where we have David telling us the story of Israel. He says that if it had not been for God and his protection on that nation, they would have been destroyed, or as he colorfully says, “They would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord.” What I think is so interesting about the nation of Israel is how their attitude has ebbed and flowed throughout the stories we read in the Bible. One minute, you have them praising God and these supernatural and divine acts of God’s power are shown. Then in the next chapter, we hear about how Israel is not happy with God and you hear verses where they are begging God not to forsake them or how they are praising other gods.

I was thinking about God’s great favor on our lives as I was adding seed to the birdfeeder behind our house the other day. Those birds are so mean to each other. The biggest one won’t let anyone eat at the same time as it is eating. The hummingbirds are territorial and fight each other. Even though there is more than enough for everyone, I will keep providing the food, they are just ugly to each other it seems. They make a mess everywhere, they are noisy; they really can be seen as a nuisance to some.

Even still, no matter how mean they are to each other, I love them. I think they are beautiful and they add great joy to my mornings. I love sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee and hearing them sing and eat and move around. No matter what they do, no matter how messy or mean or loud they can be, I will keeping on giving them birdfeed, I will keep on loving them. I will keep on showing favor to them.

Isn’t that how God’s favor is for us? No matter how messy, mean or loud we get, He loves us and thinks we are beautiful. We bring joy to Him. He promises to keep on showing favor to us, not because we deserve it, but because HE wants to.

This week, take a moment to praise God for His great favor on your life. If you don’t feel favored right now, I encourage you to take a moment to ask God where He is in your life right now. God’s favor is all around us, we only have to ask to see it to know He is real.

              -Selah