Keep Me From Dishonoring You, LORD GOD!

Reading:  Psalms 69 - 71
My Verse:  "Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
                         O LORD GOD of hosts;
                     let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
                         O God of Israel" (69:6).

When it came time for me to be baptized, I agonized so over this!  I had seen so many who, simply and bluntly putting it, were hypocrites!  I did not want to be that!  It was so scary to step up and by getting baptized announce to the world that I was a child of You, LORD God!  My fervent prayer then and still is was that You would keep me from being someone that would cause others to scorn you.

I clung to Philippians 1:6:

          "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you 
               will bring it to completion
               at the day of Jesus Christ."

There were so many times when all I could do was cry out like the Psalmist:

          "Save me, O God!
           For the waters have come up to my neck" (Psalm 69:1).

           "But I am poor and needy;
             hasten to me, O God!
            Your are my help and my deliverer;
                O LORD, do not delay (Psalm 70:5)!

I praise You, LORD God, for keeping me through the years.  I thank You for being Who You say You are, Jesus Christ the creator God and Redeemer of my soul.  Thank You for Your Word that sustains, encourages and guides me.

          "Your righteousness, O God,
               reaches the high heavens.
            You have done great things,
               O God, who is like you?

           You Who have made me see many troubles and calamities
                will revive me again;
            from the depths of the earth
                 You will bring me up again"(Psalm 71:19).

Thank You for reminding me of how You are faithful to keep me despite my weaknesses.  I pray for continued guidance.  I entrust myself to You, that You would not let me dishonor You, LORD God!

         "He will keep you firm to the end, so that you
           will be blameless on the day of our 
           LORD Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 1:8).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

You Hold Me Up!

Reading:  Psalm 58 - 63
My Verse:  "My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me" (63:8).

This passage brings to mind the "Footprints In the Sand" poem by Mary Stevenson.  It speaks of how You, LORD God carry us through the difficult times.  Most times we are unaware that You are carrying us.   "Your right hand upholds me" - thank You for this LORD God.

I am here in Pedro Bay as I write this.  It is so beautiful and so quiet.  I am able to reflect on and appreciate the beauty that surrounds me, and to simply be thankful for where I am in life; for all that I have to be thankful for - "Your right hand upholds me."

We planted a couple apple trees and it was so exciting to see one of them actually making fruit!  It is a pretty tough environment out here but the trees struggle on and are even bearing fruit!  So much to learn from that.

The baby swallows are flying.  They are fun to watch as they swoop so recklessly about in the air.  One nearly hit my husband on the head!  But there is such joy, excitement and a reckless abandonment about them as they learn to fly.  They remind me of what a gift this life is that You give us LORD God - and the joy You meant for us all to have in the living of this life.

We made a ring to get our salmon.  How exciting that was as the fish hit the net!  It seemed like in just minutes we had all that we needed!  As we cleaned each salmon I was amazed, as I always seem to be, at the beauty of each fish.  No two are alike, and each is just so beautiful - incredibly deep rich colors.  Thank You, LORD God, for this bounty, the beauty in that bounty.

I could go on.  When I cling to You, LORD God, You hold me up.  You show me all that is wonderful around me.  I am so thankful for that.

This does not mean that life is easy.  Far from it!  There is a reason why we need to "cling" to You!  But no matter what comes our way, "Your right hand upholds me."  This is what I am learning - ever so slowly, day by day.

Thank You, LORD God for this reminder of Your deep abiding love for me!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Restlessness and Moaning!

Reading:  Psalms 55, 56, 57
My Verse:  "Give ear to my prayer, O God,
                       and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
                    Attend to me, and answer me;
                        I am restless in my complaint and I moan" (55:1,2).

This is a difficult thing.  You, LORD God tell us to "cast our cares on You."  But when I am anxious about something I grow restless in my need for resolution, for peace of mind that all will be well.  I look at what is happening around me and things seem so out of control.  But I realize that sometimes things will not be well as I see it.  I also realize that there isn't anything I can do to make it right or well.  Then I begin to remember You are there, and You are a loving and living God!  All my fretting and complaining does nothing to help.  (Luke 12:25)

We had a guest speaker at church and he used this quote, "We are not at the mercy of our circumstances!  We are at the mercy of a living loving God!"

James Allen, a British philosopher of the early 1900's stated. "Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him."

Too many think becoming a Christian means everything is going to be wonderful from then on!  Life will become a smooth road.  And You do tell us that You will put us on a level path.   But I am realizing that this level path is in me.  It is growth in my spiritual life that enables me to deal with the difficulties as they arise with  a hope that You instill in me, with a strength that You give me.

Yes, I will still be restless in my complaint and I will still moan about my circumstances but this will all lessen as I grow in You, as I learn to lean on Your sufficiency.  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The Psalms are a wonderful record of man's struggle in this area.  Suffering does not end while we are here on this earth.  It can almost be depressing to think that there is no end to it, but we are "at the mercy of a living loving God!"  You, LORD God, will only do that which is the very best for us!  It is up to us to respond in a manner that allows the difficult circumstances to grow us.

It is actually a funny thing, or ironic?  The more I let go of the pursuit of my own selfish desires, the more peace I have.  The more I put aside self and place Jesus at the forefront of my life the more satisfied I become with who and where I am.  I begin to realize what is truly important.

So when I start to become restless and fret about my circumstances, LORD God, help me to believe You when You tell me to, "Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you." (55:22).

"I must perform my vows to you, O God;

     I will render thank offerings to you.

For you have delivered my soul from death,

     yes, my feet from falling,

that I may walk before God

     in the light of life" (Psalm 56:12,13).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

God Looks Down From Heaven . . .

Reading:  Psalms 52, 53, 54
My Verse:  "The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
                         They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
                          there is none who does good.

                     God looks down from heaven
                          on the children of man
                     to see if there are any who understand,
                          who seek after God.
                       
                     They have all fallen away;
                           together they have become corrupt;
                      there is none who does good,
                           not even one" (Psalm 53:1-3).
             
I visualize this in my mind, LORD God.  You gazing upon earth, Your creation, looking for someone that has a clean and pure heart, someone that gazes back at You fully and completely without any guile or stain upon their devotion to You.  Sadly, You see none.  You are God and I cannot even begin to imagine what this must do to You.  And yet, You do not stop looking down upon us.  You do not stop seeking us out.  You continue to be relentless in Your pursuit of us as You look down from heaven.

I went to a science fiction movie with my son this past weekend.  It was interesting and fun.  One thing that I found interesting was the theme of - one can never know the future.  In the movie they even had someone go into the past to change the course of events, actually changing their history.  I found this particularly interesting as this is such a strong theme in many movies.  This idea that our futures are not set in stone.   This is actually what You teach in Your Word.

From the very beginning, You gave us this thing called "free will."  Because of that all of scripture is about this great battle of wills.  You relentlessly draw us to You with Your love and truth and goodness.  We resist, then come to You, then fall away.  It is incredibly dynamic - how things play out is certainly not set.

When I was a very young Christian I would often get this message from other older Christians that things were set.  That You, LORD God already had everything set, and You knew what was going to happen.  It was always almost like it didn't matter what we did, You already knew what was going to happen so well, whatever . . .   That just never set well with me.  As I have read Your word for myself I see that this isn't so.  Your "will"  is that we all come to You, that we all submit to Your great love for us.  You are constantly working at that as You look down from heaven . . .

There is so much we do not understand, but we have Your Word to guide us.  We can seek out Your truths within the depths of the Bible.  As we seek and search for understanding,  You reveal to each of us that which we need to know, as we walk this path You have set us upon.  How I respond to Your love, Your guidance is certainly not set for I have a fallen nature like all of mankind.

"All we like sheep have gone astray;
     we have turned-every one-to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6).

"for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

As I read the following verses I hear Your plaintive cry LORD God, You continually and relentlessly cry out to us to come to You!

"Be still, and know that I am God . . ." (Psalm 46:10)
"For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death" (Psalm 48:14).
"I will instruct and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye" (Psalm 32:8).

No, You are not a benign god.  You are not a 'hands off' god.  You love us but will not force us. You do all that is needed to draw us to You but we must come to You of our own free will.

Thank You for not turning away but constantly and relentlessly looking down from heaven, seeking us out.

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!