Psalm 46

This psalm speaks for itself. It doesn't need human commentary. God restores hope and peace in our soul, when we remember that HE is our God!

Psalm 46

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song for Alamoth.

 ¹ God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
 ² Therefore we will not fear,
         Even though the earth be removed,
         And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
 ³ Though its waters roar and be troubled,
         Though the mountains shake with its swelling.  Selah 
       
 ⁴ There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
         The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
 ⁵ God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
         God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
 ⁶ The nations raged,

           the kingdoms were moved;
                   He uttered His voice, 

                               the earth melted. 
       
 ⁷ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah 
       
 ⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
 ⁹       He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
         He burns the chariot in the fire.
       
 10  Be still, and know that I am God;
     I will be exalted among the nations,
        I will be exalted in the earth!
 ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;

         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah  

In the busy times...

I'm sorry I haven't posted in quite a while, February 28th, to be exact! It's been busy, but that's a lame excuse. Everyone is busy! That's life!
Prayer request: I am taking my SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) on Saturday.  I'm not super nervous yet, but might be Friday night going into Saturday. I would especially appreciate prayers for focus and clarity, as I will testing from 8:00 to 12:45...yuck:)
I am really enjoying my study in Hebrews!  I am in chapter 12...and the emphasis on perseverance in holiness!
I am so thankful that my "goodness" is not what gets me to heaven...I would be doomed.
But now that Christ's holiness is credited to my account, I am declared righteous, justified in God's sight!
Be reminded that many have gone before us with less "visibility" and more faith. They didn't have the written Word, they trusted a God they couldn't see and did things that cost them their lives; 'people of whom the world was not worthy.' "Let us ALSO then" run with endurance, cast off impediments and keep our eyes fixed on Christ!
Let us strive for peace with everyone and holiness....not as the MEANS to get us into heaven, but out of gratefulness for the MEANS He used to get us there! BECAUSE of what He did, let us not grow weary in doing good!
Even in tough times, which seem most unpleasant, remember that God is our loving Father, and wouldn't allow anything that does not draw us nearer to Himself. "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, to those who have been trained by it."  Hebrews 12:11


"But as it is, they desire a better county, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them!" Hebrews 11:16

My disease

Something has been gradually dawning on me the past couple days. I couldn't really understand what it was, couldn't understand why I was feeling the way I was. (And no, I'm not going to come out with an announcement that "I'm in love!")
I have been suffering from a gradual, deadly disease. It threatens to suck the very joy out of my life. It wraps it's ugly hands around my eyes, until I can't even see anymore.
It's name is "going through the motions."
It's so sneaky, because it looks like you're doing all the right things, saying nice things, doing nice things...but inside you're dying for air.
It came upon me so slowly, that I'm not even sure when it began. It could be days or weeks.

My parents gave me several new devotional books for my birthday on Wednesday. The one I decided to start is called "Purity," by Lydia Brownback. As I was reading the first chapter,
"A Pure Woman is Clear-sighted," something niggled at the back of my heart. As I read, A pure heart is one so set on God that it isn't watered down with lesser things, I felt uncomfortable. "I don't feel like I can really see God right now. What this devotional is talking about is not where I am right now. What's wrong with me?"
Then last night, I read the second chapter, "A Pure Woman has One Desire." The theme verse is one that I have memorized, and even spoke on myself.
Psalm 73:25-26 "Whom have I in heaven but You, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."
The thing that bothers me is that I have tasted this kind of passion and desire! I have known it to be true in my heart and life! But I slip, I fall, I grow stagnant in my desire! As I was going to bed, I knew this had to change! I am sick of half-hearted prayers, blah-blah devotions, and being caught up in the dailiness of life!
This morning, I got up with my alarm, and got out my Bible, my spiritual journal, and my coffee and sat on the futon. I looked at the same Bible I had been reading out of every day, and said, "God, I'm sick of the way I've been acting in my soul, like You aren't enough, like You aren't satisfying. Show me SOMETHING that I can cling to!"
I opened my Bible at random, and came to 1 Samuel 12, thinking to myself, "What is Samuel's final address going to teach me right now?" Samuel walks the people of Israel through all their foolishness, their going after other gods, like the people all around them.
"But you have forgotten the Lord your God." I stopped reading. I have forgotten God in the business of life. He has become a small part of my routine, like brushing my teeth. I don't really think about Him after I've done my time!
I cried out, "I'm sick of this! What can I do?"
Then I got to verses 20 and 21.

 "And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty."

 Thank You, LORD! I have done evil. I have done and thought things I should not. I have not done things I should. But I do not have to be afraid! What I need to do is NOT TURN ASIDE FROM FOLLOWING! I can't let even my own failures discourage me from following, from clinging to my GOD with my WHOLE HEART! Serve Him! Follow Him! Worship Him! Love Him! Praise Him!

And DO NOT TURN ASIDE AFTER EMPTY THINGS...for they are empty. They cannot satisfy.

Follow God. Serve Him with your whole heart.

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

Day 3: Favorite Book

A favorite book. Hmm. That means that...

• It is the ONE book I would choose above any others
• I ALWAYS want to read it
• It never grows old; I want to read it over and over

There is only ONE book that I can attempt to say these things about, and I can't say that every time I look at my favorite book I feel a passion to read it. But I'm so grateful that I have the ONE book that is always relevant, always applicable, always true, always full of richness, always pure, always worthy of my time!

God's Word, the Bible, the Holy Scriptures.

Every time I hear those words, I should get a chill down my spine, a lump in my throat. I have the very WORDS OF GOD IN MY HANDS! Renew my desire and passion for Your Word, O my God! Write Your law in my heart! May I desire it above all else and may nothing else satisfy me!

Dare to do the Inconvenient!

The Good Samaritan, and the story of Mary and Martha. I could tell you these stories in my sleep. But if I told you them in my sleep, you would utterly miss the significant point of these stories, which were recorded in the Holy Scriptures which will never pass away for a purpose.
Convenience.
We live in a culture that both expects and promotes convenience. Sorry to break it to you, but it is not one of our unalienable rights. The cross of Christ does not call us to be convenient, but courageous and carry our cross, come what may!
The priest and the Levite had things to do, places to be, it would be inconvenient to stop and help a guy who looks dead anyway. They were important people, someone else could stop and help.
The Samaritan had things to do, places to be, but he saw a man in need, and that was more important than being "on time."
It was inconvenient to stop and care for a wounded man.
It was inconvenient to walk the rest of the way, because his donkey was bearing the wounded man.
It was inconvenient to give of his hard-earned money to care for someone he didn't even know and might not even survive, but he did.
He wasn't concerned with convenience, he was concerned with compassion.

In the verses preceeding this story that Jesus tells, He reminds us that the greatest thing is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself."

The unhappy root of our love of convenience is a love of self. 


Martha is an amazing reflection of our culture (read: a reflection of me). Go, go, go, do this, do that, be here, be there, wait, why isn't Mary helping me? "Master, tell my lazy sister to get up and help me!" Whoa moment...as Jesus looks up at Martha and says, "Slow down! You are so concerned with your own affairs that you are missing the most important thing in your life!"

"Slow down."
It's not convenient, but it's necessary.
"Let the Word dwell in you richly"
"Meditate within your heart in your bed and be still."
"All your busy rushing ends in nothing"
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Stop your busy rushing for a moment and just sit and be still before God. Do what's inconvenient and maybe you'll notice something huge that you're missing!
Maybe someone needs prayer or (heaven forbid!) help.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

Turn your eyes off yourself and your to-do list and see things as they really are.
"You are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all."

encouragement from psalm 4

‎"How long, o sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?

How long will you love worthlessness and love falsehood?

But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly. 

The Lord will hear when I call to Him!

Meditate within your heart on your bed and BE STILL. Selah

There are many who say, "who will show us any good?"

Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.

You have put gladness in my heart, 

more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

I will both lie down and sleep, for YOU ALONE, O LORD, make me dwell in safety."

From Psalm 4

Psalm 119:13-16

"With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word."
Psalm 119:13-16

the source of my strength to keep on running

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

Psalm 18:1-3

"I will love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer.
My God, my strength, in Whom I will trust.
My shield and the horn of my salvation; my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord Who is worthy to be praised,
So shall I be saved from my enemies."
                                                                          Psalm 18:1-3

Loving the Word

Do I really love the Word of God? Do I delight in it, take comfort in it, rejoice in it, hope in it, long for it, trust in it, observe it, run in the way of it, meditate on it, declare it, seek it, treasure it, fix my eyes on it, and not forget it? It's hard to respond truthfully to that question. Sometimes I do pursue the Word with my whole self, and other times...well, I consider a task, a duty. I'm studying Psalm 119, and in awe of my own lack of passion. Daily I read the words and then go back and read them again, because the depth of the psalmist's desire is worth at least a second read through. If I really lived this psalm, my every thought, desire, hope, awaking in the night, and song would be the Words of the Promise of God. I fall short of that mark. Don't we all? And yet, we are not to be oblivious to the world around us, humming our way through life. The Word is not just a book, it is alive and it has a purpose: that we may know God, both Who He Is and What He has Done, and be changed by a relationship with Him! When we read the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit prods us, illumines us, and convicts us. "This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts." (Psalm 119:56 ESV) I got out another version, because I couldn't quite understand what this verse was saying. "This has become mine, that I observe Your precepts." (Psalm 119:56 NASB) I want this to be my view of my relationship with the commandments of God. It is my blessing, my treasure to know what my God wants from me, and to do it. That is mine. But it is also available to everyone who reads this Word and is changed by it. "For I find my delight in Your commandments, which I love." (v. 47) And this is what I want to be able to say, wholeheartedly and sincerely! May we develop habits and patterns of delighting in the Word and living it out, genuinely reflecting our God and His words, which we love!