Monday Morning Cover to Cover

We boiled 60 pounds of live crawfish for Mother's Day and slowly devoured the critters. Then we had foot races in the back field and I lost every one to the little bitty cousins. This competitive girl didn't care at all. Brookie called from Thailand; Barrett called from France; Blair called from D.C.; and my youngest boy was by my side. That's what mattered to me...to connect with my four on this day that I didn't think could happen as a child from where I came. So grateful to my beautiful God that someone calls me "Mommy."

It's Monday Morning and nine thoughts linger with me from our chronological readings this week. I know some of you have fallen behind and it's okay. Just pick up where you are and join us. Choose one of the nine paragraphs below and read just one, then leave a comment about which one God is speaking to you about. We'd love for you to invite us to your blog to hear what lingers in your heart as you have read His Word this week.

Pray for us as we wait on God for direction about a ministry position. Pray for my husband who has hurt his back. Pray for favor on my life as I enter classrooms this week of the economically deprived who have agendas and attitudes that the world owes them something. Pray that I desire to be a blessing to them more than just wanting them to cooperate with my classroom goals. May we all look at others as more important than ourselves and have no higher agenda but to love and trust a good God Who is so present no matter what!

Pick one:

1. WE CAN NEVER LOSE THE LOVE OF OUR LORD.
I’m bent over listening in on how God will answer David in 2Samuel 7. David wants to build a house for God. God says: I will give you rest, David. Your offspring will build a house for My Name and my love will never be taken away from you, David, like it was Saul. I am so moved that God never mentions David’s sin for HE looks at David as righteous just like HE does to us. And David responds with a quiet humble heart when he hears the news that he won’t build the house but his offspring will—he would have been jealous if he was at war with his flesh.

2. SATAN INVITES US TO DWELL IN THE PAST or LIVE IN THE FUTURE
Sounds like David has dealt with his guilt as we overhear his prayer as he sits before his Lord. Wonder what words God will hear from us today as we sit before HIM in this present moment? David says things like: v. 18 – Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me this far??? V. 19 - There is No One like you. v. 27 David found courage to offer this prayer….David knew where he came from and he had acknowledged what he did that was wrong. That is the past. David lives in the present. God says He will take care of the future, so let it go. Satan wants us to live in the past or the future but not in the present. David repented of his ways. He wasn’t just being responsible going back to work, more than that—he was a broken man realizing what he had done to make his life work like he wanted.

3. GOD MAKES ME SOMEBODY WITH STRENGTH
I think I will remember Psa 138:3 for a long time. “I called. God answered. And HE made me BOLD and STOUTHEARTED.” I’ve never seen that word before. It means “someone with strength” in the Hebrew. Psa 138:8 says God will fulfill His Purpose for me—not about my purposes to live this life but all about God’s purposes and the next life. We were made for another world. For God knows me Psalm 139:5. I am hemmed in "behind and before. That means in both time and direction. He's got me 139:13. I am fearfully made not pitifully put together. Psalm 139:16. All my days were ordained by my God, even today! Psalm 139:18 His thoughts toward me outnumber all the grains of sand everywhere Psalm 139:23. YOU search me God and test my anxious thoughts...that's your work to lead me. Psalm 139:23.

4. NO HIGHER AGENDA THAN TO LOVE AND SHOW KINDNESS AND ADVANCE HIS KINGDOM
Loved loved the story of Mephibosheth in II Sam 9:3 - David showed God’s kindness because of Jonathan. He “provided” for Mephibosheth it says in verse 10. The word provided in the Hebrew means “I Am” and oh my!!! I Am provides. God is so providing for me as He continues to say “HERE I AM” and in the midst of my husband not having a full-time job and limited finances, God is so showing up. I hope we all continue to show God’s kindness to those He sends our way thinking more about others than ourselves, advancing His Kingdom, not just living this life.

5. SILENCE IN THE FACE OF SIN DOES NOT SET ANYONE FREE
David’s son Amnon rapes his beautiful half-sister, Tamar. II Sam 13:14. Absalom asked what happened and gives his sister horrifying advice to keep quiet about the rape. In verse 21, it says King David heard about what had happened, and he was very angry. However, Absalom and David never spoke to Amnon or Tamar about it. They left Tamar alone to face the wrath of her rapist. That same thing happened to me---left alone in my own rape. That’s horrible parenting on David’s part. Absalom took matters into his own hands and successfully plotted to kill Amnon, then fled. David says he will protect strangers and “not a hair on their son’s head will be disturbed.” 2 Samuel 14:11. But David won’t do as much to protect and care for his own children as he promised to do for a stranger. 2 Sam 14:13. David never wanted his son Absalom in his presence. 2Sam. 14:24.

6. CAN WE TRUST GOD TO BE GOOD EVEN WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES DON'T GO OUR WAY?
II Samuel 24 - David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant." Psalm 20:7 - Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Isn’t this what life is all about…no matter what happens to us, do we trust God as a good God who has not turned his head. No surprise to God that we don’t have a job or that health issues have crept back in as my husband is now suffering or that finances are tight or that someone else gets to rule over the people—not us. We trust HIM. Isaiah 31:1 comes to mind: Woe to those who rely on Egypt. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

7. SOMEONE IS THROWING STONES AT YOU IN YOUR VALLEY AND GOD IS THERE
You are the lifter of my head in our valleys. Psalm 3:3. God hears us when we call to HIM in our valleys. Psalm 4:3. Be silent. Psalm 4:4. There is a greater joy there than circumstances going our way. Psalm 4:7. This is a forgiven murderer, adulterer and parental failure who is writing these verses to his God. God restores our sinful souls - Psalm 23:3. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us. Psalm 23:4. David was walking through a valley in 2 Samuel 16 when Shimei threw stones down at David, cursed at him, and showered him with dirt. David's response: “It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.” God is in your valley with you.

8. WHAT ONE THING DO I ASK OF MY GOD?
FIRST THINGS FIRST...AND THERE IS ONLY ONE FIRST THING
In his “overwhelming guilt,” David chooses to trust and wait for his God. Psalm 37:3
My experience has been Psalm 27: 13,14 - I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the Goodness of my God in the land of the living. Praise God for deliverance from ourselves and from those who oppress us.“The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1. Don’t fear my dangerous brother, nor any perpetrator against me. In my life, that was really hard for me to do when I knew my life was in danger so David’s words are powerful to me. “The LORD is the Stronghold of my life.” “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek—to dwell in His House to gaze upon His Beauty. WAIT for the Lord and be strong. Take courage and wait for the LORD - v. 14…It is ours for the taking. I so want to take courage from my beautiful God!

9. TRUST GOD WHEN HE IS SILENT
FOR WHAT AM I REALLY LOOKING FOR?
My prayer for you this week is that your trusting heart will be strengthened if you do face a silent sovereign God this day! Why does it seem our God is hiding from us - Psalm 10:1. To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. Psalm 28:1 Over and over David said God was silent - Psalm 42:3. Yet, David knew his God heard his cry for mercy…my heart trusts in YOU, and I AM helped! (28:7) I put my hope in God, not in answers…Psalm 39:7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? Be not deaf to my weeping." When faced with silence, what am I really looking for? Is it solutions or streams?--- As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. Psalm 42:1,2. May all of our souls thirst for you, the living Word, the living God!