209 - "Be Even in the Events of Your Life" Ecclesiastes 1-4

                                           

Eccl. 1:1 - It's smoke!  Spitting in the wind.  How does Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, amass silver and gold and the treasure of kings and refuse his heart no pleasure (2:8)...and arrive at the conclusion:  I hate life (2:17).  Smoke.  Chasing after the wind.  What was Solomon missing in all his stockpiled wisdom and knowledge? Why was his heart not stirred with hope?  Is my heart stirred this day with hope or despair over my circumstances?  Solomon was desperate for what?  He couldn't get answers to his questions, could he? Maybe it wasn't the answers that the wise Solomon wanted.  "Until you stop running from real darkness into artificial light, until you hear the bad news that life is empty, that you are empty, you will not hear the GOOD NEWS My Son came to bring...I lower you into the depths of despair to lift you into the heights of joy.  The way up is the way down.  There is no other way.  You will not hear My song of love until you hear no other music."  66 LL.  What music am I listening to that keeps me from hearing His Song of Love?  It could be literal music or music to my ears or music to my heart or music to my eyes that keeps me from hearing His Song of Love. "Every moment of your life is a perfectly tuned note in the Eternal Harmony."  That is if I have ears to hear.  Let those scales fall off my eyes.  Let me hear the music of heaven.o

Eccl 2:24 - Enjoy the good of your labor.  Be even in the events of life---not leaning in hope that this will make me happy nor sinking in despair that this has happened.  Walk into the events of this day on purpose expecting God.  There is a time for every event under heaven. Eccl 3:1. God has put the event of Eternity in our hearts. Eccl 3:11. Solomon penned these words in his event search, his trial of every commodity, every experience, every person. All Futility. Nothing new under the sun. No new words either. There is a Season. And a Time. We cannot cover up the emptiness of our existence, if it be so, and live with the illusion of satisfaction. Today.  "Emptiness is covered by distraction. Loneliness is numbed with sociability. Futility is denied in activity. Premature and superficial satisfaction with the good things of life prevents My people from grasping the incredible news that My reality of joy, community, and meaning has invaded theirs." The ultimate good is living for God's Glory but the words run cheap. 

May we only be satisfied with seeing Your Likeness in our lives and the lives of those we touch.  Help us to see through the thin veneers varnished on our events.  Illusions exposed.

PHOTO: Sunset. Darkness closes every day. Wake up tomorrow with expectancy that God is in your every circumstance.

208 - "Clothed With Strength & Dignity" Proverbs 27-31

                                 

 Sons and Daughters and Grandkids,

This Proverbs 31 chapter is about the virtuous woman.  This verse is written by God for all of us, sons and daughters, and children.  

Clothed with strength and dignity;
you can laugh at the days to come.

Proverbs 31:25

So, smile at the future.  It looks awful bright for all of you.  Because.  It holds future days clothed in prayer; dressed in hope; showing in beauty.  I'm praying for each of you.

What verses linger with you from Proverbs?  

I want to reflect on what it means to try not to figure out everything on my own but to run to God (3:5), to guard my heart (4:23), to write His Word on the back of my hand and awake and get ready for Him each morning (7:4), to not explode in anger but shrug off insults and stop letting people know they annoy me (12:16), to know that I can laugh and ache at the same time without hypocrisy (14:13), to remember that God doesn't miss a thing (15:3), to overlook an offense and bond a friendship (17:9), to see a Powerful Advocate at work every day (23:11), to not work myself into the spotlight (25:6), to not call attention to myself (27:2), to know what it means that my face mirrors my heart (27:19), to never whitewash my sin (28:13), and to live clothed with strength & dignity and face tomorrow with a smile.

The unexamined life isn't worth living.  These verses strengthen my resolve to want to be holy.  There is so much hope for our sin.  "With God's help, I shall become myself."  S.K.  "Continue asking your questions. They are good. But stop demanding answers. Live those questions long enough in My Presence until you run out of words. You will then catch a brief glimpse of who I AM that will seal your lips." 

Are my lips sealed?  There is only a God-shaped life (Prov 11:28), "a narrow road that exposes foolishness, crushes arrogance, whets appetities for holiness, releases love, and fills with hope."  66LL.   There is so much hope for our sin.  Deeply encouraged as we close the pages of this book on this Narrow Road.

PHOTO:  Zekey comes to visit us this summer.  Or, rather, I went and got Zekey to come back to Austin to visit us and Pops delivered him back home.  I hope oh so many words from the Bible linger in every single person reading this!  It is your oxygen.  Live it til you run out of words.

207 - "What Steals Your Peace?" Proverbs 23-26

                        

Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. Proverbs 25:15 Why is it we think that the force of our words wield victory? It is the motive of our words that break the bank. And the motive must be patience and mildness to hear others out, and wait for the occasion to present. Patience ~ Bear the heat of the conversation, without becoming heated up and wait for an opportunity. Mildness - Speak softly, mildly, humbly. No lightning words which can't even pierce the skin. Soft words melt the flesh. Through patience and a gentle tongue. The plumb line of the Word of God is the most important measure in your life. Proverbs 25:28 says: "Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." This text paints the picture of the state of our society when the walls are compromised. Defenseless. It is a metaphor of human nature as it is today; human nature as it can be in Christ; and human nature as it will be in heaven. Whatever the cost. I pray that we will all be controlled by self-control.  The right way.  Defend that city of your soul. 

We put ourselves forward
Cause we are curved inward.
We covet, we need what we see.
We hold, won't let go, let things be.

What steals your peace
and lets your city doors fling open?
A robbery in broad daylight.
We won't give up our things, our plans.
Let us give up ourselves to the Holy God.
Let us ask Him for Col 1:29.

This day, something or someone will steal my peace?  It should never be but my struggle is not with flesh and blood but with powers of this world.  May we give ourselves over to You from the first flutter of the opening eye to the closing of the same.  It is the Energy of Christ that is so powerfully at work in each one of us.  Come, Lord Jesus, be our Peace and Power causing us to walk in Your Word.

PHOTO:  A desolate spot way out far where no one lives.  No walls to this city.  It's the spot in the road where I fainted last summer and spent 1 1/2 hours laying at this crossroad before I was rescued.  When we're not prepared, not giving ourselves up to God, thieves steal and destroy.  

206 - “Two Beautiful Things Better Than Money” Proverbs 20-22

 

Here are two beautiful things to desire more than money: 

A good name and good favor. 

 "A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, 

Favor is better than silver and gold."

Proverbs 22:1

A good name opens doors to a person's heart where riches only meet their physical needs. To be well beloved is far better than the gain of gold. Just love this. It speaks to a need deep within me that it is all right to want to be beloved for the right reasons. 

And God says, "Incline your ear" and hear these words of the wise and apply your heart to His Knowledge. Prov 22:17.

Oh! That our trust may be in you, O LORD, always.  
This event. This moment. This day.  
For You say in 22:19:

You have made this known to us. Today. Even to me. Help us find this word.

PHOTO:  Lampasas.  It's a tiny Texas town.  Everyone knows everyone there.  No matter where you live, it's not about your estate, it's about your name and your legacy. 

205 - "Becoming Myself" Proverbs 16-19

 Proverbs is the Shame of Exposure or the Appeal of Wisdom.  I'm being haunted or hunted.  "With God's help, I shall become myself."  Soren Kierkegaard.                                                            

                                          

Proverbs 16
   ¹ Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word. 
   ² Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good. 
   ⁷ When God approves of your life, even your enemies will end up shaking your hand. 
   ⁹ We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.

"To humans belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans."

Proverbs 16:1-3

I am not sufficient in my own strength, my own plans, my own voice to think that I can do life on my own.  It is the renewing grace of God that gives me hope to move in His Sufficiency.  My current burdens are way too heavy.  The word "commit" means "to roll" those monstrous loads right onto Him.  Here goes. 

Proverbs 17
⁹ Overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend!

 ^{The eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth." Proverbs 17:24.}

²⁷ The one who knows much says little; an understanding person remains calm. 

  
Proverbs 18
   ¹⁵ Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights. 
   ²¹ Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose. 
   ²² Find a good spouse, you find a good life—and even more: the favor of God! 
   ²⁴ Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;

so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

Proverbs 17:14

"What danger there is 

in the beginning of strife! 

Resist its earliest display; 

and leave it off, 

if it were possible, 

before you begin. M.H.

How have I missed most of my life the Truths I now see much more clearly. My experience was like the verse in Mark 8:24 where a blind man sees for the first time---but he sees "trees walking" and so did I. Alive but frozen in some ways. But, now I see. Yes, I really see.  "Place no hope in the experience of satisfaction now.  If you do, you are shifting away from the hope held out in the gospel of Jesus Christ." Larry Crabb

Where are my eyes? Do they seek satisfaction on this earth? Or do I live for another world? If I separate myself in any way, any kind, I seek my own desire.  

 "Do you ponder all I have created and recognize a wisdom you lack?  Do you observe life and see your God whose Sovereign Power shuts your mouth, whose uncompromising Love opens your ears to hear Me speak?  If not, you have no fear of Me.  You have not even the beginnings of wisdom?"  66 LL.  Do I really fear God?  Is my hand over my mouth? 

204 - "The Eyes of the Lord Keep Watch" Proverbs 12-15

The eyes of the LORD 

are in every place

keeping watch

on the evil

and the

good.

Proverbs 15:3

Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living.  One cannot read the proverbs without feeling a Holy Searchlight revealing, as Crabb calls it, "the Shame of Exposure or the Appeal of Wisdom."  Romans 2:4 says it is the Kindness of our God that leads us to repent. I can't stop thinking about verses like one we read yesterday in Proverbs 12:16 about fools on a short fuse exploding in anger instead of being prudent and quietly shrugging off the insults.  Oh, that's how I want to live with a Quiet Heart.  Fight or Flight takes over in me.  God, please give me and my friends here a quiet heart (Psalm 131:2) in our mess.  The verses of Proverbs haunt and allure.In today's reading I was stirred in shame and appealed by several verses.

Somewhere, I've picked up the notion that I have to keep an eye out for myself, my kids, my world.  Make sure we are all being treated like we are supposed to be treated.  Entitlement---we deserve good, better, best.  

It is freeing to take a step back and recognize there are eyes in every place keeping watch.  The verse deals with not just over things but over people---evil and good.  We are "kept" people.  And every single person we deal with has been thought about in great detail and designed by God just the way they are.  Maybe not in all their redeemed state.  But always a marked person created by God.  And God will use the evil and good in our own lives. 

Behold.  The Omniscient and Omnipresent Jehovah watches over this day as though He is looking down from a tower---so, the verb intimates.  A Watchtower with a God Who knows all, sees all, and is very present still, moving into our lives.  Hallelujah!

 Proverbs is the Shame of Exposure or the Appeal of Wisdom.  Larry Crabb. I'm being haunted or hunted.  "With God's help, I shall become myself."  Soren Kierkegaard.

Proverbs 13:
   ² The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation; 

Proverbs 14
     ³ Frivolous talk provokes a derisive smile; 
       
Proverbs 15
   ³ God doesn't miss a thing— 

PHOTO:  This UT tower means something to me.  And the thought that God beholds our lives as though watching high from a tower is just beautiful to me.  Provision.  Care.  Presence.  Jehovah God keeping watch over all that falls.

   

203 - "A Soul Formed By the Word" Proverbs 8-11

What's the answer for my great need?

Watching and Waiting at Wisdom's Gate.
Count me present.
Your attendance is your happiness.
You don't have to wait long. Just knock.

"Blessed are those who listen to Me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting daily at my doorway.
For those who find me find life
and receive favor from the Lord. Proverbs 8:34-35

"The word of God is two-fold and so is wisdom; for a word without wisdom is of no value, and wisdom without a word is of little use. Divine revelation is the word and wisdom of God---pure religion, undefiled, is built upon it. Well worthy of acceptance. Proverbs 8:1-2.

Wisdom cries aloud from the whispers to the clamors of conscience. Christ is in our hearts and He is in this Word. This Word revealed to us, in us. "It is the soul formed by the word. It is Christ formed in the soul." MH

Proverbs 8:1 "Does not wisdom call out? Does not undertanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: I raise my vloice to all mankind." "The word of God is two-fold, and, in both senses, is wisdom; for a word without wisdom is of little value, and wisdom without a word is of little use." Matthew Henry. Get wisdom.

Christ in the Word.
Christ revealed in you.

And you will know all the loveliness of God.
And His Love will be shed abroad in your hearts.
And you will have all the counsel in rough patches.

Wisdom calls out to you:

“To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
You who are simple, gain prudence;
you who are foolish,

Set your hearts on Wisdom. Proverbs 8:6

PHOTO:  I love every minute with you, Bristol. We were at Mozart's in Austin. Praying for you this day that God's Word will form your world. Gal 4:19 - that Christ be formed in me, in you. 

202 - "It Is By Loving, Not By Being Loved" Proverbs 4-7

Treasure up my commandments within you.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Blessed is the one who listens.

Waiting daily at my gate.

Fear the LORD.

Beginnings.

Wisdom.

Holy.

He.

Proverbs 7:3

Where we are enmeshed with the happenings of this world, would You grant us Your Power to move in love. The quote of George MacDonald comes to mind:  "It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest to the soul of another."  Oh, dear Father, help us move this day to love by treasuring, writing, listening, waiting, watching, and fearing You not what's happening to us.  Make us a little more holy this day than we were yesterday.  Where we struggle, please help us to listen long and deep.

PHOTO:  View from 37,000 feet in the air where I tried to listen long today.  This vast expanse, God You suspend us all.  You keep.  You grasp.  You make this world work.  Make our hearts work today.  Your Words on the tablets of our hearts.  Unless You do it, we cannot.

201 - "Holiness Trumps Management" Proverbs 1-3

Don't be weary of God's reproof.
The Lord reproves those whom He loves.  
Sickness. Trials. Testings. Temptation

Matthew Henry puts it this way:  
"Should the Lord visit us with trials and sickness---let us not forget that the exhortation speaks to us as to children, for our good. Bind them around your neck."
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father the son in whom he delights.   Proverbs 3:7
Henry goes on to say that those "who know themselves" find a lack of understanding like a bruised broken reed.  God will never break us beyond measure. 

So, what's the point?

What to do?
Scripture interprets Scripture.  What is God saying to you through His Word?
Holiness weighs in more important than management.  

Write His Words on the tablet of your heart so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  No bruised reeds here. May our holiness trump any kind of management involving our lack of understanding.  

Proverbs 3:3-7  Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. 
   Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well 
   in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; 
   don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do,    
   everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. 
   Run to God! Run from evil! Honor God with everything you own; 
   give him the first and the best. ... No need to panic over alarms or surprises.

I have lived a frenetic life at times---that's my default mode.  Someone please help me.  Someone please rescue me.  There's Only One Who can Rescue us from darkness.  May we be more concerned about being rescued from darkness than rescued from pain.  It doesn't come from a good place in my heart when I try to ease my pain, minimize my pain, silence my pain.  I've so wanted answers for my panic.  And here is my God saying:  Don't try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God's Voice."  Am I listening this day for His Still Small Voice?  Or am I trying to figure out life on my own?  Everything.  Everywhere.  Listen for His Voice today in the mundane and marvelous.  And go be Prov 3:29---God's Hand to someone this day.

Solomon was the wisest of men. 

Yet, even Solomon had to wrestle with Wisdom.

It wasn't poured into his head through a sieve, through a spout.

It was delivered by His Maker, through his work.

Gaining wisdom.

Understanding words.

Receiving instruction.

Doing what is right and just and fair.

Giving prudence to the simple.

Giving knowledge to the young.

Adding learning to the wise.

Giving guidance to the discerning.

Understanding proverbs.

Proverbs 1:1-6

Wise words from a wise man seeking this all of his life.

There is Someone greater here than Solomon.

There is Christ found in these proverbs.

Christ is The Living Word.  

Breathed on to this page.

PHOTO: Pagosa Springs

200 - "God Uses Struggle To Uncover A Rest Beneath the Struggle" Psalm 144-150

As we close the Book of Psalms, what did our Beautiful God stir in you that comes to mind?  What is stronger in you?  What are you afraid of?  What is God stirring up?  What lingers?

Psalm 150:6 "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  We all have breath.  Even our praises are with trembling. 

At this juncture of my life, I feel like I have fallen short in ways.  How arrogant to think if I had to do it all over again, I could do better---no, I'd just make different mistakes.  No perfect people.  Why am I so hard on myself? 66 LL says: No guarantees in life.  Only one:  God will lead me through even this to know Him better.  Thank you, Lord.

God is the One who rebuilds our lives, 

Who regathers us when we distance ourselves.  

He heals the heartbroken and bandages our wounds.  

I need a Savior this night to heal my broken heart as I deal with some hard realities about my life.  Our Lord is great with limitless Strength; we'll never comprehend what He knows and does.  God puts the fallen on their feet again.  I'm standing up.

What lingers with me is that our desires to live are good but the road to get there can be a bad one.  "You assume I relieve struggle and replace it with rest.  But I use struggle to uncover a rest beneath the struggle that no anguish can destroy.  The struggle with fear and pain will continue.  Only in the storm will you know there is an anchor."  Do I feel that Anchor this night?   

Incredibly grateful for these two So very grateful to you God for                                                              You rescue the wretched who have been thrown out with the trash.                                                                  You seat them among honored guests.                                                                                                        And you give the childless joy as the parents of children.   

This week, I have wrestled about my life, my place, my heart---there is a verse that kept coming to mind:  Psalm 115:1 Not to us.  Not to us, but to your Name be Glory.  This life is not about me yet I am enmeshed in figuring it out.  Not to us but to your Name bring Glory!

PHOTO:  Thought about the twins many times while reading Psalms.  These Covid babies have inherited a crazy world.  May they find the Anchor of their soul forever.  And this Momma will always praise Him even in her current trembling. east to west, from dawn to dusk, 
Keep lifting all your praises to God!  These older two grandkids are just the best! We could not have enjoyed the bats, the trampolines, the skating rink, the pool, the go karts, the arcades, the aquarium any more!!! Thanks for visiting us Zekey!  August 2023