185 - “The Word Speaks By Me” Psalm 52-59

 

We all live with ourselves. We really know what we are like, what we think, what we do. And we have a glimpse from this book of the things David did. Some Evil. Some Glorious. David was self-aware of what his sins were. He took ownership of the stormy seas. He threw out an Anchor for his soul. He waddled and waded through the mire, the quicksand. And it was the Word of God breathed into David that he spoke 2 Samuel 23:2. They knew that it was not their minds conjuring up great advice to give away. These are God's Thoughts that David writes in this Psalm 57. “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; David's words dawn on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth." The Word of God has spoken. And His Word still speaks today. To you. To me. God speaks by me. 

PHOTO: The sun slipping into Quarries Lake. It's a silent spot I go to often to listen to God's Word.

184 - "God Speaks and Summons" Psalm 46-51

What an introduction! I am God! Be still. Know this! Such a beautiful way to introduce the offer. Take this comfort: I am with you. I am for you. That is what you use to answer your fear. Psalm 46:10 

The Hebrew word for "be still" means to let it fall; let the concerns hang down. Then, slack off, especially your hands. No exertion needed. Leave the matter with God. Oh! The Providence in all our problems. Oh! The Power in what we contemplate. Oh! That introduction! Take the comfort! 

Psalm 50:1-2 God speaks and summons From the rising of the sun to its setting! Perfect in Beauty is God Who pours out. Our God comes and calls to deliver all!! Yes, this God looks down from heaven, from the most holy high place. And what does He see Any who seek. Corrupt?? Not 1. When God speaks twice, we do very well to listen. Matthew Henry's commentary speaks of the comparison to a hammer. Strokes must be repeated. Show us how bad! Speak to us! Hard to see! Arrogance!! 

PHOTO:  California coast. Still as the stars. Mysterious as royalty. 

183 - "Give Us This Day A Settled Peace of Conscience---let me listen with my eyes" Psalm 40-45

                                          

He turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:2

My foot stands on level ground when I am forgiven. 

There are no "big' people and "little" people in this world.

That's not what the world tells you. 

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,

    and put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:1-4

Some seasons, we can't work ourselves out of what we are in.  All we can do is wait patiently---never in vain.  We know God hears us.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Give us this day a "settled peace of conscience" that we may wait rightly.  And how did the Hebrews do it?  Through a metaphor. Psalm 40:7 - God dug out their ears. (God's Word Translation). They listened with both their ears and eyes --- I come to Your Word.  It is written of me.  

God's Kindness and Truth is David's comfort on his sickbed as he faces unkindness and treachery of family and friends. Psalm 41:1 do I fear in times of trouble? The sin of those who cheat me surrounds me. I am afraid that they won't change soon enough. I am afraid that they will get off without any verdict. They'll be passed over while I'm diligently working. My situation shouts to the cheaters whose sins bump up against mine this day. Maybe, they have wealth and can ease their way through. Blessed are those whose strength is in God, not in their wealth or position or ease. Where is my own heart this day? A highway to God? The psalmist's heart was set on God, set on a pilgrimage. "The very map to Jerusalem was written on that heart. His Love for God and for His house helped him make right decisions in life so that he did not go astray. ...The Valley of Baca is a name for any difficult and painful place in life, where everything seems hopeless and you feel helpless, like the pit of despair." W. Wiersbe. The people who love God expect to pass through this valley and not remain there. "They dig a well...They pray down the rain...They go from strength to strength." W.W. Trusting God no matter what coup de grace befalls. Psalm 45: 1 My heart bursts its banks, spilling beauty and goodness. I pour it out in a poem to the king, shaping the river into words. Psalm 45: 10-12 With dazzling dresses and a procession of unbridled joy and wedding gifts pouring in, piling high; may the upcoming brides not miss a word. Forget your country, put your home behind you. Be here---the King is wild for you. 

 PHOTO: It's the street where they live.  Bob's dad. Bob's sister and family. Knock-dead view of Mount Rainier. Where you don't have to pray the rain down. It falls just about every day. Where you live from strength to strength.

182 - "A Sojourner, A Stranger" Psalm 36-39

I want this world to be perfect in every which way: family, friends, relationships, home, car, circumstances, money, job, entertainment, lifestyle, and oh, I could go on. Maybe not perfect, just complementary. Really?

What speaks to my heart this day? What makes sense to me as I move into my world? Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart. It is transgression that flatters us in our own eyes. Psalm 36:1-2. We can have the good life here. We deserve better treatment than what we are getting. We make people want to pay for what they are doing to us. We have ceased being wise and doing good; we plan evil upon our bed. Not Good! Psalm 36:3-4

Do not fret because of those who are evil.

Do not envy those who do wrong.

Because.

Like the grass, they will soon wither one day.

Psalm 37:2

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Take delight in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart.  

Trust in Him and He will do this.

Psalm 37:3, 5

This is a sermon, says the commentaries.
"Calculated not for our devotion, but for our conversation."
It is Maschil---a teaching psalm.

Fall Forward in Faith.

No matter how bleak.

No matter how black.

It shall be "well with the soul of those who fear God." 

Do I despise evil? Or do I tolerate it? Do I dismiss it like a $5 parking ticket for my bicycle. 

Don't fret.Don't be envious.
God will do it!

God will bring forth your righteousness, Psalm 37:6
as the light and your judgment as the noonday. 

All of our serving and sharing and ministering
does not make us right with God. 

Rest in the LORD. Wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7  

Maybe, what makes sense to your heart is not right. 
He is our strength in time of trouble. Psalm 37:39. 

Rebuke me, O LORD, Psalm 38:1
for Your Hand presses down. Again. Psalm 38:2

Mourning. Sighing. Aloof. Afar.
I am a stranger. a sojourner.

PRAYER FROM PSALMS

And now, LORD, 

for what do I wait?

My hope is in You. Psalm 39:7

Not in my success or systematic theology or 

achievement or accolades or validation or victory.

I hope in You.  Psalm 38:15

181 - "Like Lazarus, Awake My Soul" Psalm 31-35

Psalm 35:22 Please hear my voice as I cry for mercy. Psalm 31:22 Just like Lazarus, awaken my soul to see life again. Just like Lazarus, send people my way to unbind what I cannot. Thank you, God, for the invitation to pray without ceasing. Is there ever a prayer that is unanswered. No. God answers all of them---it's just that maybe the answer we hoped for; or it is not the one we receive;the timing we require is revealed to be our will not His. In John 11:41 ~ Jesus lifts up his eyes and says, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. Did anyone really believe that God would bring him back to life? If we ask, He will answer. Don't be silent. Please be near to me. 

PHOTO: Eatonville, Washington. The street where the Morgans and Brandons once lived.

180 - “Live the Confusion in My Presence Psalm 23-30

 

God promises to guide me through the Right Path.

Whatever I walk through this season and even overall, You, O LORD, are guiding me on the right path to find You. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  There's such Mystery to this life.  Somehow, we've constructed stories of experience or morality or principled living.  There is a right path. God is leading us to know Him better not figure things out. No Greater Love. No other place to be.  May we find the Sovereign God in the midst of what tugs at our hearts.  Psalm 23:3. 

"Face the hard questions that life requires you to ask.  Gather with other travelers on the narrow road, pilgrims who acknowledge their confusion and feel their fears.  Then together, live those questions in My Presence." 66LL.  O, to find Him in our struggles and not let the bad things define us. 

PHOTO: The San Antonio Missions. A watercourse.

179 - “My World May Not Recognize Me, But My God Does” Psalm 18-22

  

He brought me forth into a broad place where I can stand without having to wonder. He rescued me because He delights in me---maybe my world does not, He does! And I believe that! Psa 18:19. My God is illuminating all of my darkness. Psa 18:29. I may not see a lot happening this very day but as I reflect back, so much has changed. Change takes time. Doesn't happen overnight. My dark patches, incomprehensible shadows will be made clear one day. Until then, I trust smack dab in the middle of confusion, disconcerting news, and a world that has no place for me. But I am here to live, to love, to give, to move. I no longer need my world to come through for me. ~ Acts 20:24 God fills us all. Fills all those empty spaces. You know, He is looking for empty spaces today. John of the Cross said it this way: The Spirit of God cannot pass a soul with empty places without filling it with Himself. Search and find Him---He is here.

We are far too easily pleased. C.S. Lewis said it. May I never be satisfied with anything greater than becoming like Christ. 

PHOTO: Free Bible images. 

178 - "Let Your Theological Boxes Explode" Psalm 10-17

             

Arise on the helpless! God, lift up Your Hand! Psalm 10:12 

I walked the long lonely corridor of further testing. Bob did too this week. Something was wrong. Helpless, I lay on the gurney. Arise, O God. Three random texts come in---- God is holding you. No coincidence as I sat alone in a hospital of thousands. Held. 

Make room in your thoughts for God - Psalm 10:4 

Wonder when there is no room for God. A prayer for God Himself to appear. 

To manifest His Presence and Providence in the affairs of my little lower world. 

Arise, O God, on the helpless.

 13:2-3. Let me not barter for Anything Else to enlighten me. You have not forgotten. You see this thing that is happening to me. I will bless the LORD Who has counseled me. O God, please let my mind instruct me even this night. Because You are at my right hand, I will not be shaken in what comes my way. 

Psalm 13:8 "Expect your theological boxes to explode, to lose all false hope in what My Love will provide in this life. We've built these thoughts that life should happen a certain way. And what happens when it doesn't? May we be shaken and stirred to find this new way of thinking. The abandoned life to Christ. Because He is God and we are not."  

God remembered. We are a remembered tribe. We may have forgotten about Him in the past 24 hours of difficulties or double hearts (Psaml 12:2). But, He has not forgotten us. God remembers ...

If I drop a piece of info into the right slot, would it be morally right?  Do I live by morals alone? 

"Here is the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin. One's obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible." Eric Metaxas. Oh! God, please give us strength to prepare the way to truly live free and let go of the bartering unaware. 

PHOTO: A monastery of days gone by on St. Margaret's Island in Budapest, Hungary. I stood on this spot and wondered how the monks here wrestled in war to cast their burdens, how to trust their God.

177 - "I Have Installed My King" Psalm 1-9

We open the book of Psalms. It's a Hand reaching out to grasp ours in the midst of our storms and tears and confusion and fears. I have assumed wrongly about life: I have wanted God to step in and rescue me from all my struggles with people and life. Relieve me of this oppression. Replace it with Rest. But what God did: He has used my Job experiences "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." 66LL. This is not what my world tells me. My world wants me to have no struggles, no worries, no pain. If you do, people assume that you are: Not walking with God. Not trusting God. Not understanding God and His Goodness. Not in God's will. All of the Above. A friend said to me the other day: "Let's just be positive and trust God." Or, in other words: Let's just deny what is really going on. Ps 1:1 - Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of his disillusioned friends but in Truth. Ps 2:6 - As for me, I have installed my King...I take Refuge in God not things working out. >Ps 3:3 - You, O LORD, are a Shield about me, the One Who lifts my head through t.h.i.s. PHOTO: The trees in front of Robyn's house in Pagosa Springs. Behind me, the San Juan Forest burning unexpectedly, uncontrollably, unnerving. Meditate on these psalms day and night.

176 - "Existential Questions: Who is God? What Is He Up To?" Job 41-42

Job's answer to his Lord forces us to deal with those existential questions: 

Who is God and what is He up to in Job's life; in my life; in your life.  

Job's Response:
"I have heard of you, God, by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You.  Job 42:5-6

Therefore, I 
Retract and I
Repent in Dust and Ashes.
When God comes up from behind and we sense His Presence
When God comes up through strangers unaware
When God comes up within and we know His Goodness,
When God comes up to surprise us to uncover His Goodness ...
and we learn that
We are not the Prosecuting Attorney.
God is not the Defendant. 
Nor does He need us to defend Him and
pretend that all is well even though He has allowed suffering.

"God extinguished all the lights that had been guiding Job on a pleasant path through life, in order to gain entrance into Job's heart with Light of His Presence."66LL Are we mad that God has nudged us off the pleasant path? There is only One Source. There is only One Light.  We want God to undo all our problems and steer us back to that pleasant path. But, God is uncovering His Beauty, His Presence in you and me.  So be it. Amen & Amen. 

PHOTO: A storm brewing in Pagosa Springs where we were met with God's Grace. July 3, 2023