Pick a Psalm, Any Psalm!

It has been a rough couple of weeks at our house.  My husband was the first to come down with a cold, and he is telling people I didn't even thank him when he gave it to me!  Along with a cold, I had been fighting issues in my stomach and intestines which I trace back to a meal with a salad bar.  And, no, none of it was COVID related, as we both had to be tested to get into the local clinic for our routine blood work, and both tests came back negative.

In addition to feeling crappy physically, it has also been an emotionally draining week, which included the death of a classmate.  His partner in life is also a dear friend of mine, one who shares many things in common with me, including the love of music.  In the past we have done music together, and looking back, I'm not sure why we haven't done so lately.  I guess the busyness of life always gets in the way. [Sad excuse!]

Then news of another tragedy reached us.  Members of a family we know were involved in a car accident.  The mother and teenage son had minimal injuries, but a daughter had multiple broken bones, and the youngest son, an 8 year old, had critical injuries, leaving him brain dead.  The parents are close in age to my own children, with their children similar in age to my grandchildren.  I kept thinking how totally unexpected it was in their world, and yet, through their faith in God, they are navigating the valley road.

So it was, physically and mentally drained, I headed back to the clinic this morning for an ultrasound of my liver.  My provider didn't like some of the liver function numbers in my blood work, and wanted a closer look at things.  Results won't be in until tomorrow or Friday, so back home I went to face a house in desperate need of cleaning.

Where would I even start?  It was then I heard this little voice in my head say, "Start with Me!"  I've heard that voice before, and knew I had been shoving God to the back burner lately.  I found my Bible and did the daily reading assignment in the morning instead of squeezing it in last minute at the end of the day.  It was satisfying to put a check mark behind "Read my Bible", but somehow the assignment in Ezra didn't have much to feed my soul.

Then came the voice again, "Why not read a Psalm, too?"  It seemed like a good plan.  There is something about the Psalms that fits every up and down of life.  But which one?  I decided to just open my Bible somewhere in the middle, and found myself looking at Psalm 107.

Several verses had been underlined from past times of reading, and interestingly, they all said basically the same thing:

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered [saved, brought] them from their distress." 

Interesting.  Verses 6, 13, 19, and 28 were close to repeats of each other.  Investigating further, I found there was more of a pattern than these similar verses.  Each section talked about God's people getting themselves into trouble, and after crying out to the Lord, He was faithful to help them out of their struggle.

My favorite verse was the last one in the chapter, verse 43:

"Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord."

It was all I needed to face every bit of physical and mental stress. . .just consider the great love of the Lord.  Simple.  I went on to have a very productive day.  Seems this often happens when you put God first.  Let's see if I can remember this lesson when the test of the busy holiday season hits us!  In the meantime, I am thankful for family and friends who pray, and the assurance of God's great love, come what may.

Have a Blessed and Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Peter's "To Do" List

It seems if there are many things to get done, one of the best ways to tackle them is to prepare a "to do" list.  In my own life, I often find myself jotting down a list of things I hope to accomplish the next day before retiring for the night.  It somehow gives me great satisfaction to mark each item off with a check mark, or even draw a line through to show completion.  Better yet, once all items are complete, is crumbling up the piece of paper and tossing it in the garbage!

This evening, as I was reading from 1 Peter, I came across a "to do" list he left for us to follow.  When writing this epistle, Peter commented in verse 7 of chapter 5, "The end of all things is near."  If it was near back then, how much nearer is it today?  If you are a scholar of the Bible, you will agree there are many things happening in our world which point to the return of Christ.  Yet, God's timing is so different from ours, and a day to him is like a thousand of ours.  My Aunt Mabel, who passed away four years ago, would often comment on how they felt Christ's return was at hand some 90 years prior  The point is we are closer now than we have ever been!

Exactly what was on his list back then?  Lets continue on through verse 11 of chapter 7, and make a list:

1.  Be clear minded

2.  Be self-controlled

3.  Pray

4.  Love each other deeply

5.  Offer hospitality to one another

6.  Don't grumble!

7.  Use your gifts to serve others

8.  Faithfully administer God's grace

9.  When you speak, do so as if you are speaking the words of God

10.  Serve with God's strength, so He can be praised through Jesus Christ

Quite the list, isn't it?  How did you do while reading through it?  Were you able to cross off each of the items, or are there some you need to work on?  There are days I do pretty good, and others where I need to be reminded over and over to "stick to the list"!  It might be wise to keep a copy of this list handy throughout your days.  Ask God to help you by His Holy Spirit to follow through with each of the items.  The more we include this list in our every day behavior, the easier it will become. . .and the better off we all will be!

 

Messages to the Heart

Often in life, we might hear a "still, small voice" speaking to our heart.  It is the voice of the Holy Spirit gently guiding us along the straight and narrow pathway God has placed before us to follow.  On other days, like yesterday, it seems God uses other means to get His message across.  Perhaps this happens because we aren't first listening to the "still, small voice" He has already attempted!

It all started with my Bible reading for the day.  Not always do I get this done in the morning, but yesterday I did.  I follow a Bible reading plan which takes me through the Bible in a year, with daily assignments received from a guide called "Prayer Point" I receive quarterly from Samaritan's Purse.  The reading for the day was in 2 Chronicles, chapters 29-32.  It is part of the segment of God's Word where He lists the various kings ruling in Judah and Israel "back in the day".  

The king getting the attention during these chapters was King Hezekiah, who was 25 when he became king, and ended up ruling a total of 29 years.  The Bible tells us he chose to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, which is always a good plan.

The first thing on his agenda was opening up the temple of the Lord, repairing damages it had faced, and going through a process of purification.  A couple of verses standing out to my mind were verses 11 and 15 of Chapter 29.  Hezekiah was speaking to the Levites, a tribe of people whose job was to care for the temple.  It had been neglected far too long, and God's people were suffering because of it.  His words to them were first, ". . .do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him and serve Him". This was followed by instructions to "purify the temple of the Lord. . .following the Word of the Lord".

As I pondered these words, spoken many years ago, I realized they were still applicable in each of our lives.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to stand before God, serve Him, and purify what is not appropriate in our lives.  We discover what this looks like as we read God's Word.   It is interesting how the same words ("following the Word of the Lord") are used again in Chapter 30, verse 12.  Here the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind as they followed His Word.  It seems to me many of the problems we are experiencing as a church today come because we have allowed the dust of the world to accumulate on our Bibles instead of reading them, and following their instructions.

The second means God used to speak to me yesterday was through a YouTube video.  I had been viewing something else, and below it was a link to a teaching by Priscilla Shirer.  Since I had done a Bible Study by her earlier this year, my curiosity peeked and I found myself listening in on an episode featured as "You're Right Where You Need to Be" and "God is Preparing You for More".

The teaching was on the feeding of the 5,000 and the essence was this:  you already have what you need to give to God, in order to bring about that which will in turn give glory back to Him.  Perhaps that is a cumbersome sentence to absorb, so if you have an extra 38 minutes, I would encourage you to watch the video for yourself and get the complete teaching.  For now, it will suffice to say I found the time yesterday, AND again today.  There is so much packed into it!  Here is the link:

Priscilla Shirer - You're Right Where You Need To Be     

And so I had two lessons to consider for the day.  Lesson one told me there is work to do, and I needed to follow God's Word in accomplishing it.  Lesson two told me I was already equipped to do something for the Lord.  And now on to lesson three, which was a clip sent to me by a friend.  It's message was basically, "There's a lot out there to do, and it's not going to get done unless you do your part."  Wow!  Talk about a "1-2-3 Punch" from the Lord!

All of this challenged me.  I have been faithfully reading His Word, so I should have some insight into following it.  What has God given me to use?  Two of my gifts are writing and music.  Although I have used both to bring God glory at various times in my life, I found myself asking, "What more could I do?"

How about you?  What has God entrusted to you?  How do you think He wants to use what He has already given you, to turn around and bring glory back to Himself?  It seems to me the world would be a better place once we all accept this simple "1-2-3 Punch" from the Lord!