Better Than Worry

5/17/2015 

Psalm 77.12 12 “I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” – Asaph 

I appreciate the psalms of Asaph. I like how he thought, and I like the way he expressed himself and what he viewed as his relationship with God. Asaph seems to me to have been a man who thought often and long about God: I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.  

When is the last time we took the time to consider all of God’s works and meditated on all His mighty deeds.  Just a quick look at the marvel of the human body ought to raise some interest: the marvel of its engineering, structure and usefulness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That means to be absent from the Lord is to be present in the body – that thing that God designed for us to live in until we are clothed with immortality. God gave us a body as our earthly dwelling. 

God also gave us Earth as our present habitation. I was driving home last night from the area around a lake near where I live and I marveled at the beauty of the surroundings. So, of course, I took pictures. I never tire of sunsets, sunrises, the mountains, the way the sunlight plays upon the glories of our surroundings. These are all things that God has graciously given us to enjoy – they are evidences of His works and His deeds; and His great love. We had no say in our existence, and no say in our environment; and God has given us all to enjoy and appreciate – if we will. 

I don’t think Asaph was a tree-hugger but here in the above, we see he apparently allowed his thoughts to attain to a higher level and I think he took the time to appreciate what was given to him by God. God definitely expresses Himself in the creation around us. Ain’t nothin’ like wonder and gratefulness. 

With all which bombards my mind these days, it is amazing what a few minutes of considering God’s works and His mighty deeds can do for the soul. If nothing else, spending time thinking about that frees me from worrying about all the other stuff I have no control over (but inwardly insist I should). God, and my life, deserve better than worry. And my faith needs the nourishment of consideration and meditation about all that God has done: in my life and around it. 

Father, forgive me for the foolishness of worry. Help me with the helpfulness of thinking about You and what You’ve done, and are doing. You never stop; and I can never stop thinking about it: at least I shouldn’t.  Father, I offer my mind this day for the exercise of consideration and meditation of Your wonders and Your deeds. Amen.

Dependence

5/10/2015

2 Corinthians 1.8-9 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. -Paul, the Apostle

Who says life in general is a party? Life is full of difficulty, disappointment, and despair punctuated by momentary bouts of happiness, relief, and hope.

Yesterday, I had big intentions of getting some stuff done. I needed to build a wooden frame and miter the corners of the frame. Couldn’t find my saw. When I did find my saw, I realized, after several cuts, why I am not a finish-carpenter. I needed to get some laundry done and at multiple points in that process wanted to throw our high-efficiency, smart-washer into the street. I decided to clean the dryer vents out while I was at it and couldn’t find the attachments for the vacuum. My son took the car to go to the movies with his main-squeeze and so I decided to get on my bike to go to the store. I overinflated the front tire and it popped. (No replacement tube). Difficulty, disappointment, despair.

Life is what life is and I was getting dangerously close to losing it. (At least I didn’t burn the dinner like I did last weekend…) But today I read that even the great apostle, Paul had his moments as well. There are no guarantees in this life, and there are no happily-ever-afters. God designed this life as preparation for eternity and He designed us to depend on Him. Dependence on God must be a big, big deal with the amount of effort we humans expend resisting it.

Dependence on God doesn’t mean we don’t do anything; it means we expend all our energy and effort learning how to depend on Him. Without Him we are left to ourselves, and there you go, we’re right back to where we started from…have you seen my saw?

I’m not trying to be cute (despite my afternoon, yesterday) but I am trying to make a point: life is full of disappointment, difficulty, and despair. Yesterday, a little child went to heaven. She suffered in her brief life and now her journey on earth has ended. Today, I’m sure her folks are very, very, very bittersweet. (I know, we were once there as well.) Life is what life is…

But life is made to cause me to depend on God. Today, I have more appreciation for that than I did yesterday; and tomorrow, I hope (in the hopefulness of hope, not the wish-fulness of thinking) that I will be even more dependent upon God, and less so on myself.

Father, thank You that You patiently, lovingly, and eternally work in our lives to wean us away from self-reliance – that part of us that insists we don’t need You. May I continue to learn to cooperate and walk humbly in step with You – amen.

I Will

5/9/2015

Psalm 9.1-2 1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

2 I will be glad and exult in you;

    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. David (ESV)

Recently, I read in a book about the concepts of always wrong, and never wrong. I think most of the issues and troubles in life can be judged according to how we view our approach to always wrong and never wrong.

When David wrote the psalm quoted above, he focused on never wrong: it is never wrong to give thanks to the Lord with one’s whole heart. A thankful heart is a full and satisfied heart. A thankful heart possesses a measure of strength and character not found in a thankless heart. It is never wrong to be thankful.

He then went on to write, he would recount all of God’s wonderful deeds. It is never wrong to remember the things God has done for us, and the things He’s done in this world. Many blame God for what He hasn’t done: if God is so loving, why is there such evil in this world!? It isn’t that He hasn’t done nothing, it’s just for those who cannot see His goodness and greatness are obscured because of focus, not reality.

David also said: I will be glad and exult in You. There’s a certain joyful humility that is glad for the presence of God in all of the things over which we have no control. I have no control, but God is in control of all that is wrong and He’s promised to care for me in the midst of all that assaults me.

And lastly, this great saint of old said: I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.(There isn’t an exclamation point here but there needs to be.) It is never ever wrong to sing praise to God. It isn’t naiveté; it isn’t burying one’s head; it’s humbly and happily giving credit where credit is due. And doing so with a happy heart. We usually recognize human happiness when someone is unabashedly singing in the midst of this oft mundane and troubled world.

David said, “I will”. In two short sentences he says I will four times. He had his heart made up that though the wrong often seemed so strong, God was a refuge and haven for the needy and the humble who ran to Him for shelter. I will.

I can focus on all that is wrong and always wrong. I can, and that is my choice. OR, I can choose to live according to what is never wrong; that can be the basis of my, I will’s. It makes an enormous difference in which way I choose to live. My haven, my refuge: what is never wrong. It is never wrong to trust God and to find ways to love, serve, and praise Him. It is never wrong to call upon Him or to lift joyful song knowing He is in control and I can trust Him when I don’t understand.

Father, may my day, this day be filled with all the things that are never wrong starting with following David’s example of what I will do this day: thank You, remember Your deeds, be happy and joyful in Your presence and in praising Your mighty Name. To You be the glory! Amen.

Broken Is

05.01.15

Psalm 31.7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul… - David

Sometimes I have an inkling – an inkling of just how screwed up I really am. It’s bad. It’s irreparable. But in all my screwed upped-ness, I will rejoice and be glad in God’s love because He knows just how screwed up I am and He loves me still. He’s seen it. He knows. And one day, because of what He’s already done, it will be a thing of the past.

In some sense it’s already past – at least the way God sees it – He’s not looking at me the way I was; He’s looking at me the way I am now: screwed up beyond belief, but accepted by Him because of Christ Jesus. And so for today, I remain in my affliction but know He has all my bases covered. He is on my side and He is showing me what are really the most important things in this life, awaiting the life to come.

Paul, the apostle said, we will all be changed – in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15.50ff) I’m not sure what that means completely, but I think somehow, some way there will, one day, be a difference that I’ve never known before. And then my affliction will be gone. I’ll see and I’ll know.

Today, this has been a profound revelation to me that even the most celebrated of saints – king David – saw his brokenness and dealt with it before God. It’s one thing to be broken – it’s another to know it…and to know that despite it, God still loves, cares and has done something about it.

That’s the kind of God we serve. That’s the kind of God we have. He knows and He cares and He has done something about it.

Father, as You know, Your son is mostly a disheveled pile of crap. But in Your love, Your omnipotence, Your omniscience and omnipresence, through Jesus, You have made all things new. I know I am broken, but You have made all things new and I am going to cling to that in hope of an eternity spent with You. You’ve seen my affliction and You’ve known the distress of my soul. And You’ve made a way. Amen

Life is like a seed: a seed isn’t repaired; it’s destroyed. Yet out of its destruction comes completely new life – and more seeds. We must cease looking for ways to repair life and settle for the utter destruction of what is, so that what will be, may gloriously come forth!