Psalms – Prayers of Honesty and Praise
What are you waiting for today? What or Who are you expecting? What is holding your attention until it happens. Who are you listening to until it happens? These are questions we face each day. We are a people who are easily distracted from the Voice who has all the answers for our real need. We seek love, wisdom and clarity in all the wrong places because evil makes bad things look good.
We get many phone calls that tell us they have what we need. Some are urgent calls. For example, our vehicle is out of warranty and we must pay a large sum of money to a company we do not know so that when our vehicle breaks down we can pay more money. What a deal! Um, no thank you.
“Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.”
Some call to help us out because they are the “only company that can”. What about the phone call that wants to pay off our student loans. We graduated college more than 35 years ago so… But what a deal, right! I told them how nice it was that they would pay it off for me like a rich uncle. Wrong. That company still wanted me to make payments, Wait, what? No, thank you. If I haven’t paid of my student loans by retirement age then I am a lost cause. Sorry. But no thanks!
“Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.”
I love the call I got yesterday, as ice and snows melts from our house, about a FREE cruise to anywhere I want to go. How about Kansas? I replied. They were not amused and kept going with their printed script. This “free” cruise was going to cost us dearly when you read the fine print.
What call are you expecting and waiting for in your life…right now?
I love our next passage in Psalm 119. He writes from a heart seeking God’s wisdom, waiting and expecting God to answer…and He does!
Psalm 119, The Message
Part Ten
73-80
With your very own hands you formed me;
now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.
When they see me waiting, expecting your Word,
those who fear you will take heart and be glad.
I can see now, God, that your decisions are right;
your testing has taught me what’s true and right.
Oh, love me—and right now!—hold me tight!
just the way you promised.
Now comfort me so I can live, really live;
your revelation is the tune I dance to.
Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.
FROM THE HEART…Do you catch the meaning of, “When they see me waiting, expecting your Word, those who fear you will take heart and be glad.” People who are seeking God, watch those who already follow and obey God. They watch to see how we wait. They watch how we deal with shysters and phonies. They are encouraged when we don’t fall for fake and stand with God seeking HIS wisdom. Others are encouraged by how we wait, expecting in faith for God to act, to answer, to encourage, to love and protect us!
“Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.”
How is our witness of waiting and expecting?
How are we affecting the lives of those around us?
Do our lives reflect God’s wise guidance?
Whew…we might need some work on this. (Preaching to me.)
Dear Heavenly Father,
I love you with all my heart, mind and soul. I am so easily distracted by all kinds of shiny, look good at first things, but your wise counsel bring me back into focus on you. Thank you for daily transforming my life to be and to do all that you created me to be and do. Thank you for restoring the joy of YOUR salvation in me. Thank you for your wise counsel daily. Thank you for loving me enough to die for my sins.
In Jesus Name, Amen
“I can see now, God, that your decisions are right;
your testing has taught me what’s true and right.”
I am reminded of a very old hymn..Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment
Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best–
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Ev’ry day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.
Help me then in eve’ry tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.
AND…Do you know The Story Behind Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment?
Psalm 46 declares, “God is my refuge, an ever present help in time of trouble.” There was once a young Swedish woman who, like the Psalmist, learned early in life to trust in the Lord’s strength each day to help her overcome her troubles and trials. Her name was Carolina Sandell Berg, and she was born on this day, October 3, l832. She grew up to become Sweden’s most celebrated author of Gospel hymns, and wrote so many that she is often called “the Fanny Crosby of Sweden.”*
Like many Christians, Carolina learned that when pain and tragedy strike, God may use that experience to deepen our faith. When she was 26, Carolina–or Lina (pronounced Lie-nah) as she liked to be called–experienced a tragedy which profoundly affected the course of her life. She was with her father, a Lutheran pastor, crossing a Swedish lake. Suddenly the ship lurched, and before her eyes, her father was thrown overboard and drowned. Lina had written hymns before, but now she poured out her broken heart in an endless stream of beautiful songs. Her hymns mightily influenced the revival that swept across Scandanavia after l850.
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 