41 1-3 Dignify those who are down on their luck; you’ll feel good—that’s what God does. God looks after us all, makes us robust with life— Lucky to be in the land, we’re free from enemy worries. Whenever we’re sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health.
4-7 I said, “God, be gracious! Put me together again— my sins have torn me to pieces.” My enemies are wishing the worst for me; they make bets on what day I will die. If someone comes to see me, he mouths empty platitudes, All the while gathering gossip about me to entertain the street-corner crowd. These “friends” who hate me whisper slanders all over town. They form committees to plan misery for me.
10 God, give grace, get me up on my feet. I’ll show them a thing or two.
8-9 The rumor goes out, “He’s got some dirty, deadly disease. The doctors have given up on him.” Even my best friend, the one I always told everything —he ate meals at my house all the time!— has bitten my hand.
11-12 Meanwhile, I’m sure you’re on my side— no victory shouts yet from the enemy camp! You know me inside and out, you hold me together, you never fail to stand me tall in your presence so I can look you in the eye.
TRUTH: God knows us inside and out and still loves us, protects us, nurses back to health in all kinds of ways, provides help and wisdom when we ask sincerely and forgives our sins and mistakes from disobedience to His perfect will and plan for us! THIS is why we are grateful and shout His praises daily and forever! Yes and Amen!
Proverb 17:1-5, The Message
A meal of bread and water in contented peace is better than a banquet spiced with quarrels.
2 A wise servant takes charge of an unruly child and is honored as one of the family.
3 As silver in a crucible and gold in a pan, so our lives are assayed by God.
4 Evil people relish malicious conversation; the ears of liars itch for dirty gossip.
5 Whoever mocks poor people insults their Creator; gloating over misfortune is a punishable crime.
WISDOM: God “assays our lives” to see what is real gold is in us. Knowing this truth must lead us to think first then act. Think first, then speak. Is what I’m about to say, from my heart, Truthful, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary and Kind? If the answer is no to any one of these filters, then it is probably gossip meant to selfishly build up ourselves not others.
Abba Father,
God, help us. Give us your wisdom daily, hourly if need be, until obedience to you is our continual habit of life.
“ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, Paul would write later to the church. No one knew this Truth better than Paul. Paul, formerly Saul, one of the religious elite leaders, was the worst of sinners until Jesus came into his life. Jesus’ words pierced Saul’s being and had to be heard for the Light of Jesus blinded the eyes of this highly legalistic, pious, religious fanatic–stopping him cold on his self-proclaimed mission to kill Jesus’ freaks. As the story goes, Saul was headed down the road to yet another city, Damascus, to wreak havoc, killing and torturing all who believed in Jesus. What a mess! (See Acts 9)
Jesus’ words to Saul were and still are chilling to the bone. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” These words brought the mighty, arrogant Saul to his knees. Saul, along with others, committed himself to ridding the world of these faithful believers of the One who died for their sins and rose again to complete the work of redemption for all who would believe. What Saul thought he was doing for God was actually persecuting His Son, Jesus Christ all over again with the torture of each believer!
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did unto me.” –Jesus (Matthew 25:40)
Our mess affects everyone around us. When we hurt ourselves and others by our mess, our sin, our pride and arrogance, we are persecuting the One who loves us most. Jesus loves the people being hurt by our actions. When we hurt his created, we are hurting him. This breaks the heart of God. Let that sink in. Take all the time you need.
Saul was a mess. Jesus transformed Saul’s mess into His Message!
Saul became Paul, the Apostle, who loved Jesus Christ with all of his being. Paul became a missionary who told the Good News of Jesus’ saving grace. He was also a church planter, church renewal advocate, writer, and encourager for all who believed. His God-given intelligence was now used to tell the Truth. His tenaciousness and dedication to the Body of Christ, is the basis for our current church theology. How to relate to each other in The Body of Christ, seeking God and finding out what HE wants, and loving each other “as if your life depended on it” is the thesis of the message of Paul in his letters to the church.
Before Saul/Paul, there was David, “a man after God’s own heart”, who also was a mess. David wrote this Psalm admitting his messiness, leaning into God’s redemptive power while discovering what God really wants from all of us.
It is in the middle of our messes that we learn what God wants. Our messes can be God’s messages when we humbly repent and return to God’s will and plan for our lives. Only God can turn our messes into messages of His Truth. Then it’s time to praise Him with thanksgiving and adoration for all He as done, is doing and will do in our lives. Tenaciously trust Him. Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life…from messes to messages of how He saved us!
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 40, The Message
A David Psalm
40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.
4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God, turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,” ignore what the world worships; The world’s a huge stockpile of God-wonders and God-thoughts. Nothing and no one comes close to you! I start talking about you, telling what I know, and quickly run out of words. Neither numbers nor words account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you— that’s not what you’re after. Being religious, acting pious— that’s not what you’re asking for. You’ve opened my ears so I can listen.
7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming. I read in your letter what you wrote about me, And I’m coming to the party you’re throwing for me.” That’s when God’s Word entered my life, became part of my very being.
9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation, I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that. I didn’t keep the news of your ways a secret, didn’t keep it to myself. I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough. I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth For myself alone. I told it all, let the congregation know the whole story.
11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn’t see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.
13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene; hurry and get me some help, So those who are trying to kidnap my soul will be embarrassed and lose face, So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable will be heckled and disgraced, So those who pray for my ruin will be booed and jeered without mercy.
16-17 But all who are hunting for you— oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you’re all about tell the world you’re great and not quitting. And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you’ve got what it takes— but God, don’t put it off.
TRUTH: What God wants, “Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God”.
WHAT GOD DOESN’T WANT…
Proverb 16:25-33, The Message
There’s a way that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell.
26 Appetite is an incentive to work; hunger makes you work all the harder.
27 Mean people spread mean gossip; their words smart and burn.
28 Troublemakers start fights; gossips break up friendships.
29 Calloused climbers betray their very own friends; they’d stab their own grandmothers in the back.
30 A shifty eye betrays an evil intention; a clenched jaw signals trouble ahead.
31 Gray hair is a mark of distinction, the award for a God-loyal life.
32 Moderation is better than muscle, self-control better than political power.
33 Make your motions and cast your votes, but God has the final say.
WISDOM: God has the final say.
Abba Father,
You are God and we are not. You are in control of all that you have created. Your love for us goes beyond our imaginations. Your timing is perfect. Your will is pleasing and perfect for each one of us. Thank you for looking at the mess we make, forgiving us, while turning our mess into your message of Truth. Thank for your patient lessons through it all. Thank you for continually transforming us day by day as we lean into your wisdom, learning the beautiful rhythms of your love, grace and mercy. Do what you want in and through me. I’m yours, Lord.
This psalm of David needed some extra work on my part this morning so I did some digging around the commentaries to shed light on David’s current condition while wring this lament to God. The following are excerpts of what we learn.
There is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7), and wise is the person who knows the difference. David didn’t argue with God (v. 9) or with those who reproached him, but he did pray to the Lord.
When we find ourselves burying our true feelings and creating physical and emotional pain for ourselves, then it’s time to talk to the Lord and seek His help. David knew that life was short and that the days would pass swiftly; he also knew that he was frail and that one day he would die.
David compared life to an “empty show,” with shadow people bustling about, trying to get rich. Busy for what? Wealthy for what? Years later, Solomon raised the same questions (Eccl. 2:18-19), and Jesus emphasized the same truth in Luke 12:16-21. If you measure the length of life, you may become despondent, but if you look around you and measure the depth of life, you are appalled. Life is swift, life is short, and for most people, life is futile. In modern vocabulary, people are living for the image and not the reality.
Who are we and what are we living for? Better question, Who are we living for?
Who can I talk to when evil is all around, mocking God, our Father and mocking what I do for God? It is only God. He can take it. He has taken it since creation. Wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent can only come from God.
“If life is short and goes past so swiftly,” asks David, “what am I waiting for? If the world is nothing but a shadow image, let me give myself to the Lord, who is the foundation of all that is real and lasting.” Today we would say, “The reality is … found in Christ” (Col. 2:17 niv). The main concern is not how long we live but how we live.
Life is measured, not by how rich we are in material wealth, but whether we have values that last. Are we living with eternity’s values in view? “He who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17 nkjv). In turning by faith to the Lord, David moved from hopelessness to hope and from paralysis to action.
We begin with David the sinner and listen to his prayer for forgiveness (vv. 8-9). Like every truly convicted sinner, his mouth had been stopped (Rom. 3:19), and he admitted his guilt before God (see 1 Sam. 3:18; Lam. 1:21).
God listens to the cry of the brokenhearted (51:17) and forgives when we confess (1 John 1:9). David was especially concerned that he not give occasion to “the foolish” to ridicule his faith (14:1; 69:7; 74:22; 79:4).
In his advanced years, David is recovering from a stroke. C. S. Lewis was correct when he wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.” The human body ages, decays, and dies; and the material wealth we gather gradually loses its value, like a moth silently destroying a garment.
Jim Elliot’s oft-quoted statement certainly applies here: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Vanity of vanity, all is vanity–unless we put our faith and hope in God.
Warren Wiersbe states, “Finally, David the sojourner prays for God’s direction as he makes his pilgrim way through life with its joys and sorrows. The world is a “vain show” (v. 6)–John Bunyan called it “Vanity Fair”–and God’s people are aliens and strangers here (119:19; Gen. 23:4; Lev. 25:23; 1 Chron. 29:15; Heb. 11:13; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11). We are not strangers to God, for He knows us and we know Him, but we are strangers with God as His welcomed guests (90:1; 23:6).
God hears our prayers and cries, and He sees our tears. “In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus told His disciples, “but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 nkjv). His closing prayer was that God would turn away His frowning face and give him strength to return to life with its duties and burdens and then one day enable him to pass into eternity. The phrase “no more” doesn’t suggest annihilation or the absence of an afterlife, but that David would “no more” be on his earthly pilgrimage. “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (23:6).
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 39, The Message
A David Psalm
39 1-3 I’m determined to watch steps and tongue so they won’t land me in trouble. I decided to hold my tongue as long as Wicked is in the room. “Mum’s the word,” I said, and kept quiet. But the longer I kept silence The worse it got— my insides got hotter and hotter. My thoughts boiled over; I spilled my guts.
4-6 “Tell me, what’s going on, God? How long do I have to live? Give me the bad news! You’ve kept me on pretty short rations; my life is string too short to be saved. Oh! we’re all puffs of air. Oh! we’re all shadows in a campfire. Oh! we’re just spit in the wind. We make our pile, and then we leave it.
7-11 “What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that’s what I’m doing—hoping You’ll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces. I’ll say no more, I’ll shut my mouth, since you, Lord, are behind all this. But I can’t take it much longer. When you put us through the fire to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke. Are we also nothing but smoke?
12-13 “Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my cry—open your ears. Don’t be callous; just look at these tears of mine. I’m a stranger here. I don’t know my way— a migrant like my whole family. Give me a break, cut me some slack before it’s too late and I’m out of here.”
TRUTH: Oh! we’re all shadows in a campfire. Oh! we’re just spit in the wind. We make our pile, and then we leave it. “What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that’s what I’m doing—hoping You’ll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces. AND God does. Every. Time.
Proverb 16:21-24, The Message
A wise person gets known for insight; gracious words add to one’s reputation.
22 True intelligence is a spring of fresh water, while fools sweat it out the hard way.
23 They make a lot of sense, these wise folks; whenever they speak, their reputation increases.
24 Gracious speech is like clover honey— good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body.
WISDOM: Gracious speech is like clover honey, good for the soul, energy for the body. Anything less takes our breath away, a word at a time, and leaves scars of hurt that only God can heal.
Abba Father,
You are God and we are not. Our tongues need your control. When I lay my life before you each morning, in includes my thoughts that could pass over my tongue at the wrong time, wrong place, with a bad spirit because of hurt and fear. Help us, Lord. Be our strength and wisdom in all of life. Help us to first be silent before you. Help us to bring all that bothers us about the world to you to solve. Then help us to know when to speak your word in ways that build each other, not tear them down. Give us righteous words, at the right moment from you. Help us to make the most of every opportunity to point people to you. Keep us from causing pain to anyone. Use us to encourage. Life is short. Help us to fill each day left for your glory and praise.
Take a beat, God, in allowing me to live with my poor decisions! David cries out to God in the middle of extreme pain and hurt, full of guilt, because what he is now experiencing are the consequences of his own decisions. Sometimes in our lives, it seems God pulls back his action in us because of our own pride and strong will to go our own way without consulting Him.
It is in these times that we are allowed to live with the results of our own poor judgement. It is also in these times that we learn from our self-produced failures.
Our proverb for today reminds us that pride is followed very quickly by an extreme fall. We see pride in others but can we see it in ourselves? David’s prayer is asking for help, forgiveness and a right standing with God again. David is honest and sincere, gutsy and declarative. David knows where to run when his ego took over and horrendous mistakes were made. David also knows that God has the solution to his problems and will answer his cries for help.
“What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer!”
When life goes south, look up to God. Ask for forgiveness from doing life on our own. Ask for wisdom to climb out of the pit we generally dig for ourselves and then wait for God to answer. It is in the wait that we realize our mistakes, begin to see the Light of day and see God for who He really is. God is love. His love never changes. God is the Way, through Jesus His Son, to crawl out of sin and the side effects of sin and be made new because of the work of Jesus on the cross. God always has the answer with a better plan for our lives, His created, perfect will and purpose for us, when we lay our hearts, minds and souls before Him and embrace His best.
“So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, The Message
Read that again in the New International Version…Just to be sure…
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2, NIV
Our ego driven mess will never measure up to God’s best!
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 38, The Message
A David Psalm
38 1-2 Take a deep breath, God; calm down— don’t be so hasty with your punishing rod. Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood; my backside smarts from your caning.
3-4 I’ve lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I’m swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.
5-8 The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots because I’ve lived so badly. And now I’m flat on my face feeling sorry for myself morning to night. All my insides are on fire, my body is a wreck. I’m on my last legs; I’ve had it— my life is a vomit of groans.
9-16 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you. My heart’s about to break; I’m a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good; old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back. My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin. But I’m deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don’t hear a word they say, don’t speak a word in response. What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer! I wait and pray so they won’t laugh me off, won’t smugly strut off when I stumble.
17-20 I’m on the edge of losing it— the pain in my gut keeps burning. I’m ready to tell my story of failure, I’m no longer smug in my sin. My enemies are alive and in action, a lynch mob after my neck. I give out good and get back evil from God-haters who can’t stand a God-lover.
21-22 Don’t dump me, God; my God, don’t stand me up. Hurry and help me; I want some wide-open space in my life!
TRUTH: Wait on God. Pray in the wait. Don’t quit in the wait. Love, trust and obey in the wait. He WILL answer.
Proverb 16:16-20, The Message
Get wisdom—it’s worth more than money; choose insight over income every time.
17 The road of right living bypasses evil; watch your step and save your life.
18 First pride, then the crash— the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
19 It’s better to live humbly among the poor than to live it up among the rich and famous.
20 It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God.
WISDOM: Take life with God seriously. Trust God to work for us not against us. Get wisdom. Avoid pride.
Abba Father,
Oh, how we fail miserably when we think we have a better plan that you do! Forgive me, Lord when my own ego rises above your will and best for me. It is in those times that I catch myself listening more to the world. I make bad decisions. I say and do things that don’t match what I say I believe.
So, here is my life, all of it. Convict and correct, but be gentle. Bring clarity and wisdom to my thinking. Help me to hear your voice above all others again. Cleanse every dark place. Wash over me and make me holy. Renew my spirit. Restore the joy of your salvation in me. I will wait on you for what you want in me. Help me to quickly obey in your timing, in your Spirit, in your ways by your will.
In Jesus Name and by Your Power working in me, Amen. I believe! I will wait on You.
“Keep company with God, get in on the best”, sings David. Be honest with God, He knows what you are thinking anyway. Be open to hear carefully what He has to say. In order to hear Him we must be quiet before Him with all concentration on what He wants not what we want to ask Him. Then rise up and obey. This is a life that is validated by God as a life that is true, humbly sincere, wanting nothing but God’s best. This is a life that is grateful that God delivered and saved him or her from death. They want nothing less that God’s best.
NO JOKE!
“Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. But God isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke with no punch line.” God knows that as we follow Him heart, mind and soul, we will contend with God-haters who oppose us, poke fun at how we live our lives for God, and who will try to bring us down while doing what God wants. But God delivers us by stepping into those battles and conquering the foe. This is what keeping company with God looks like in our world knowing that the best life we could live is the life lived for God.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 37, The Message
A David Psalm
37 1-2 Don’t bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get in on the best.
5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done: He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.
7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.
8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store.
10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing! Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza.
12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. But God isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke with no punch line.
14-15 Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They’re out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog. A banana peel lands them flat on their faces— slapstick figures in a moral circus.
16-17 Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked, For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong.
18-19 God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won’t soon be forgotten. In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high; when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full.
20 God-despisers have had it; God’s enemies are finished— Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time, vanished like smoke in thin air.
21-22 Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end; Stingy is cut off at the pass.
23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God; his path blazed by God, he’s happy. If he stumbles, he’s not down for long; God has a grip on his hand.
25-26 I once was young, now I’m a graybeard— not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he’s out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
27-28 Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don’t quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends.
28-29 Live this way and you’ve got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out. The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.
30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue. His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat’s.
32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he’s out for the kill. God, alert, is also on watch— Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.
34 Wait passionately for God, don’t leave the path. He’ll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad, croaking pretentious nonsense. The next time I looked there was nothing— a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.
37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life; There’s a future in strenuous wholeness. But the willful will soon be discarded; insolent souls are on a dead-end street.
39-40 The spacious, free life is from God, it’s also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil— when we run to him, he saves us.
TRUTH: God gives us courage, strength, tenacity, wisdom, insight and understanding to live for him. “The spacious, free life is from God.” He also protects, provides and keeps us safe “under the shadow of His wings”. Run to him. He saves us.
Proverb 16:10-15, The Message
A good leader motivates, doesn’t mislead, doesn’t exploit.
11 God cares about honesty in the workplace; your business is his business.
12 Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation.
13 Good leaders cultivate honest speech; they love advisors who tell them the truth.
14 An intemperate leader wreaks havoc in lives; you’re smart to stay clear of someone like that.
15 Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives; they’re like spring rain and sunshine.
WISDOM: Follow a proverb leader who follows God. Look for those who motivate but do not manipulate. Learn from Godly leaders who are honest, sincere, loving God and others as the basis of their moral foundation. Love advisors who tell the Truth. Run from anyone who is not of God. If leaders don’t invigorate you and refresh your soul, the run from them. Ask God for wisdom for yourself and your leaders.
Abba Father,
Help us. I’m being still to listen. What do you want for me to think, say or do today that will help someone else? Thank you for defeating the foe before I get there. You are indeed the Way to an open, spacious life!
Mom won’t notice if one cookie is taken from the jar. Dad won’t notice if I use this tool. But we discover quickly they do notice. As kids most of us thought our moms had eyes in the back of their head! When I became a mom, I learned that it is a special knowing coupled with wisdom that God gives us to protect our kids. For instance, the sound of the lid coming off the cookie jar is a dead giveaway. The giggling also helped to secure the investigation.
Guess what? Nothing gets by God, either. He knows all, created all, is in control of all, and wants to protect us and provide for us because of his relentless, unconditional love for us. His love is unchanging, full of grace and mercy. God’s Word, all of it, “new and old”, is telling us of God’s love with the Way to love him back, even when our hands are caught in the cookie jar of life!
That Way is now through Jesus Christ, His Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16, NIV “We love Him because He first loved us!” 1 John 4:19, NIV
Those who have no regard for God, as David writes and sings, has no love in their hearts. For God is love.
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love.”
“This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.”
“My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!” 1 John 7-12, The Message
THIS is why nothing gets past God’s notice. He loves us! Bullies controlled by evil will not win at the end of it all. So, pray for your bullies. God knows that you battle them.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 36, The Message
A David Psalm
36 1-4 The God-rebel tunes in to sedition— all ears, eager to sin. He has no regard for God, he stands insolent before him. He has smooth-talked himself into believing That his evil will never be noticed. Words gutter from his mouth, dishwater dirty. Can’t remember when he did anything decent. Every time he goes to bed, he fathers another evil plot. When he’s loose on the streets, nobody’s safe. He plays with fire and doesn’t care who gets burned.
5-6 God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.
7-9 How exquisite your love, O God! How eager we are to run under your wings, To eat our fill at the banquet you spread as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water. You’re a fountain of cascading light, and you open our eyes to light.
10-12 Keep on loving your friends; do your work in welcoming hearts. Don’t let the bullies kick me around, the moral midgets slap me down. Send the upstarts sprawling flat on their faces in the mud.
TRUTH: NOTHING gets passed God’s notice. “Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.” GOOD to know and believe, right?
Proverb 16, The Message
Oh, how these words of wisdom follow up our Psalm of worship for the day!
God’s promises…
Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.
2 Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good.
3 Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.
4 God made everything with a place and purpose; even the wicked are included—but for judgment.
5 God can’t stomach arrogance or pretense; believe me, he’ll put those upstarts in their place.
6 Guilt is banished through love and truth; Fear-of-God deflects evil.
7 When God approves of your life, even your enemies will end up shaking your hand.
8 Far better to be right and poor than to be wrong and rich.
9 We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.
WISDOM: God has the last word. Put God in charge. God is love and love us.
Abba Father,
What glorious words of worship and praise this morning that teaches us that you are in control. You make all things good from whatever the world of evil tries to throw at us, or use us in his schemes. You win at the end of the day. You help us live for you when we turn fully to you committed to follow in your ways. You are God and we are not. I love you back with all my heart, mind and soul. Help me to live the life you intended for me to live with You. Thank you for Your Presence in my puny life. You make all the difference. You are the difference between life and death. To you be all the Glory!
Anyone who has led anything at all for any amount of time learn very quickly that not all people will agree with you, support you, or help you with the task UNLESS you have done exactly what they want in every detail. Even then, it is like walking a tightrope over a pit of lions. There will always be that one who says, “Yeah, but…” This is what we call a People Pleasing Leader. When we fall to the ways of people pleasing in our leadership, we learn very quickly that you will never please everyone. Even when you do what they say you should do, when it fails, they blame you first of all! The people you tried to please turn on you quickly for these are people who want what they want, not what God wants. Their lives demand fulfillment by your work to please them. This is very shallow living on their part and ours, but it is even more destructive in your leading abilities. It is also stresses your physical and emotional health.
So, ask God. God what do you think is right? What do YOU want me to do? Where do you want me to go? Who will go with me? What do you want me to say? This thinking, taught to us by Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, will not please the crowd. (See the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels). But, who will give you more peace, wisdom, clarity, insight and understanding? The crowd or the Creator of all?
PAUSE TO PRAY
Who do I want to worship and please most of all? Will I allow the hecklers who reside on the sidelines of the work to tell me what to do while I’m doing it? This happened to Nehemiah who led the people of God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. God led him in the work he called him to be and do. God encouraged him to encourage the people doing the work throughout the process. God led him to finish the work. Here is the theme of how God works. God leads us. We follow. Peace is a result. No regrets in doing what God wants. There is no one like our God. Why please anyone else?
David survives the hecklers, discouragers, bullies, thugs, false accusers, gossipers, and the taunting jeers that try to bring him down. He makes a very important statement in the middle of it all, after throwing in his ideas of what God should do to his enemies, “DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT, GOD”.
This needs to be our statement of declaration to God today, right now, while we wait to see who our nation’s leader will be, as we continue to walk through a pandemic watching our friends succumb to it, while we walk through the minefields of tedious relationships with others who demand our allegiance to them while the whole world suffers without knowing Jesus. Lord, help us. Help us to we fight the battle of temptation to please people rather than God. Do what you think is right, God.
We need to decide this day whom we will serve, worship, please and adore completely and unreservedly. Only then, like David at the end of his lament, can we raise our hallelujahs! Let the praises flow…to God alone! Yes, do what you think is right, God!
Your ways are higher than our thinking. Please do what you think is right in my life.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 35, The Message
A David Psalm
35 1-3 Harass these hecklers, God, punch these bullies in the nose. Grab a weapon, anything at hand; stand up for me! Get ready to throw the spear, aim the javelin, at the people who are out to get me. Reassure me; let me hear you say, “I’ll save you.”
4-8 When those thugs try to knife me in the back, make them look foolish. Frustrate all those who are plotting my downfall. Make them like cinders in a high wind, with God’s angel working the bellows. Make their road lightless and mud-slick, with God’s angel on their tails. Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me; for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me. Surprise them with your ambush— catch them in the very trap they set, the disaster they planned for me.
9-10 But let me run loose and free, celebrating God’s great work, Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God, there’s no one like you. You put the down-and-out on their feet and protect the unprotected from bullies!”
11-12 Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere, they stand up and badger me. They pay me back misery for mercy, leaving my soul empty.
13-14 When they were sick, I dressed in black; instead of eating, I prayed. My prayers were like lead in my gut, like I’d lost my best friend, my brother. I paced, distraught as a motherless child, hunched and heavyhearted.
15-16 But when I was down they threw a party! All the nameless riffraff of the town came chanting insults about me. Like barbarians desecrating a shrine, they destroyed my reputation.
17-18 God, how long are you going to stand there doing nothing? Save me from their brutalities; everything I’ve got is being thrown to the lions. I will give you full credit when everyone gathers for worship; When the people turn out in force I will say my Hallelujahs.
19-21 Don’t let these liars, my enemies, have a party at my expense, Those who hate me for no reason, winking and rolling their eyes. No good is going to come from that crowd; They spend all their time cooking up gossip against those who mind their own business. They open their mouths in ugly grins, Mocking, “Ha-ha, ha-ha, thought you’d get away with it? We’ve caught you hands down!”
22 Don’t you see what they’re doing, God? You’re not going to let them Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off without doing something, are you?
23-26 Please get up—wake up! Tend to my case. My God, my Lord—my life is on the line. Do what you think is right, God, my God, but don’t make me pay for their good time. Don’t let them say to themselves, “Ha-ha, we got what we wanted.” Don’t let them say, “We’ve chewed him up and spit him out.” Let those who are being hilarious at my expense Be made to look ridiculous. Make them wear donkey’s ears; Pin them with the donkey’s tail, who made themselves so high and mighty!
27-28 But those who want the best for me, Let them have the last word—a glad shout!— and say, over and over and over, “God is great—everything works together for good for his servant.” I’ll tell the world how great and good you are, I’ll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.
TRUTH:Do what you think is right, God. Only then will we have peace no matter what is happening around us. “God is great—everything works together for good for his servant.” Shout Hallelujah to the King of kings and Lord of lords all day, every day!
Proverb 15:29-33, The Message
God keeps his distance from the wicked; he closely attends to the prayers of God-loyal people.
30 A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart, and good news makes you feel fit as a fiddle.
31 Listen to good advice if you want to live well, an honored guest among wise men and women.
32 An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny; an obedient, God-willed life is spacious.
33 Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living— first you learn humility, then you experience glory.
WISDOM: Live large. Please God. Be obedient. “…a God-willed life is spacious”. First humility, then glory.
I always write my prayers of concerns, worries, cares and praises in a journal each morning before I dive into what God’s Word teaches me. Concerns about others’ troubles or those in my family pour out on the pages. What people are going through as well as myself are expressed to Abba Father. Sometimes tears come. Sometimes a heavy sigh fills the quiet of the hour. When encouraged by the end of my lament, a hearty YES! to God is said out loud! I am encouraged by God’s love. I am encouraged by what God has done in the past, is doing and will do in my life as a result of what He has done for others I read about in His Word.
No matters what is happening to you right now, what you are feeling about life or the confusion you are experiencing that leads to stress, David reminds us, “Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time.” Seek God voice in His word.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 34, The Message
A David Psalm, When He Outwitted Abimelech and Got Away
34 I bless God every chance I get; my lungs expand with his praise.
2 I live and breathe God; if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy:
3 Join me in spreading the news; together let’s get the word out.
4 God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears.
5 Look at him; give him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from him.
6 When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot.
7 God’s angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray.
8 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see— how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.
9 Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness.
10 Young lions on the prowl get hungry, but God-seekers are full of God.
11 Come, children, listen closely; I’ll give you a lesson in God worship.
12 Who out there has a lust for life? Can’t wait each day to come upon beauty?
13 Guard your tongue from profanity, and no more lying through your teeth.
14 Turn your back on sin; do something good. Embrace peace—don’t let it get away!
15 God keeps an eye on his friends, his ears pick up every moan and groan.
16 God won’t put up with rebels; he’ll cull them from the pack.
17 Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you.
18 If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.
19 Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time.
20 He’s your bodyguard, shielding every bone; not even a finger gets broken.
21 The wicked commit slow suicide; they waste their lives hating the good.
22 God pays for each slave’s freedom; no one who runs to him loses out.
TRUTH: “Still, God is there every time.” God seekers find God. He listens to every groan and sigh as well as every word we think and say inside or out loud. God knows. Still, God is there. God brings resolution and peace when we ask. So, ask.
Solomon gives advice on the ways of God. God is One and Only One to be trusted.
Proverb 15:16-28, The Message
A simple life in the Fear-of-God is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.
17 Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.
18 Hot tempers start fights; a calm, cool spirit keeps the peace.
19 The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers; the diligent walk down a smooth road.
20 Intelligent children make their parents proud; lazy students embarrass their parents.
21 The empty-headed treat life as a plaything; the perceptive grasp its meaning and make a go of it.
22 Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed.
23 Congenial conversation—what a pleasure! The right word at the right time—beautiful!
24 Life ascends to the heights for the thoughtful— it’s a clean about-face from descent into hell.
25 God smashes the pretensions of the arrogant; he stands with those who have no standing.
26 God can’t stand evil scheming, but he puts words of grace and beauty on display.
27 A greedy and grasping person destroys community; those who refuse to exploit live and let live.
28 Prayerful answers come from God-loyal people; the wicked are sewers of abuse.
WISDOM: Seek God. With God is a life of grace and beauty, the right words at the right time, with clarity replacing confusion. “Prayerful answers come from God-loyal people.
What do we learn? God is God and we are not. Why trust anyone else for help? No matter what is happening, God is in control. God hears us when we pray. God is working while we are sleeping. God already as a solution before we pray. Still, God.
Abba Father,
What a wonder you are! We cannot wrap our human minds around the majesty, power, intelligence, love, mercy and grace that you possess! You want to give us all you have but we hold back from asking. I don’t know why we do that! Please forgive me when I try to figure out everything by myself. I want you. I need you every hour. Thank you for coming to my aid when I am in trouble. Thank you for clarity when the world causes confusion of thought. Thank you for caring for those I care about. Thank you for hearing my cries of help and proclamations of praise to you. Thank you for running to meet me when I turned and began my journey with you. Keep my eyes on You. You are indeed still, God.
Praising God in song, in prayer, in our behavior, in adoration of all He has done and is doing, brings out the best in us because we are turning the attention from ourselves back to God, the One and Only to be worshiped and praised. He is God and we are not! It is good for us to praise God. We were created to praise God, the Maker of heaven and Earth. When we don’t, negative thoughts creep in and we look at the world differently. We frown more, overthink, assume the worst in people, not the best. Our circumstances begin to overwhelm us and life seems doomed to fail us. We think we are doomed to fail. We are not at our best when we look down or around at others who do not live up to our standards. Yikes. (Shudder)
Yes, we are definitely at our best when we look up to God and praise Him. God knows that when we praise, we begin to see the world through His eyes. We gain new perspective and begin to understand His way of thinking when we praise Him with all that is in us. The world looks completely different after a hearty praise session with God, our Father!
When we spend more time in praise, it brings more of the God-in-us out into the open. We become more affirming of others. Praising God leads to loving others the way we know He loves us. Instead of putting others down, we begin to affirm them because we see God working in them, too. We see the best, not the worst and acknowledge what we see in praise to God for them!
Praising God has another benefit. We begin to be joyful, not jealous, when others grow in the blessing of God’s character traits, too. “I see Jesus in you when _________.” One of the many mentors in my life taught me to begin talking to someone with this opening praise for God in them. This was probably one of the most meaningful nuggets of wisdom I ever received from him. By praising what we see God through Jesus doing in the lives of others, we are actually praising God!! Everything goes back to God! To God be the glory!
Yes, indeed, “Right-living people sound best when praising.”
PAUSE TO PRAY
Lord, who can I affirm today and what will I say to encourage them as praise to You? Show me. Put your words in my mouth and then help me to listen.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 33, The Message
1-3 Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare.
4-5 For God’s Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out. He loves it when everything fits, when his world is in plumb-line true. Earth is drenched in God’s affectionate satisfaction.
6-7 The skies were made by God’s command; he breathed the word and the stars popped out. He scooped Sea into his jug, put Ocean in his keg.
8-9 Earth-creatures, bow before God; world-dwellers—down on your knees! Here’s why: he spoke and there it was, in place the moment he said so.
10-12 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense, he shoots down the world’s power-schemes. God’s plan for the world stands up, all his designs are made to last. Blessed is the country with God for God; blessed are the people he’s put in his will.
13-15 From high in the skies God looks around, he sees all Adam’s brood. From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers. He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do.
16-17 No king succeeds with a big army alone, no warrior wins by brute strength. Horsepower is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone.
18-19 Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together.
20-22 We’re depending on God; he’s everything we need. What’s more, our hearts brim with joy since we’ve taken for our own his holy name. Love us, God, with all you’ve got— that’s what we’re depending on.
TRUTH: “Right-living people sound best when praising.” Why do we praise God, our Father, Our Creator, Our Life? “God’s eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together. We’re depending on God; he’s everything we need.”
Proverb 15:12-15, The Message
Life Ascends to the Heights
12 Know-it-alls don’t like being told what to do; they avoid the company of wise men and women.
13 A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.
14 An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth; fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies.
15 A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song.
WISDOM: A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face. A leader is a learner. A cheerful heart is a heart of praise to God and fills the day with beauty and song!
Abba Father,
Thank you for all you have done over the years. You have saved our souls from a young age, then worked in us at each step to lead us to what you created us to be and do. Thank you for all you are currently doing to lead us in this season of life to be and do all you created us to be and do. Life and more life, that’s who you are! I cannot praise you enough for you are the Giver of Life. You are my protector, my provider, healer, Savior and Lord. To You be the Glory. You are my everything. You are everything I need. I love you with all that is in me. Continue to show me your ways and thinking and I will obey. For to praise You brings out the best in me!
Why do we worry and fret over a sin unrepented? Worry just makes the sin grow in inside us. Sin has side effects of grumpy moods, causing hateful words to fall from our lips that hurt others around us. Why hold it in or hold it close to our hearts as if it were a precious prize for us to control? Sin unresolved is uncontrollable. Sin is like a cancer that spreads rapidly affecting every part of our being. Sin, along with the results of our bad decisions, can’t find a comfortable place to live in a life that loves God. Unrepented sin will not lead to an anxiety free life! The pressure alone is like blowing up a balloon until it bursts in your face! We are testing the limits of our lives by holding in and grabbing on tightly to all that we need to let go of for our good.
“God holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from him.” David is proclaiming how to let it all go to God! God is the God of fresh starts and restored joy. Blessed are those who let it go, let the secrets out to Jesus who already knows and advocates for us to the Father who forgives us completely, never to remember the sin again!
Yes, blessed indeed are those who “get it and repent it” and know the slate is clean forever when they do. This is what God wants and how God works in our lives. “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” John 3:16-18, The Message
Jesus died for our sins, paying the debt we owed, and rose again to make redemption possible for us. Nothing is held against us any longer. Debt paid in full. No more secret lies to self or to others. No more placing blame on someone else or trying to rationalize our sin. We just repent of it all and be made clean, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and made whole by His saving grace! God is a merciful God, but we must let go of all that is not of God in our lives.
Ready for a fresh start? Tell Jesus.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 32, The Message
A David Psalm
32 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky— God holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone— my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we’ll be on high ground, untouched.
7 God’s my island hideaway, keeps danger far from the shore, throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice; I’m looking you in the eye and giving it to you straight:
9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule that needs bit and bridle to stay on track.”
10 God-defiers are always in trouble; God-affirmers find themselves loved every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate God. Sing together—everyone! All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
TRUTH: “Lucky” in this paraphrase is synonymous with blessed. To be blessed is to grow in the characteristics of God. God-affirmers find themselves loved every time they turn around. Amen! We love God because He first loved us.
Proverb 15:10-11, The Message
It’s a school of hard knocks for those who leave God’s path, a dead-end street for those who hate God’s rules.
11 Even hell holds no secrets from God— do you think he can’t read human hearts?
WISDOM: Know God knows exactly what you think you are trying to hide!
“But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7, The Message
Abba Father,
Who do we think we are to hold back and hold on so tightly to sins that destroy us? You see our hearts, know our minds and want more, so much more for us because of your love. I repent of worry, anxiety and thinking it will resolve itself. I repent of all that offends you in me. I ask for a fresh start today, cleansing me of all things not right for me to hold on to any longer. Wipe the slate clean, Lord. We don’t need to talk about this any longer for it is forgotten in your mind. Wow, what a mighty, merciful, gracious God you are. Thank you, dear Jesus, for saving my soul and making me whole. Continue to transform my life to be all you created me to be and then do. I love you with all my heart, mind and soul. To you be the glory! In Jesus Name, Amen!
