Psalms – Prayers of Honesty and Praise
We are getting closer to departure for four months serving in Santa Cruz, Bolivia! Thursday/Friday are fly days. Yes, overnight flights get us to the land on the other side of the equator. When you decide to stay longer than the planned one month and extend your stay to four months, only a few weeks before departure, you realize all the details that have to be addressed before leaving your home country. It is easy for human stress to overwhelm your being in the process. I allowed that to happen to me yesterday.The last big hurdle is to complete our tax preparation because the refund we will obtain will help finance the mission greatly. But we wait on one more W2 form. Ugh. Mine came but Randy’s did not. You can ask how that can happen in this computer world until the cows come home but that does not solve the issue. You can fret about it but that only gives you a headache with other physical issues. So, we pray for solutions.
Yesterday, we met with a part of our church family who provide all the worship arts where we attend. After a great fellowship, they all gathered around Randy and I to pray God’s blessing on what He is inviting us to be and do in Bolivia. Then we sang songs and hymns in praise and thanks to God. “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.” It was a very “by the Book” setting of praise and fellowship to the God we adore.
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:19)
This morning as the details press in again, I read the next passage of honest prayer by the Psalmist who knows where to go quickly in trouble. I am at peace again with his trusting testimony of the attributes of Our Father:
“Your mercies, God, run into the billions; following your guidelines revive me.”
Psalm 119
Psalm 119, The Message
Part 20 153-160
Take a good look at my trouble, and help me—
I haven’t forgotten your revelation.
Take my side and get me out of this;
give me back my life, just as you promised.
“Salvation” is only gibberish to the wicked
because they’ve never looked it up in your dictionary.
Your mercies, God, run into the billions;
following your guidelines, revive me.
My antagonists are too many to count,
but I don’t swerve from the directions you gave.
I took one look at the quitters and was filled with loathing;
they walked away from your promises so casually!
Take note of how I love what you tell me;
out of your life of love, prolong my life.
Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth.
Your righteous decisions are eternal.
FROM THE HEART
Take a good look at your troubles. Stop and tell God your troubles, name them one by one, with a believing heart that nothing, absolutely nothing is too hard for God. Nothing gets past God who knows your troubles even before that are apparent to you. (Preaching to me.) God will turn our troubles into testimonies of His greatness and care for you. Just pray, obey, wait and see!Take a good look at what God has already done for you because that exercise in itself brings peace and restores the joy of God’s salvation in you.
Take a good look at WHO you are talking to. He is God and we are not. Solutions you haven’t thought of suddenly appear on the horizon of your thinking when you ask God to take a good look at your current situation.
Take a good look at your life and reflect on who is in control. You or God? When we ask God to take a look, He will in turn ask us to do the same looking. We may learn a great deal about ourselves when we take a good, long look at what is before us and in us.Take a good look at your antagonists. Do they guide your thinking? Do you have a desire for them to like you? Take a good look at where you want to be. Do you want what God wants or what the world wants? The Psalmist did not turn his eyes from God’s wisdom. He knew Who Truth was and Who to go to for Truth.
“I don’t swerve from the directions you gave.”
By asking God to take note of how much we love Him and want to obey him we are affirming our faith in our thinking and behavior. “Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth. Your righteous decisions are eternal.”Our Father,
What I desire most is You! Yes, take a look at all the details and help us work through them before we go so that our focus is totally on the work you are inviting us to be and do. Show us solutions as problems arise that are not on our radar of thinking. You are God and we are not. We believe You. You are Truth. I love You. I love Truth. I know you will keep us in the palm of your hand.
In Jesus Name, Amen
“But you’re the closest of all to me, God,
We talk a lot in church about being in the Presence of God because that is the glorious place to be. We expect God to do all for us, in us and through us. But do we PERSONALLY love God. From all that we know, with all our hearts, minds and souls, do we personally stand before God and reverently listen to what HE has to say without interrupting? Do we speak about His goodness, declare His Word absolute and right with our personal presence and actions? Do our lives show our personal love for Him? Do our lives show others who God is and how He personally loves us?
Psalm 119, The Message
Turn my way, look kindly on me,
The more we love God who loved us first, the more we get to KNOW Him personally, as in any relationship that is love driven. We begin to understand what God sees as right and good. We begin to think and act more like His Word commands. We obey because of our trust and love for God. We can’t wait to be with Him. We run to Him with every detail of our lives because we know He wants us to tell Him! We begin see the best not the worst in others who know and love Him. We think higher, nobler thoughts as Paul relates in Philippians.
“Let your petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.” (Philippians 4, The Message)
“Turn my way, look kindly on me,
Letting go of every single dream
I woke up with all the details that still need to happen. But quickly following those thoughts, this song came to mind. I prayed to go laying all the details of this dream He has given us at His feet. Then I read His Word. This phrase popped out as if it were highlighted just for me: “I can’t keep my eyes open any longer, waiting for you to keep your promise to set everything right.” Yes, these few details, along with the weather, will be set right because we have said yes to God.
Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings
When I think about WHO I am listening to for marching orders for the day, “I shiver in awe” like the psalmist relates. I understand how the writer feels. This is a form of worship! Be still and listen. Be still and know Who we are talking to…seriously.
Expose all who drift away from your sayings;
Dear Heavenly Father,
It is this time of year when the weather can turn ugly pretty quickly. A white out can block our view of the road as we drive in the daylight hours. Driving in a white out in the dark can be deadly…without the two beams of light on the front of our vehicles.
Following the lights of this truck whose driver seemed so assured was treacherous for me. He was going much faster than I felt comfortable with but I followed anyway with white knuckles gripping the steering wheel. I prayed throughout this “ride” and a calm came over me so I could stay the course. Okay, God, we’re doing this.
My life is as close as my own hands,
Oh, how I love all you’ve revealed;
As you can see and read each morning, I too, like the writers of the Psalms, love God’s Word. This love of God’s Word began with growing, intimate love for God through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus, who came down from the Heavenly throne, BECAME the Word of God who walked the earth and taught humans Who God is and What God intended in His Word. His mission was to seek and to save lost people. Jesus died for all of us lost people on a cross as THE sacrifice for our sin. Jesus then with the power to defeat death and rise again reconciled us to God in that last act of obedience on this earth to our Father in Heaven.
What is God’s Truth? His Truth is not a product that comes out with a new and improved truth every season. His Truth has stood the test of time since the beginning of the world He created. His Truth is not what we think it is or what some other person thinks it is, but rather what is. His Word is Truth. His Word will not change. His Word never goes out of style. His Word is Truth whether we chooses to believe it or not. His Truth is the standard for living whether we choose to live it or not. His Truth is, thankfully, not measured by what we think or do. 
Save me! I’m all yours.
Dear Heavenly Father,
HOWEVER, to stay longer means more funds are needed to cover living expenses for the months of February, March, April, May and one week in June in the amount of $6000.00. Randy and I have always believed that where God guides, He provides. There isn’t much time to raise these funds so we are asking for your help. We will depart February 7. That gives us 13 more days to raise these funds…two whole weeks! You can commit to give monthly or in one lump sum. 
