Psalm 63
English Standard Version (ESV)
Most of us know what it feels like to be hungry. We know what it's like to miss a meal (or two) and find our stomachs growling with discontent.
But deep hunger, the type that roars with desperation because we haven't eaten in days, and there is no promise of nutrition in sight? I don't know what that's like. I have no idea what it feels like to be starving, to eat cakes of mud because there is nothing else, like they do in Haiti.
When we think of our desire to be with God, is it like the feeling of being hungry, the idea that it would be nice to have God with us, or is it like starvation, the feeling that we desperately need God, that we'll do anything and everything possible to have God with us?
One of the two will drive us, motivate us, stir us to action. The other will keep God on a shelf, from where we'll get him down when he's useful to us. One is foolish, selfish, and wasteful. The other is the narrow path that leads to life.
May we seek to be wise Christians, pursuing God earnestly, as our very souls thirst for God.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Psalm 62
Psalm 62
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
******************
God alone.
I think most of us intend to worship God alone. The problem is that other things distract us, and before long our hearts are rushing off to another God.
Think about it like this. Have you ever gone into the grocery store focused on buying one thing, and then, the next thing you know, you're looking at 20 items on the checkout belt, wondering how they all got there? Plans and intentions are great, but we so easily find other things alluring enough to give ourselves over to them.
So how do we guard ourselves to ensure that we're focused on God alone?
It's a daily discipline of coming back to Christ, coming back to the one who gives us life, and recognizing that worshiping anything else is folly. It's a willingness to examine your own life impartially, and to let yourself be challenged to make sure your roots are sinking deep into the water of life. It's a lifelong process to let God alone be our rock and salvation, but it's worth the investment, worth the work, worth the discipline, because God alone leads to abundant and eternal life.
May you take the next step in discipleship, whatever that may be
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
******************
God alone.
I think most of us intend to worship God alone. The problem is that other things distract us, and before long our hearts are rushing off to another God.
Think about it like this. Have you ever gone into the grocery store focused on buying one thing, and then, the next thing you know, you're looking at 20 items on the checkout belt, wondering how they all got there? Plans and intentions are great, but we so easily find other things alluring enough to give ourselves over to them.
So how do we guard ourselves to ensure that we're focused on God alone?
It's a daily discipline of coming back to Christ, coming back to the one who gives us life, and recognizing that worshiping anything else is folly. It's a willingness to examine your own life impartially, and to let yourself be challenged to make sure your roots are sinking deep into the water of life. It's a lifelong process to let God alone be our rock and salvation, but it's worth the investment, worth the work, worth the discipline, because God alone leads to abundant and eternal life.
May you take the next step in discipleship, whatever that may be
Monday, July 14, 2014
Psalm 61
Psalm 61
American Standard Version (ASV)
Most of the time, my strength is sufficient. If I'm sick, my body usually is able to fend off whatever is troubling me. If I'm in a jam, I can often figure my way out of it. I can sort things out myself.
But sometimes, we run up against problems bigger than ourselves. Then, and often only then, do we realize that we require someone stronger than ourselves. Sometimes, we look to kings or other rulers, but they are only human. If we're wise, we look to God, and we ask him to 'lead us to the rock that is higher than I'. We ask God to take us up into his arms, where we are truly safe. We ask God to lead us to a refuge in him, where we understand true security. Only God can provide this, and that is why it is wise to take our true refuge in him alone.
May you feel God's strength surround you
American Standard Version (ASV)
Most of the time, my strength is sufficient. If I'm sick, my body usually is able to fend off whatever is troubling me. If I'm in a jam, I can often figure my way out of it. I can sort things out myself.
But sometimes, we run up against problems bigger than ourselves. Then, and often only then, do we realize that we require someone stronger than ourselves. Sometimes, we look to kings or other rulers, but they are only human. If we're wise, we look to God, and we ask him to 'lead us to the rock that is higher than I'. We ask God to take us up into his arms, where we are truly safe. We ask God to lead us to a refuge in him, where we understand true security. Only God can provide this, and that is why it is wise to take our true refuge in him alone.
May you feel God's strength surround you
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Singing as we Go
We sing to Caleb before he goes to bed, and one of the songs I sing often is 'Amazing Grace'. Well, apparently it's stuck, because the other morning we were walking down the stairs on the way to the car and he started singing 'Amazing Grace'. There he was, singing as he took each stair, one by one, with his teddy bear clutched in one hand and the other grasping the railing for support.
There was something about the scene that so filled me with fatherly pride and love for him.
And I couldn't help but think about how much more God loves us, and how proud he must be of us.
There we go, clutching onto whatever support we can find in this world, taking each and every step with the utmost care, uncertain of whether we are big enough to make it through this life, usually trying to hold onto something or someone for dear life, because we don't think we can do it on our own, and our hearts are often singing praise songs to God as we go, uncertain yet confidant in his grace and his love, thankful for the chance to move forward and seemingly ready to tumble down the stairs all at the same time.
If I can be filled with pride at the sight of my son coming down the stairs with Amazing Grace on his lips, how much more must God be proud of us when we praise his name in the midst of our uncertainty and tremulous steps forward in this life?
There was something about the scene that so filled me with fatherly pride and love for him.
And I couldn't help but think about how much more God loves us, and how proud he must be of us.
There we go, clutching onto whatever support we can find in this world, taking each and every step with the utmost care, uncertain of whether we are big enough to make it through this life, usually trying to hold onto something or someone for dear life, because we don't think we can do it on our own, and our hearts are often singing praise songs to God as we go, uncertain yet confidant in his grace and his love, thankful for the chance to move forward and seemingly ready to tumble down the stairs all at the same time.
If I can be filled with pride at the sight of my son coming down the stairs with Amazing Grace on his lips, how much more must God be proud of us when we praise his name in the midst of our uncertainty and tremulous steps forward in this life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)