163 - "It Is By Loving, Not By Being Loved" Proverbs 5-7; John 20

Treasure up my commandments within you.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Blessed is the one who listens.

Waiting daily at my gate.

Fear the LORD.

Beginnings.

Wisdom.

Holy.

He.

Proverbs 7:3

Where we are enmeshed with the happenings of this world, would You grant us Your Power to move in love. The quote of George MacDonald comes to mind:  "It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest to the soul of another."  Oh, dear Father, help us move this day to love by treasuring, writing, listening, waiting, watching, and fearing You not what's happening to us.  Make us a little more holy this day than we were yesterday.  Where we struggle, please help us to listen long and deep.

PHOTO:  View from 37,000 feet in the air where I tried to listen long today.  This vast expanse, God You suspend us all.  You keep.  You grasp.  You make this world work.  Make our hearts work today.  Your Words on the tablets of our hearts.  Unless You do it, we cannot.

Proverbs 8

       

Proverbs 8:1 "Does not wisdom call out? Does not undertanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: I raise my vloice to all mankind." "The word of God is two-fold, and, in both senses, is wisdom; for a word without wisdom is of little value, and wisdom without a word is of little use." Matthew Henry. Get wisdom.

Christ in the Word.
Christ revealed in you.

And you will know all the loveliness of God.
And His Love will be shed abroad in your hearts.
And you will have all the counsel in rough patches.

Wisdom calls out to you:

“To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
You who are simple, gain prudence;
you who are foolish,

Set your hearts on Wisdom. Proverbs 8:6

PHOTO: One of the most telling places I've visited: Chambers Bay, Washington on the Puget Sound. Windswept thoughts as I walked these dunes. Fescue grasses surrounding my story. A masterpiece with all the hidden secrets and unspoken thoughts my heart holds. May we lay bare before our God all that I am. May the Great I AM meet us here. 

162 - "Holiness Trumps Management" Proverbs 2-4; John 19:23-42

Don't be weary of God's reproof.
The Lord reproves those whom He loves.  
Sickness. Trials. Testings. Temptation

Matthew Henry puts it this way:  
"Should the Lord visit us with trials and sickness---let us not forget that the exhortation speaks to us as to children, for our good. Bind them around your neck."
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father the son in whom he delights.   Proverbs 3:7
Henry goes on to say that those "who know themselves" find a lack of understanding like a bruised broken reed.  God will never break us beyond measure. 

So, what's the point?

What to do?
Scripture interprets Scripture.  What is God saying to you through His Word?
Holiness weighs in more important than management.  

Write His Words on the tablet of your heart so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  No bruised reeds here. May our holiness trump any kind of management involving our lack of understanding.  

Proverbs 3:3-7  Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. 
   Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well 
   in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; 
   don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do,    
   everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. 
   Run to God! Run from evil! Honor God with everything you own; 
   give him the first and the best. ... No need to panic over alarms or surprises.

I have lived a frenetic life at times---that's my default mode.  Someone please help me.  Someone please rescue me.  There's Only One Who can Rescue us from darkness.  May we be more concerned about being rescued from darkness than rescued from pain.  It doesn't come from a good place in my heart when I try to ease my pain, minimize my pain, silence my pain.  I've so wanted answers for my panic.  And here is my God saying:  Don't try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God's Voice."  Am I listening this day for His Still Small Voice?  Or am I trying to figure out life on my own?  Everything.  Everywhere.  Listen for His Voice today in the mundane and marvelous.  And go be Prov 3:29---God's Hand to someone this day.

PHOTO:  View outside my window.  That time when none of my kids had any kids and we went to Buena Vista, Colorado.  Young Life Camp.  And I break out in a Veggie Tale song about water buffalo.  Longing to live more concerned about holiness than management of this one life of mine.

163 - "It Is By Loving, Not By Being Loved" Proverbs 5-7; John 20

Treasure up my commandments within you.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Blessed is the one who listens.

Waiting daily at my gate.

Fear the LORD.

Beginnings.

Wisdom.

Holy.

He.

Proverbs 7:3

Where we are enmeshed with the happenings of this world, would You grant us Your Power to move in love. The quote of George MacDonald comes to mind:  "It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest to the soul of another."  Oh, dear Father, help us move this day to love by treasuring, writing, listening, waiting, watching, and fearing You not what's happening to us.  Make us a little more holy this day than we were yesterday.  Where we struggle, please help us to listen long and deep.

PHOTO:  View from 37,000 feet in the air where I tried to listen long today.  This vast expanse, God You suspend us all.  You keep.  You grasp.  You make this world work.  Make our hearts work today.  Your Words on the tablets of our hearts.  Unless You do it, we cannot.

161 - "This One Thing Makes Me Fall" 1 Kings 3-4; Proverbs 1; John 19:1-22

He loved the LORD, only this...
Can it be said of us. Only but this one thing. I Kings 3:3.

Let's lay aside that "only" one thing and run the race before us.

Solomon knew that God showed great favor to his father, David.

"Ask what I shall give you."  I Kings 3:5.
"Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” I Kings 3:9

This pleased the LORD that Solomon didn't ask for himself but for his calling. 
May this very day, we see through what "only" we can do.

And David ends with a prayer for Solomon. Psalm 72:6. May he be like rain falling on the fresh mown grass. An answer to the drought in so many lives.  

Father, cause us to live like rain failling on a parched land.  Empower us today with the Energy that stirs so powerfully within.

These proverbs are written by the wisest of men.  

Yet, even Solomon had to wrestle with Wisdom.

It wasn't poured into his head through a sieve, through a spout.

It was delivered by His Maker, through his work.

Gaining wisdom.

Understanding words.

Receiving instruction.

Doing what is right and just and fair.

Giving prudence to the simple.

Giving knowledge to the young.

Adding learning to the wise.

Giving guidance to the discerning.

Understanding proverbs.

Proverbs 1:1-6

Wise words from a wise man seeking this all of his life.

There is Someone greater here than Solomon.

There is Christ found in these proverbs.

Christ is The Living Word.  

Breathed on to this page.rain.  Falling in the Hill Country.  Let Him fall all over me. 

160 - “When Your Desire to Succeed is Greater than your Desire to be Holy” I Kings 1-3; John 18

                                                                     

Last words: Be Strong. Show what you are made of. Do what God tells you. Keep an eye out for the signposts.

I Kings 2:1-4  When David's time to die approached, he charged his son Solomon, saying, "I'm about to go the way of all the earth, but you—be strong; show what you're made of! Do what God tells you. Walk in the paths he shows you: Follow the life-map absolutely, keep an eye out for the signposts, his course for life set out in the revelation to Moses; then you'll get on well in whatever you do and wherever you go." 

Last words make you so want to listen to what they have to say about real life. No formulas from David, just beautiful rhetoric from a man who lived a dangerous, courageous life with a heart for God. I wonder what David thinks at the end of his life about his failures to trust God.  

66LL says about this book of I Kings: "Your desire to be effectiver, to depend on biblical principles for success in your family, church, career, and friendships is legitimately strong." Okay, stop right there.  I would say that my Christian life was spent depending on biblical principles and it was legitimately strong. 

But.... keep reading this:  "But when that desire is stronger than your desire to be holy and to depend on My power for becoming more like My Son, whether you succeed or fail in other ways, then you will not advance my plan...." 

Okay, that makes me so want to stop and evaluate. I think there was sin in my life---distance from people, jealousy over other's success, being so hard on myself I was really unkind to myself, and the laundry list goes on...---my heaviest point is that there was relational sin I overlooked all the time cause I couldn't straighten it out with my family or friends.......... nor could I walk out or walk away from the relationships I was in.  I never really took a look at how I came across to people nor did people really tell me. I was more focused on how they treated me.  I thought everything in life was okay until 18 years ago when I hit a crisis I couldn't overcome. The Great Divide. I hadn't been naming my evil.  Really didn't know how.  I was more interested in succeeding and I was in most ways. I've been an overcomer my whole life.  But success is not the signpost that everything is all right.  "Success is not greatness."

159 - "Give From Trusted Fulness" Psalm 143-145; John 18:1-18

"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, 

and there are few who find it." 

Matthew 7:14.  

Sin has locked us out of that gate.  Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance opens the gate wide to a narrow way.  Enter.  Live.  Work out that salvation with fear and trembling. 

"Give from trusted fulness rather than 

Grasping for demanded fullness."

How do you come forth when you are in the midst of hard times and troubles, a rough patch? 
Set a guard over my mouth.  Not behavior modification.  But repentant living.  So that we may not be drawn to do what is wrong.

May I be enlightened with the Knowledge of Your Will. "A good man does not ask the way in which is the most pleasant walking, but what is the right way." May I deal with my own sin in all of this. 

 There is way more that we don't know than what we know.

This.

This, we do know.

Our hope is in the Lord, our God.
Our help is in the God of Jacob.
Our trust is in no human.
Psalm 146:3-5.

His pleasure is not in the strength of a horse or animal.

His delight is not in the legs of a warrior husband.

His delight is in those who put heir hope in His Unfailing Love.

Psalm 147:11

He is sending His command to this house.

His Word runs swiftly.

He is sending His Word and melting our hearts.

Psalm 147:15, 18

Unfailing Love not failing circumstances.Some people in this generation commended your works, O God.  The country of the Gadarenes implored you to leave with your miracles.  I will meditate on these works.  I will think about how you leave John the Baptist in trouble and go to Capernaum instead.  You are not here for our glory.  "The eyes of all look to You..."  Psalm 145:10, 16

158 - "Hedged In Behind & Before" Psalm 139-141; John 17

 

The LORD will accomplish what concerns me. 138:8

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me. 138:7

LORD, You have searched me and known me. 139:1
You understand my thought from afar. 139:2
You scrutinize my path & my lying down. 139:3
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. 139:5
If I would count your thoughts, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

O the Wonder.
O the Awe of it All.
BB Warfield in a famous sermon delivered in 1911 said:
"Familiarity with the things of God will cause you to lose your awe."

Have we spent so much time in strategic local church ministry planning that we have lost our wonder at the Sovereign Planner Who guides our every minute. 
Have we spent so much time unpacking the theology of Scripture that we have forgotten the end game of personal holiness.  Have we spent so much time in discipling others that we are no longer amazed at the reality of having been chosen to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  [Paul David Tripp]

Psalm 139:3 Make each of us bold with strength in our soul.
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Jesus prayed for the disciples that they may be made holy. Sanctifying Grace. And that Sanctifying Grace comes through Truth, the Word. May Your Hand go with all of us. A living faith. A working faith. And if the way we think about life has no sanctifying grace effect on us, there is no Divine truth Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. Oh God, let us receive this living faith, this Divine sanctifying workNot for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. John 17:20

PHOTO/ My heart has fallen into this ocean so many times. My God is always accomplishing what concerns me. 

157 - "Unspeakable Comfort" Psalm 109-110; Psalm 138; John 16

Psalm 109 - GOD'S HAND IS IN THIS.  Does my world recognize Your Hand is in this...

and if yes, then how do I respond to that?  My God, don't turn a deaf ear to my hallelujah prayer. 

I'm at the end of my rope, my life in ruins.  Save me through your Wonderful Love.  Then they'll know that your hand is in this.  I so believe you wrote this psalm for me.  In some ways, I am at my wit's end but I believe your hand is in this.   It would be really good for me, I think, if others knew Your Hand was in this.

Psalm 109 UNSPEAKABLE COMFORT
If God is for us, it matters not what those who are against us, ignoring us, stiff-arming us---it matters not what they do. For it is done. No one can undo His Love. Psalm 109:4 - For my love, they are still not with me. But, I give myself to prayer!

Psalm 110 THE PRIEST KING
Never before had any one royalty held two such offices of priest and king. Only God. And may we This Day, Every Day, know that THIS is Your Hand---whatever happens. "The Lord is at your right hand." Psalm 109:27. He will shatter kings.
"May the Spirit who spoke by the man after God's own heart give us eyes to see the hidden mysteries of this marvellous Psalm 110, in which every word has an infinity of meaning." Treasury of David

Psalm 138 ANGELS LISTENING                                                                                                                            Angels listen as we say Our Thanks. They are cheering us on. Psalm 138:1

John 16 UNSHAKABLE AND ASSURED                                                                                                                                                                                                             Take heart. Trust. You will be deeply at peace in a godless world with continuing  difficulties.                                                                                                                                                                 

PHOTO: Falling Stars. Things are Different than they Look. Photo Credit: Smithsonian Institute. Copyright free. Flickr. Community.

156 - "When Will You Come To Me, God?" Psalm 101. Psalm 103 Psalm 108. John 15

                        

"When will you come to me?" Psalm 101:2
Such an intriguing question.
Some commentaries think David penned this psalm
when he finally took the throne after waiting 25 years.
The psalm fits a "good magistrate" and a "good master."
When, God?
This is the householder's psalm. For all the places we lead.
No matter what our outward condition is---joy or sorrow.
Keep these words in your mind.  On repeat.  
We must sing this psalm in our world. 
This is how David would walk in his own house,
for he was still under the watchful Eye of God.

Our greatest goal in living in our homes is this.
That God may dwell there all our days.
We invited Him from the day we moved in.
Sometimes I feigned soul amnesia and forgot He was there.
Most days I knew it, breathed it, lived it.
It's over.  The last child flipped over the calendar.
I've thought much about what we left there in that home.
Thought much about what God did there.
I can't take it back and I wish I could in ways.
But we gave the best we had from where we sat and walked.
And all I can do is ask today:
When will you come to me, God? And a tear falls.

All those days brought me to this tear.  I want Him so.
So, what's the point:  Walk circumspectly under the
Hand of Providence, under the Watchful Eye of God. There are beautiful souls still living in my house. All are worthy of utmost respect.

One of the most unbelievable experiences I have had was when II Corinthians 1:8-10 happened to me.  I was burdened excessively, beyond my strength, so that I despaired even of life.  A troubled childhood, violence, gang rape, addictions, miscarriages, and then it happened---burdened excessively.  January 13, 2006.  "Indeed [I] had the sentence of death within so that I would not trust in [myself] but in God Who raises the dead."  II Cor. 1:8-9,  He did! He raised me up from the dead.  I didn't think I was going to make it through.  Oh! Make no mistake, He raised me up to life that I've never known.  More alive than I've ever been.  More aware of the sin within than ever.  It's called "The Great Divide." [Oswald Chambers] I have set my hope on God, not on this world.  And He will YET deliver me even more. 

"God produces a providential crisis where we have to decide---FOR or AGAINST, and from that point the "Great Divide" begins.  If the crisis has come to you on any line, surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably."  Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest January 1.

PHOTO: The Quarries Lake where I often ask "When will you come to me, O God?"

155 - "May God Be To You Like Falling Rain on Fresh Mown Grass" Psalm 68. Psalm 72. Psalm 86. John 14

And David ends with a prayer for Solomon. Psalm 72:6. May he be like rain falling on the fresh mown grass. An answer to the drought in so many lives.  

Father, cause us to live like rain failling on a parched land.  Empower us today with the Energy that stirs so powerfully within.

154 - "Love Pays Any Price to Bless Another" Psalm 61-62; Psalm 65; John 13:21-38

This is a rough patch that I am in. I came to the Word today so needing a word. And ai read …  Ps 62:1 . "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him." Ps 62:8 The Living Word longs to meet us. I'm way too wrapped up in what's happening here. God spoke once; Twice I heard this: Power belongs to God. Lovingkindness is His. Ps 62:11. Immaculate. Immutable. Invisible. Incomprehensible. God doesn't need to speak twice. He speaks once and things happen. He commands a world and it stands fast every single day. We speak and sometimes we do not have much to say. God speaks and it is done. In Latin, the meaning for twice means "uncertain." We hear again and again the sound of God's Voice through Creation, Sovereignty, Providence, The Word. May we keep on hearing this One Word: God is powerful and full of love. May His thunderous Voice echo again and again and again both of these truths. PHOTO: All 4 of you children have heard God speak once. May you hear Him twice. My prayer for each one of you loves is that His Lovingkindness will meet you.

Circa 2015

153 - "The Lot You Were Assigned" Psalm 53. Psalm 55. Psalm 58. John 13:1-20

 

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Psalm 55:22. But as for me, I will trust in You. Psalm 55:23. Cast your burden on to the Lord. In the Hebrew, it means the "lot you were assigned" by God Himself. Some say it is David's words but the meaning of burden in the Hebrew is "gift." Even the cup of sorrow is a gift. Cast it on Him and He will never allow you to be moved more than you can bear. 

152 - "Equal Footing At the Cross" Psalm 39-41; John 12:27-50

David finds some difficulty in Psalm 39 to rest in the Lord and wait patiently. It's easy to hand out the advice and much harder to follow it. When our sin stands in the way ...

My foot stands on level ground when I am forgiven. There is no penance that we dare do to pay for our sins. I waited patiently for the Lord

Some seasons, we can't work ourselves out of what we are in.  All we can do is wait patiently---never in vain.  We know God hears us.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Give us this day a "settled peace of conscience" that we may wait rightly.  And how did the Hebrews do it?  Through a metaphor. Psalm 40:7 - they dug out their ears filled with audio. They listened with their eyes.  I come to Your Word.  It is written of me.  

God's Kindness and Truth is David's comfort on his sickbed as he faces unkindness and treachery of family and friends. Psalm 41:1

John 12:27 - Jesus' soul is troubled. He was shaken by what just happened. "What should I say?" His question refers to the choicest of words to use when we face difficult. The response from God to his question: A voice from Heaven itself. John 12:30. And Jesus says, the Voice is not for me but for you. Follow!

PHOTO: As the sun sets today, let's sing Psalm 41.

151 - "A Sojourner, A Stranger" Psalm 36-38; John 12:1-26

I want this world to be perfect in every which way: family, friends, relationships, home, car, circumstances, money, job, entertainment, lifestyle, and oh, I could go on. Maybe not perfect, just complimentary. Really?

What speaks to my heart this day? What makes sense to me as I move into my world? Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart. It is transgression that flatters us in our own eyes. Psalm 36:1-2. We can have the good life here. We deserve better treatment than what we are getting. We make people want to pay for what they are doing to us. We have ceased being wise and doing good; we plan evil upon our bed. Not Good! Psalm 36:3-4

Do not fret because of those who are evil.

Do not envy those who do wrong.

Because.

Like the grass, they will soon wither one day.

Psalm 37:2

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Take delight in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart.  

Trust in Him and He will do this.

Psalm 37:3, 5

This is a sermon, says the commentaries.
"Calculated not for our devotion, but for our conversation."
It is Maschil---a teaching psalm.

Fall Forward in Faith.

No matter how bleak.

No matter how black.

It shall be "well with the soul of those who fear God." 

Do I despise evil? Or do I tolerate it? Do I dismiss it like a $5 parking ticket for my bicycle. 

Don't fret.Don't be envious.
God will do it!

God will bring forth your righteousness, Psalm 37:6
as the light and your judgment as the noonday. 

All of our serving and sharing and ministering
does not make us right with God. 

Rest in the LORD. Wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7  

Maybe, what makes sense to your heart is not right. 
He is our strength in time of trouble. Psalm 37:39. 

Rebuke me, O LORD, Psalm 38:1
for Your Hand presses down. Again. Psalm 38:2

Mourning. Sighing. Aloof. Afar.
I am a stranger. a sojourner.

PRAYER FROM PSALMS

And now, LORD, 

for what do I wait?

My hope is in You. Psalm 39:7

Not in my success or systematic theology or 

achievement or accolades or validation or victory.

I hope in You.  Psalm 38:15

150 - Like Lazarus, Awake My Soul" Psalm 31, Psalm 35, John 11:30-57

Is there ever a prayer that is unanswered. No. God answers all of them---it's just that maybe the answer we hoped for; or it is not the one we receive;the timing we require is revealed to be our will not His. In John 11:41 ~ Jesus lifts up his eyes and says, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. Did anyone really believe that God would bring him back to life? If we ask, He will answer. Don't be silent. Please be near to me. 

Psalm 35:22 Please hear my voice as I cry for mercy. Psalm 31:22 Just like Lazarus, awaken my soul to see life again. Just like Lazarus, send people my way to unbind what I cannot. Thank you, God, for the invitation to pray without ceasing. 

PHOTO: Eatonville, Washington. The street where the Morgans and Brandons once lived.

149 - "We Know Not What's Born in the Womb of Time" Psalm 27-29; John 11:1-29

David's cruel and perfidious enemies assaulted him. They encompassed him. David gropes for words to express the impression his thoughts have made on his life. He gropes for words to express how desperate his condition would have been if he had not been supported by faith in God's promises. Even the best saints are subject to faint when their troubles become grievous and tedious; their spirits are overwhelmed, and their flesh and heart fail; but then faith is a sovereign cordial! Faith keeps us from drowning under our burdens; it keeps us hoping, and praying, and waiting; hope maintains in all of us honourable thoughts of God, and an expectation of relief in due time. But what belief was it that would keep David from fainting? That he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living — not only a continuance of the mercy and grace of God to his soul which he already possessed, but that he should outlive his troubles. David longed to see and enjoy in this life a deliverance from his enemies. The Land of the Living---David desired "this" mercy in "this" life not because he placed his portion in things but because he placed his whole life in truth and God's glory. That's it. I have been longing to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. O God, have mercy on me. Psalm 27:13-14 has been the biggest verse tugging on my heart for the past 52 years since I became a Christian. 

So...

"Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring."

Proverbs 27:1

We can prepare for tomorrow,

we just cannot presume upon God and his moving.

We just can't promise that we will be here. All we know is that we have to rest tonight. The sun will go down. We have no info about tomorrow for good reason. To-day, while it is called, To-day, hear God's voice. We know not what is in the womb of time until it's born. Then, the One Who closes the books on To-day, the One who has kept us in the dark is the One who readies us for every second, every day.

PHOTO: It's just me. Longing to see God's Goodness in the Land of the Living. Life's been hard. God's been good.

148 - "No One Can Snatch Me Out of the Father's Hand" Psalm 24-26; John 10:22-42

Blindness doesn't co-exist with pretense.

 "How long will you keep us guessing if you are the Messiah?"  John 10:25-32 - Jesus answered, "I told you, but you don't believe ... You don't believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice....They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand."

"Many turned away when they realized what He was saying was "hard."  Like so many today!  The word hard is a translaton of skleros:  offensive not merely difficult.  "To love with nails in Your Hands and to love those who put them there captures the essence of what it means to really live!"  66 LL.

John 10:29  "No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand."  It's a verse God gave me years ago when I lived in dreaded fear of being harmed.  Safe in His Hand, whatever that means.  Not free from harm and hurt, just free to be His.  And that will never change!

We have been in the Providential Hand of God before the foundation of the world, and even before we were in "the loins of Adam." Everything about us is under God's care, protection, and power.

147 - "Come Quickly! Between a Rock and a Hard Place" Psalm 20, Psalm 21, Psalm 22; John 10:1-21

                         

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
    but we rise up and stand firm.
9 Lord, give victory to the king!
    Answer us when we call!
                Psalm 20
The news came unexpected today.
It's over our heads.
We're between a rock and a hard place.
We know not what to do.
Overwhelmed.
We will rise up.
We will stand firm.
By Your Mighty Power.
Because it is not within me to move forward on this.
This is David speaking.
He knew what it meant to embrace loss.
And we have lost something really big today.
Rise up, o my soul.
Stand firm, and see the salvation of God redeem my heart.

DEAR GOD:  PLEASE CHANGE ME IN THIS ONE OF 10,000 MOMENTS THAT MUST NOT DEFINE ME.  Help me to let go of how I think things should be, how things should fall, how things should play out. Give us Grace to face this rough patch.   not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

Psalm 22:11

My heart melts like wax. 

Do not be far from me. 

You are my strength. 

Come Quickly!

PHOTO:  A rising Texas sun over all our rock and hard places.

146 - "My World May Not Delight in Me but My God Doea" Psalm 17, Psalm 19; John 9:24-41

He brought me forth into a broad place where I can stand without having to wonder. He rescued me because He delights in me---maybe my world does not, He does! And I believe that! Psa 18:19. My God is illuminating all of my darkness. Psa 18:29. I may not see a lot happening this very day but as I reflect back, so much has changed. Change takes time. Doesn't happen overnight. My dark patches, incomprehensible shadows will be made clear one day. Until then, I trust smack dab in the middle of confusion, disconcerting news, and a world that has no place for me. But I am here to live, to love, to give, to move. I no longer need my world to come through for me. ~ Acts 20:24 God fills us all. Fills all those empty spaces. You know, He is looking for empty spaces today. John of the Cross said it this way: The Spirit of God cannot pass a soul with empty places without filling it with Himself. Search and find Him---He is here.

We are far too easily pleased. C.S. Lewis said it. May I never be satisfied with anything greater than becoming like Christ. 

Whether we can see or not, believe for the sake of His Glory. John 9:30 "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes." Since the world began, no one has ever even heard of anyone who can open blind eyes. So, why is it that we don't believe God? 

As Christ passed by the very people who despised Him, he healed one of their neighbors. Lifted a burden off the community who took care of this blind helpless man for 3 decades. In transitu, as he passed by. May we live to love as we pass by. Blind men and sighted. Never stop doing them good, even if treated invisible. With common elements of mud and saliva. He used what He had. The very thing the Pharisees had a fit over---how the eyes of the blind man were opened. You would have thought they would have thrown him an all-town parade. Instead the Pharisees threw him out! No longer blind. No beggar job; no family support; no community behind him. But, because he went to the pool of Siloam, he was healed. May we go to places we are called to go with mud on our faces.

PHOTO: Free Bible images. 

145 - "Beg For Directions" Psalm 15-16; John 9:1-23

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? Psalm 15:1 David pleads to God for mercy, for help. All our world depends on this. Beg for directions. to know what it takes "to be" and "to do" His will. Walk blameless - is it possible. Do what is right - it is possible, only in His Power.   You have not forgotten. You see this thing that is happening to me. I will bless the LORD Who has counseled me. O God, please let my mind instruct me even this night. 

You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11

Just like the Blind Man in John 9:3. Don't ask the wrong questions like who sinned causing him to be blind. Look instead for what God can do. John 9:3-4. Be at work for the One Who sent me here while the sun shines. I am the world's light. John 9:4-5. And the Blind Man metaphorically grabbed Jesus right hand. 

The Captain of our soul.  There is a Guide in these verses Who leads us all the way.
The Traveler.  There is a singular person referred to in this passage:  me.  It is I alone who travels the path of life.  I make my own decisions.  No one makes them for me.  I chart my course.  It is I.  
The Path. It is a winding uphill road all the way.  Filled with hard things.  Filled with His Presence, if we only take Him by the hand.

The End.  Wandering pilgrims going home.  

Eternal pleasures are ours. 

PHOTO: A quick trip to California to an unbelievable retreat for cancer survivors. They found me somehow. One thought I walked away with from Bob Goff: There are no titles to the chapters being written today. One Day you will know!

144 - "Expect Your Theological Boxes to Explode" Psalm 12-14; John 8:28-59

                                                            

Psalm 13:2-3. Let me not barter for Anything Else to enlighten me. You have not forgotten. You see this thing that is happening to me. I will bless the LORD Who has counseled me. O God, please let my mind instruct me even this night. Because You are at my right hand, I will not be shaken in what comes my way. 

Psalm 13:8 "Expect your theological boxes to explode, to lose all false hope in what My Love will provide in this life. We've built these thoughts that life should happen a certain way. And what happens when it doesn't? May we be shaken and stirred to find this new way of thinking. The abandoned life to Christ. Because He is God and we are not."  

God remembered. We are a remembered tribe. We may have forgotten about Him in the past 24 hours of difficulties or double hearts (Psaml 12:2). But, He has not forgotten us. God remembers ...

If I drop a piece of info into the right slot, would it be morally right?  Do I live by morals alone? 

"Here is the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin. One's obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible." Eric Metaxas. Oh! God, please give us strength to prepare the way to truly live free and let 

PHOTO: A monastery of days gone by on St. Margaret's Island in Budapest, Hungary. I stood on this spot and wondered how the monks here wrestled in war to cast their burdens, how to trust their God.

143 - "The Light of The World lit up 8 Billion Today" Psalm 9; Psalm 11; John 8:1-27uda

Eight billion people saw the sun light up the world this morning.

Christ is the Light of the World.
He lights 8 billion today
and all those who have ever lived.

A Metaphor.

"I am the Light of the World;
He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness."
Even in our darkest moments, Light shines.
John 8:12. 

There have been times … when I thought I could cry forever. But I haven’t done it … The living can’t quit living because the world has turned terrible … They can’t because they don’t. The light that shines in darkness and never goes out calls them on into life … into the world, into whatever the world will require.

Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

Indeed, Light did shine for the woman caught in adultery.
The Light of the World searches and shines
To show her Mercy
To show her accusers their sin.
She calls Him LORD.
Do we do that in our sin?

142 - "Pay More Attention to Your Impact on Others" Psalm 7-8; John 7:28-53

John 7:37-38  "Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone THIRSTS, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

Picture this:  He stands up and cries out.  No calm teaching here.  Passionate.  The Last Day of the Feast of the Tabernacles where they would pour out water from the Pool of Siloam as libation---while Jesus is crying out COME TO ME and BELIEVE the Scriptures.  I'll give you living Water.  I'll give you the HolySpirit.

God's Words are not idle words, they are our very life, Deut 32:46-47.  Reading the Word of God is no formula for growth but it is TRANSFORMING if we believe these words.  I'm not the same person I was last month!  I'm shaking my head!  He is the LIVING WORD.

Psalm 7:2 says:  I feel like I've been left, unlooked for, unremembered.  David speaks from his heart where he's black-and-blue from the beatings.   David didn't hide from God nor from his world.  He dropped all pretense and made known to God his fears and failures and emptiness and hopes and praises and desires.  Am I doing that?  Am I taking to God what's really going on inside my thoughts, my world?  Am I more concerned about my impact on others?  "God's power is most visibly evident in your life when, in the moment you most painfully feel the impact of another's relational failure, you pay more attention to your impact on that person than on that person's impact on you." (Larry Crabb). A family member has ignored me and I'm feeling it.  Am I more concerned about my impact on them or how they have made me feel?  Self-absorbed or unselfish living?

Jesus walked and did good in Galilee, not in Judea. For He knew His time had not yet come to die---and the Jews sought to kill him. Yet in Galilee, they wanted Jesus to produce miracle after miracle for those who didn't believe. Two take-aways here: 1. Wherever God has placed you, in your own Galilee, do good there. Don't wait or live or yearn for your Judea. Live in the moment. Live in the present. 2. Worldly policy dictates that we should be taken care of. Heal me. Fix me. Make sure I am comfortable. Do we live for the glory of God and His Will? Or do we live for ourselves. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, from within Him will flow rivers of living water." John 7:38

PHOTO: freeChristimages.com

141 - "My Dark Night of The Soul" Psalm 4-6; John 7:1-27

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. Lord, in the morning you hear my voice . . . Psalm 5:2-3. David wrestles through betrayal of his father-in-law, adultery, murder, betrayal of his son. David turns to the Only One Who can help him get over all of this. David knows it is God's Hand that has come down on him. David pants not for relief, recovery or resolve. David's soul pants for God. Psalm 42:1-2. David feels great turmoil still. Has God forgotten? When we are in the deepest darkest night of our soul, know this: We shall again praise Him. God is working in our lives through all the goings and comings. This beloved king has faced difficulties beyond measure. More than most see in a lifetime. David does not find answers to his cries. David finds Something Better. Salvation for his soul. David longs for the Great Captain of his soul not just for an anchor in the storms. Father, may we long for what really matters in life and not just for the resolution of all of that overwhelms us. May we long for You in the midst of every storm, every conversation, every dinner, every walk, every daily duty. In all of our thoughts and intentions, may we seek You to be our Great Captain this day and forward. Ps 4:1 - Answer my Evening Prayer. Be gracious. Hear this prayer of my heart at the end of the day. Ps 5:3 - Now, in the Morning, I will order my Prayer to You and eagerly watch today. Ps 6:8 - The LORD hears the voice of my weeping. 

 Doomed Star. We may feel doomed to a death we cannot stop. There is nothing that God cannot do with us to not raise us up again to life. Alive to God! He raised me up 20 years ago when I felt all but left for dead. He raised me up 17 years ago when I faced my own mortality---cancer stricken. Cancer free. Today. You, O God, have raised us up from the dead over and over again. Sovereign Steps. Where there is sorrow in my day, enlighten my eyes.    

PHOTO: The full harvest moon shimmering over sultry Colorado skies, over all of our nation. 

Dark nights of the soul.

140 - "God Speaks By Me---Words Breathed into David by God." 2 Samuel 23-24; John 6:41-71

We all live with ourselves.
We really know what we are like, what we think, what we do.

And we have a glimpse from this book of the things David did.
Evil.  Wicked.  And some Glorious.
David was self-aware of what his sins were.  He took ownership of the stormy seas.
He threw out an Anchor for his soul.  We waddled and waded through the mire, the quicksand.

And it was the Word of God breathed into David that he spoke.
2 Samuel 23:2. 
They knew that it was not their minds conjuring up great advice to give away.
These are God's Thoughts that David writes.
“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
his word is on my tongue.
The God of Israel has spoken;
David dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth."
The Word of God has spoken.

And His Word still speaks today.  To you.  To me.
God speaks by me. 

PHOTO:  The Quarries Lake.  It's a silent spot I go to often to listen to God's Word. This lake has heard all of your names, all of my secrets, all of my cries.  

139 - "God Took Hold of Me and Re-Wrote the Text of my Story" 2 Samuel 21-22; Psalm 18; John 6:22-40

2 Samuel 22:25 - The Message goes like this: "God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes." God did that for me on January 13, 2006.  Literally, the bedrock under my feet. Psalm 18:1

The historian draws his conclusion of David's reign. It is David's weighty words as he ends his life on earth--- and they are spoken by inspiration. And he refers to his seed who will live forevermore. 

David settles the crown on Solomon's head;                                                                                                  he settles his treasures upon the temple which was to be built by the next king.                                     Here. Worthy words to be remembered to this very day. His house is right with God. He was raised up on high to see farther than his neighbors.  

So I sit tonight at a sweet spot where it was the lowest of the lows for me about 18 years ago. A place where I never thought I'd see the light of day. The Great Divide. Where God stepped in and took hold of me. 2 Sam 22:17-19 and rescued me from deep waters. "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. And I don't even know how to swim. And my friends confronted me, but the Lord was my support. And He brought me to a spacious place. It took a bit. It was worth everything to know Him now. 

This is what a re-write looks like: John 6:40: Labor not for food that perishes but work for food that endures to eternal life. Anyone who sees the Son and trusts Who He is and He does and then aligns with Him will enter real life, eternal life. 

PHOTO: I just sat at this riverbank to watch the metallic sun set, and I asked questions of the God we adore. What does this re-write look like? What are You doing with me?

138 - "5 Loaves/ 2 Fish...No Delays in God's Provision" Psalm 64; Psalm 70; John 6:1-21

John 6:5 -  Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 
Philip knows where to buy bread in his hometown and he knows that they could come up with 200 denarii but it wouldn't buy enough bread.  200 Denarri!!!!  One denarii is a day's wage. 200!!!!  That's six months of daily wages. What disciple had that kind of wealth?  In today's economy, at minimum wage, six months of working every single day would net almost $12,000.  And that still wouldn't be enough to feed them a full meal.  

And where could Philip find that much barley bread and fish in Bethsaida?  The town was emptied----they were all there.  There were 15,000, maybe 20,000 hungry people sitting there.  It would take 15,000 pounds of bread and fish to feed that many.  And how long would that take to serve 20,000 people?  Have you ever tried to serve 500 people at a reception real fast?  20,000!!!!  

This is a major miracle before their eyes.  Not only does Christ have the power to deliver the food instantaneously (each disciple taking one second to feed the 20,000----you can make it through no more than 3,000 per hour and probably collapse right there staring at another 17,000 hungry people),  but there are 12 baskets left over. No delays with God's Hand, God's Power. 

You know, some of those 20,000 people are poverty-stricken and don't eat that well.  Yet, they weren't grabbing for more.  They were satisfied.  This is a parable of Abundance.  

Do I know His Power to supply all of my needs and so much more?  Am I trusting Him for more?  He is stirring up faith in our hearts. He will fulfill every desire we have to do what's right.  Those desires aren't coming from the enemy of your soul.  May you press into and lean hard on the Christ, this day, our Abundant Provider and His Infinite Resources for whatever need you hold in your heart!  

Whatever you face this day, there are 5 barley loaves and 2 fish waiting.  At the lowest point of my life, a friend said to me when I cried out to him for help:  "Five Loaves & Two Fish."  Somehow, at that moment, I knew a little bit more than the moment before, that God was going to show up in my despair.  And He did...with so much more than I could have ever imagined!

137 - "Misplaced Love" 2 Samuel 19-20; John 5:25-47

What is this---you love those who hate you and hate those who love you? 2 Samuel 19:6. Never hold on to what was not meant for me. To love deeply is what is meant for you. For the Messianic Presence hears all of it. 

                                                   

And they confront David: You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. 2 Samuel 19:6.

How do we do the very same things? O God of Mercy! That I may learn to truly love. To never hold on to what was not meant for me. To love deeply what is meant for me. 

Joab was the spokesperson brave enough to say to David:  I repeat 2 Samuel 19:6 cause this is so powerful. "What is this—loving those who hate you and hating those who love you? Your actions give a clear message: officers and soldiers mean nothing to you...you knocked the wind out of them."  

Why did David grieve his son Absalom at the expense of those alive around him?  What were his tears really for?  Himself?  David prayed in Psalm 25:18 "Lift this ton of sin."  I have so felt the weight of previous sin this week.  Lift the ton, O God!  

God lifted it and immediately David goes back to war with Sheba followed by even more enemies with 24 fingers and toes.  And David prays:  "When I call, give me answers. God, take my side! Once, in a tight place, you gave me room.  Now I'm in trouble again: grace me! hear me!"  Psalm 4:1

"You have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul." Psalm 31:7.  The Messianic Presence hears every word. 

PHOTO: My favorite spot on earth in Eatonville. I learned right here a tiny bit more how to love well.