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Psalm 18:28

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 15, 2022
Psalm 18:28 “You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”
[You are light itself, Lord, shining brilliantly across the eons of time, shining long before the sun and stars were created.
And now you are the source of light for our lives—physical light as well as the light of wisdom, insight, guidance and warning. You actively grant direction when we have no idea what to do. I praise you for your faithful, sure, constant presence, your leading us on in the challenges of life in this dark world.
You are the One, Lord Jesus, who brought us out of the dominion of darkness into your Kingdom of Light. As it says in Proverbs 4:18,19, “The way of the wicked (as we were) is like deep darkness, they do not know what makes them stumble.”
In contrast, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever more brightly until the full light of day.” Help us, Lord, not to look back on the darkness, but to look ahead at your guiding light, moving ever more into its full strength so that we may see and void what can make us stumble.
I praise you that darkness cannot hide anything from you, Lord, for you see all and you let us know what is necessary, giving us enough light so that we can move ahead with you, doing what is best. Help us to live in the light with you, Lord, joining you in what you are doing, thereby bringing you glory.]
May be an image of lake, twilight, tree and nature
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Psalm 18:27b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 14, 2022
Psalm 18:27b “but [you] bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”
[This you also do in your love, Lord: you humble those who live in the darkness of self-delusion, encouraging them to come to you in the light. But unfortunately, they prefer darkness, thinking they are good enough to get to heaven, thinking they are better than those around them.
Lord, how easily I get caught up in that same sin, thinking negative, critical thoughts of others, comparing myself to them rather than you. The truth is that the negative I see in them is also potential in me, if not actual; I could easily do the same things I proudly condemn in them, blithely underestimating the evil of my old nature.
Yes, Lord, keep us in the light of your revelation and bring us quickly to repentance when we are proud, so that we may immediately submit to you. Then we may be raised up to living in the luster of your love rather than the darkness of our deception.
Praise be to you, for your working in us–gracious and patient, continual and deep–bringing transformation through your Word in our mind, will and emotions so that we might walk on ever higher levels with you. Keep our spirits open to your conviction, direction and protection, remembering that “You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”

May be an image of coneflower, African daisy and nature

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Psalm 18:27

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 13, 2022
Psalm 18:27 “You save the humble”
This, Lord, is your requirement for salvation: humility, which can be defined as “seeing ourselves as you see us.”
As we stand before you, the Mighty, Eternal One, the Star-breather, the Galaxy-maker, the History Beginner and the Ender of time, the Pure and Powerful One, what can we do but see our sinfulness, our unworthiness, our puniness, and yes, our putridness. We see the immense contrast between our shriveled, rebellious hearts and the stunning beauty of your gracious Holiness.
To you we must bow in humility, accepting your view of our situation. Somehow you work with our will to bring the desire and the decision to surrender, to reject the illusion of independence for the reality of total, healthy dependence on you.
The reality is that you are the One in charge, who holds together the nucleus of every atom in the universe, who keeps every star in place, who brings the dawn, gives the rain, provides our food—we are totally dependent on you in every area without knowing it! And you give us the added privilege of enhancing that dependency by willfully embracing it in belief and submission–giving you all that we had been holding back, including our future.
Praise be to you for especially working in the heart of each one whom you know will believe, bringing the wise and persistent pressure that will lead to the break-through and surrender, giving the understanding, the desire to know you, to live for you, to walk in the light, to bring you glory.
What a high calling you give us, what a privileged position, what an existence of ongoing, ever growing joy that you offer.
You give us the exact opposite of what we deserve, at great cost to yourself and at great profit to us who were naturally your thankless enemies.
You, Lord God, are a marvel, a mystery; you are majestic and mighty in your provision of rich, unending agape love. Such Truth leads us to wholeheartedly and joyfully bow before you and shout, “Glory!”
May be an image of nature, grass and tree
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Psalm 18:26b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 12, 2022
Psalm 18:26b “…but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.”
 
[On the negative side, you interact with rebels in a way that is meaningful to them, a way that gets their attention, a case in point being Jacob. From the beginning he was crooked in his dealings, manipulating and using people all through his life. And he brought on himself the same treatment. Your shrewdness in thus dealing with him brought him, in the end, on his death bed, to surrender before you.
 
You know how to work with people, you are never at a loss, never confused on how to proceed, never without wisdom. Praise be to you for your patience, persistence and perception in the process of wooing every single person in the world, as the Holy Spirit convicts everyone of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11).
 
How you must grieve at those who stubbornly refuse to bow their knee to Truth, to Wisdom, to Reality, and instead rush headlong down the slope of self will, away from goodness, forgiveness, grace and light. In the end they go over the edge of time, falling into the pit of separation, darkness and desperation, sealed off from all good, getting what they wanted: full independence from you.
 
Praise you, Lord, that you go to great lengths to give them full opportunity to embrace Truth, even though you know they will not accept it. It is wonderful that you are not fair, for then we would all end up in hell. Instead, you are full of grace, offering us freely the opposite of what we deserve: forgiveness, cleansing, transformation, acceptance, belonging, worth, purpose, protection, provision, hope and a certain future with you.
 
Help me to focus today on the wonder of who you are, Lord Jesus, not the minuscule disappointments of life that seek to grab my attention. Thank you for how you are going to guide me today in joining you, exalting you, living for you.
 
May be an image of road, nature, sky, twilight and tree
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Psalm 18:25,26

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 11, 2022
 
Psalm 18:25,26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure,”
 
[we can only have these qualities, Lord Jesus, as your Holy Spirit produces them in us. As we cooperate with you in the process of transformation, willfully wanting to be faithful, blameless and pure, you reveal your marvelous qualities to us more and more, giving us greater ground for surrender, worship and wonder–which then bring more transformation.
 
As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, who with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” This is a gracious cycle of your goodness poured out more and more on those who are willing to join you in what you are doing.]
 
Help us, Lord, to walk in obedience to your revealed will that we may lead faithful, blameless and pure lives, giving you honor and glory.
May be an image of nature, cloud, twilight and tree
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Psalm 18:22-24

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 10, 2022
Psalm 18:22,23 “All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.”
[Again, I cannot say any of this for myself; I continue to be blameworthy, struggling with the sinful, selfish ways of my old nature—but you, Holy Spirit, also continue in transforming me in love and grace. So, I stand before you, Lord Jesus, blameless in your love, a new creature, dearly loved, doted on and deeply cared for. Praise be to you!
You are our hope, our holiness, our purity, our power. In you is goodness, grace and glory, all of which you generously, whole-heartedly share with us, continually, unconditionally, contra-conditionally. Praise be to you!]
Psalm 18:24 “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.”
[It is wonderful that you have rewarded me, Lord, not according to my righteousness, but according to the righteousness of Christ, according to the cleanness of His hands, for in your sight I am in Christ, I am cleansed, claimed and commissioned as your dearly beloved child.
Praise you, Lord Jesus, for your great and, humanly speaking, impossible, unspeakable work, far beyond what any created being could do. You reward your enemies! You pour out on your foes who come to you, eternal life, eternal relationship, eternal love and eternal goodness–when we deserve the opposite! Praise be to you.
Help us to revel in your love, to bask in your grace, to rejoice in your forgiveness—and to forgive and accept ourselves as you have us. May we each day grasp more of the greatness of your love, which surpasses knowledge, so that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).]
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(Untitled)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 9, 2022
 
Psalm 18:20 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;”
[O Lord, praise you that you deal with us according to the imputed righteousness you have given us in Christ, not our own–for I have none. You would have to condemn me instantly to Hell if my goodness were the measure. But praise be to your glorious name that you have made me to stand before you in your all-cleansing righteousness: forgiven, transformed, accepted, adopted, dearly loved!]
“according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.”
[My sin-stained hands are now washed in your blood, cleansed of guilt, purified in forgiveness and empowered for good. Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you see me as your dearly loved child, delighted in, cherished and deeply cared for. The cleanness is there because of your great work.]
Psalm 18:21 “For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.”
[By your grace, by your power, by your obedience, Lord Jesus, I am counted as having kept your ways. What my old nature could not do in that it is weak, you did in your power. And you, Heavenly Father, in spite of what I am, have qualified me to be a partaker in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light.]
What a wonderful series of truths! May we ever be in awe, rejoicing in who we have become in you. Help us to live in the light of this truth.
May be an image of lake, tree, twilight, nature, sky and grass
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Open Hand Theology

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 8, 2022
Here in this world we actually own nothing, but are given everything we need to steward. We are called to hold all with an open hand, telling our gracious and kind, good and wise Heavenly Father, “Take what you want, leave what you want, give what you want. I trust you to do what is best.”
Holding all with an open hand is, on one side, scary at first, because there are plenty of things we don’t want to give up (health, relationships, income, security, savings, etc.).
But as we come to know more and more of God’s beautiful and wise character, our fear lessens (perfect love casts out fear), and is replaced by a sense of security (safety is not the absence of danger, but the presence of Jesus), and a sense of adventure (every day is a battle with spiritual enemies who use people against us; but as we keep on the armor and fight the right enemies, there is a continual string of victories). We begin to understand what it means to be more than conquerors in the midst of challenges (Romans 8:37) .
What a God we have, what a life He gives us, what a future He’s prepared for us! To live in the wonder of getting the opposite of what we deserve, to revel in His unconditional love, to bask in His unending goodness (instead of thinking all the natural negative thoughts the devil throws at us)–all this is part of the joy He desires for us. Let us continually embrace these truths while rejecting the lies that contradict them, living instead in the Light of His Love.
May be an image of cloud, twilight, tree and nature
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Light Living

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 7, 2022
Praise you, Lord, that with you, every day is a Sonny one, for your light of love and life shines continually on us and in us, giving encouragement, perspective, purpose, power and joy.
 
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you,” said Jesus, and then “These thing I have spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full” (John 15:9,11).
There is a condition to receiving this joy: trust. As it says in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that your lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Trusting God involves submitting to Him, to His description of reality, to His Word, to His leadership, to His purpose and meaning.
We can’t walk in the light while keeping our eyes closed, living just in the tiny world in our head. We have to open our eyes wide to the wonderful, awesome, expansive and beautiful reality of God’s Kingdom.
 
In the Kingdom we have rest, joy and peace; purpose, meaning and hope; belonging, worth and competence. Help us to live in the grace of this reality, giving you honor at every turn with praise and thanksgiving.
May be an image of snow, tree, sky and nature
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Psalm 18:19b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 6, 2022
Psalm 18:19b “…he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
 
[This statement, in my opinion, is the most important one in this passage. You, Lord, do not act just out of pity or obligation, but because you delight in us, your children. You see us in Christ, transformed, accepted and beloved by you! What an amazing, encouraging, faith-building, wonderful statement!
 
You are powerfully pleased that we belong to you, that we cry out to you, our Abba Father. You are not bothered, irritated or agitated by our coming to you. No, you are richly pleased, mightily happy, deeply delighted, for you have inexplicably made us the objects of your unending, deep and rich love. You have made us the apple of your eye, the delight of your heart, the object of your continual affection.
 
We do not deserve this–which is all the more reason to praise you for your wonderful, eternal, infinite forgiveness, your unlimited, ever flowing grace and all-encompassing, deep love that gives us the opposite of what we should have gotten: a trip straight to Hell.
 
I will praise you now, today, and forever because you are worthy of all honor, exaltation and glory. You are the God who loves His enemies, who rescues those who deserve condemnation, who saves those who deserve defeat.
 
May your name be exalted in my life today and forever through surrender, faith, obedience and thanksgiving. Amen.]

Picture: beloved children of the most high King!

May be an image of 5 people, child, people standing and indoor
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