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Psalm 16:5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on July 4, 2022
Psalm 16:5 “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;”
[All I have comes from you, O Holy God: my position, my provision, my protection, my portion. And what you give is good. This includes my body, my brains, my boundaries, my bonds, my bounty; whatever they appear to be from a human perspective, they are good and I will praise you for them.]
“you have made my lot secure.”
[You, Lord, are the God of power and authority. Only you can give security: whatever you choose to protect will be untouched by the enemy; whenever you allow an attack, it will be used for good, no matter how unpleasant it may be.
I can rest in your glorious and endless perfection, knowing you will weave all into your great plan for the end of sin, evil and time, sweeping as many as possible into your Kingdom.
To you be glory and honor today, Lord. May praise and thanksgiving continually well up in my mind and spill off my lips.
 
May the light of your love shine from my being, may you be lifted up in my actions and reactions, my attitude and speech. May praise be the keynote of my life today, may the darkness of complaining and discontent, grumbling and negativeness be swept away in the brightness of your presence so that you may have more glory before both the invisible hosts and visible folks.]
May be an image of flower, nature and tree
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Psalm 16:3-4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on July 3, 2022
 
 
Psalm 16:3 “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
[You, Heavenly Father, made us saints when you caused us to be born again. You qualified us to be partakers in the Kingdom of Light, you rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of your beloved Son. And you have made us glorious in Jesus, giving us His righteousness. Therefore, you delight in us, despite what we were naturally—rebellious, unbelieving, selfish and proud.
You have made us new creations in Christ, welcomed with joy into your presence where we are delighted in, rejoiced over, cherished and treasured. In you we can rest securely, knowing that you have accepted us fully, finally, faithfully. In you alone we are safe, for safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of Jesus.]
Psalm 16:4 “The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.”
[Every other god is false–the gods of every religion, along with the gods of comfort, power, materialism, politics and business, sex and entertainment, getting my way and controlling others.
Each one is an illusion and leads only to disappointment, bondage, oppression and darkness—the opposite of what you bring, Lord, for you are Light, Love and Life, you bring freedom, joy and peace as well as grace, greatness and goodness. You are the opposite of all other gods, you are the only One worthy of worship.]
“I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.”
[I must avoid involvement in any way with these other gods (likenthe god of comfort, pride, selfishness and self-sufficiency), not offering them any acknowledgement or worship, time or affection; I must not put any hope in them. I must not give them any credence or credit, but look only to you, Lord Jesus, the Creator, Sustainer and Ender of all–the only true Hope there is.]
May be an image of nature and tree
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Psalm 16:2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on July 2, 2022
 
Psalm 16:2 “…apart from you I have no good thing.”
[This is a full focus on Truth—only you, Lord, are truly Good. All else that I have is chaff–temporary and worthless in the long run. As the author of Psalm 73 said, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you!”
To live this Truth is freeing, powerful and focusing: “apart from YOU I have no good thing!” All else must be viewed in relation to you, as elements of stewardship, as tools, as means of obeying and glorifying you. It is in you that all comes together.
Praise be to you, Lord God–Heavenly Father, King Jesus, Holy Spirit–for you are the reason for our existence, the focal point of life, the eternal and infinite God.
Therefore, I choose anew to bow down before you and then to rise up to praise you, love you, glory in you, honor you, exalt your name and your Word, rejoice in you, revel in you, and obey you–all for your honor. May you be exalted in my life today.
May be an image of lake, tree and nature
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Psalm 16:1,2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on July 1, 2022
Psalm 16:1 “Keep me safe, O God,”
[And You can easily do this, Lord Jesus, my Good Shepherd, for you are incredibly powerful, deeply wise, all-knowing, all-present and all-seeing, living outside of time. You are passionately loving and whole-heartedly compassionate. I can cry out to you, know that you will hear and that you will answer in the best way. Praise be to you.]
“for in you I take refuge.”
[This is my part, coming to you, thinking Truth, meditating on Scripture and obeying you: trusting you and, praising before any answer comes. As always, it is a partnership between you, Lord, and your children. I praise you for how you call us to join you in what you are doing, making us responsible, giving us the power of causality, as Pascal said.]
Psalm 16:2 “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord;’”
[This is a statement of surrender—you are my Adonai, my Authority, the One I obey, the One who has the right to demand absolute obedience while promising absolute provision. To say “You are my Lord” means, “What you command, I will do.”]
Help us, Lord, to walk in wholehearted, consistent obedience to what we know to be true. Amen.
May be an image of nature and tree
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Too Good To Be True!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 30, 2022
You, Lord, are a wonder, too good to be true–but are actually even better than that!
 
I thank you so much, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of not just being in your family, but of being able to come, at any minute, directly to you in the throne room of Heaven, and to crawl up in your lap for comfort, encouragement and redirection.
Help us to live in the light of your great goodness, your rich righteousness, your lavish love and your powerful presence.
 
Help us to join you today in your plans, to shed our pride, our selfishness, our lust for significance and security, and instead to find rest in you alone, humbly bowing before you in the fear of God, joyfully accepting all you will bring in your plan for us.
Help us to move by prayer, to work through obedience and to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you may be honored throughout this day.
May be an image of lake, nature, sky, grass and tree
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Our Kind God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 29, 2022
Praise be to you, Lord God, for your kind and consistent, detailed and direct involvement in our lives. I exalt you, Lord, for how you are so persistent in pouring pardon into our lives, giving us the opposite of what we deserve.
 
Thank you for your patience with us as we zigzag along, bouncing between arrogant rebellion and abject self-pity. We are so prone to spiritual amnesia! We so quickly forget the most basic spiritual truths:
–that we deserve only condemnation and rejection, but you constantly give us the opposite;
–that we can do nothing without you;
–that you are our Shepherd so we will not lack anything necessary;
–that we can offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving instead of complaining;
–that we can keep on your full armor and effectively fight the devil rather than people.
But in spite of our forgetfulness, you do not give up on us, Lord Jesus. You are gracefully, lovingly consistent in correcting, reminding, protecting and, when necessary, rebuking us.
 
Praise you that you are our powerful, all knowing and good Shepherd. You make us lie down in green pastures, lead us in paths of righteousness and go with us through the dark valleys. What more could we want in life?!!!
May be an image of flower and nature
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The Embrace of God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 28, 2022
Last night when I went to give a discipleship lesson, the couple I visited had just gotten a new little dog. He’d been suddenly taken from his familiar environment where he’d lived all his 3 years and was feeling very unsure and insecure in this new situation.
 
For some reason he would not go to the two females in the house but jumped up on the man’s lap for a bit, then onto mine where he snuggled down and stayed for the whole lesson. Somehow he felt safe there, and enjoyed the scratching I gave him.
So it is with us and you, Lord. No matter how challenging our situation or how dangerous and painful the happenings in our life may be, we can snuggle down in your embrace, knowing that you love us unconditionally.
 
You have already prepared a path through whatever is facing us, and you will accompany us along the way and carry us through. You have a plan, you are faithful, you are able to carry it out.
The only element we must add is trust, based on our knowledge of who you are; then you will pour peace, joy and hope into our lives (Rom. 15:13), along with more than enough grace (undeserved help) to move through any circumstance with power. “Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to Him, for He is our refuge.” Psalm 62:
I praise you now, Lord Jesus, for the day you have laid out before me. Help me to keep on the full armor you have provided, to trust you by getting up the shield of faith through offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to join you in what you are doing so that I may give you more and more honor each day.
May be an image of lake, tree, twilight, nature and sky
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The Deity of Details

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 27, 2022
Praise be to you, Lord, for how faithful and good, wise and powerful you are. We see this in the expanse of the heavens, which you stretched out for billions of, not just miles, but light years.
You filled it with stars, (Psalm 33:6) gathered them into galaxies and the arranged them into formations—and you know the name of each of these trillions of stars (Psalm 147:4); you know their number and you keep them in place.
As you can administrate all that, so you are certainly able to deal with the small details of my life. Being outside of time, you know every event that will come and can shape them to be useful in our lives–or prevent them if it is best.
I think of the many times I’ve had close calls in driving, including one this week: but you prevented an accident each time and kept us safe. And I’m sure there are thousands of times you have protected us in every area over the years that we were not aware of it.
You are certainly the Deity of details, the Shepherd of strength, the Lord of lavish love. You are the One we can trust, rest in and rejoice in. If we choose to, and we can! Help us to always choose to trust.
May be an image of flower and nature
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Glorifying God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 26, 2022
Another way of revealing God to others is to share what we are learning as we read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture. The insights and understandings He brings are far above human thinking and help us shift from a natural worldview to a biblical one.
For instance, in 1 Peter 1, where I am re-memorizing now, it says that trials come to us to test the genuineness of our faith (are we responding with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, trusting God, or do we complain, revealing the falseness of our faith?). Every negative event is a test and a chance to reject our natural response, to trust and grow.
But there is a further reason for trials: if we respond with faith, then when Jesus is revealed at the end of time, we will be given praise, honor and glory by God Himself!
That’s a worldview shift–moving from the momentary, myopic, me-centered goal of being comfortable, to the wide, high and deep understanding of how this particular discomfort fits into God’s great scheme for ending history and ushering in an eternity where He will share His glory with those who have lived by faith here.
This is the call for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him—the joy of redeeming all mankind, pleasing the Father, being glorified as the Savior, ending evil and ruling forever in righteousness–endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).
May we live out the purpose of our existence today, glorifying God in our lives!
May be an image of flower, nature and tree
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Thoughts on Day 2 of retirement (written in 2015)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 25, 2022
Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for your grace and goodness, your power and provision which you’ve prepared for me for today.
Thank you so much for the purpose you give us in life: living for you, joining you in your great plans and giving you glory–which means revealing you to those around us. And how can we do that?
First of all, by being people of praise. As we respond to the events swirling around us by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in whatever comes, we reveal to others your Sovereignty and Love. We live the truth that you are in control, so whatever comes to us flows with your permission and purpose, from your wisdom and love.
As we trust you in the events of our days, you give us joy and peace and make our lives overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).
 
Then, as you promised (2 Cor. 12:9)), your power will come and you will show us your salvation in the events that face us (Ps. 50:23). As we note your power and salvation and talk about them, we are revealing your faithfulness and power to those around us.
 
This is what we were called to, a great and high calling, open to anyone of any age, any condition, any place. He gives us purpose, meaning, direction and a future. What more could we want! Certainly knowing Jesus is enough for Joy!
May be an image of flower and nature
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