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More on Psalm 1:6

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 17, 2022
“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,” Psl. 1:6
 
In you only, Lord God, is what we need:
the goodness and grace,
love and care,
protection and security,
significance and peace,
hope and joy
that every human being longs for.
 
How sad that so many, for the sake of feeling independent, reject all this and end up in utter darkness and total destruction. “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness….” (Prov. 4:19).
 
You, Lord Jesus, are the opposite: the Lord of Light, who is worthy of praise. You shine your light upon every human being, you call all, you chose those who respond, giving us more and more light.
 
Truly, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining on every more brightly til the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18).
 
Praise you for your grace, Lord Jesus, undeserved by us, but continually poured out on us in great waves of love. You are worthy of worship, of praise, of glory, of honor. I bow before you now in surrender, and I rise up to join you in obedience, to follow your leading today.]
May be an image of nature and tree
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Psalm 1:6

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 16, 2022

Psalm 1:6 “For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,”

[You, Lord, the infinite and eternal One, are abundantly able to actively attend to all the needs of your children, whom you have made righteous in Christ. You are consistently, powerfully, intimately involved in protecting, providing, and carrying us forward in this life. You lead us beside still waters.

As we walk in the way of the righteous, you give us multiple opportunities every day to fulfill the purpose of our lives in offering thanks in every situation—especially the ones we don’t like—and thereby honor you before all the unseen hosts as well as humans. You are our Good and Gracious Shepherd.

Every day we get to see your hand at work in our lives as you guide us along the way. You provide God sightings every day so that we can know your love that surpasses knowledge, experiencing your grace. Open our eyes to see all the good you continually shower out on us.

“but the way of the wicked will perish.”

[The way of the wicked spirals downward into ever increasing darkness, for they have rejected the light-giving Grace and Mercy you offer. O Lord, you want to watch over the way of everyone, but sadly not all will enter your path.

Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you came as Savior first, and that you will come again as Judge to end wickedness, sin, evil, suffering, pain, sickness and death. You will usher in the New Heaven and the New Earth with all their beauty and sinless glory.

Help us to live in the light of the great future you have in store for us.

 

May be an image of flower and outdoors

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More Autobio

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 15, 2022
More from my Autobio
 
Chapter 55 Further Adventures
Shortly after our return from the far East, I ate a overly ripe peach and got really sick with diarrhea, vomiting and a high fever. Just after I became ill, two single German women came to visit and set the scene for a cultural clash between Barbara and me.
 
For Germans, any guest has definite priority over family. In addition, in Barbara’s family culture if family members got sick, they were tolerated, but it was clearly communicated that they were being a bother, so they’d better hurry up and get well.
 
In my family culture, however, if you were sick, you were waited on hand and foot and treated like royalty. These contrasting viewpoints had not been much of a problem before now but the arrival of the guests caused Barbara to slip back into German mode, bringing on a conflict.
 
Barbara was busy being a good German hostess, taking care of every need of our guests, while I, from my point of view, was hovering on the edge of death in the bedroom.
 
I was unable to eat, wracked with chills, barely able to crawl to the bathroom when the need arose, as it did often and violently. I was thirsty, but my hand was shaking so much from my chills and fever, that before I could bring a glass of water to my mouth, most of the water sloshed out onto the floor.
 
Every few hours Barbara would come in to poke the pile of blankets and make sure I was still alive underneath them.
 
During those two or three days I lost so much weight that I looked like a walking skeleton. My wedding ring fell off my emaciated finger and I didn’t even notice it.
 
When the guests finally left and I got well enough to have a coherent conversation, we had a little chat about priorities. Barbara had been sincerely unaware of neglecting me, and was very sorry. Being a good listener and teachable wife, that never happened again.
 
Shortly afterwards it was my turn to be the host. My parents wrote to say that they would come to visit in September as Dad was going to Paris to run in a half marathon. He had given up motocross at age sixty-three and had found more attention and admiration in the runners’ circles. He told us that after Paris they’d come to see us for a couple of days.
 
A couple of days!??? I understood Dad’s love of moving quickly, but to come all that way and stay only a couple of days? We finally convinced them to stay for a week, and it was a good time.
 
Dad went out running each day on the streets of Ankara and usually ended up with a crowd of little kids tagging along behind him—very few people in Turkey were runners back then.
 
We took a trip down to the biblical city of Cappadocia to show them some of the sights of Turkey. They were duly impressed and were very glad that they’d come.
 
Picture Us with Dad in front of our faithful VW. You can see how skinny I was after my illness.
 
May be an image of 3 people, child and people standing
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Psalm 1:5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 14, 2022
Psalm 1:5 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”
 
[When judgment comes–and it will, for you are righteous and just–those who have rejected you will be swept away. They will suffer the rejection they have given you and your offer of mercy. As a consequence, they will be excluded from all goodness, banished from your presence and lost in darkness—by their own choice.
 
Praise you, Lord God, that this is not your desire. It is your will that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth…” (1 Tim 2:4).
 
It is your desire that no one be condemned; but you give human beings the power of choice, first exercised by Adam and Eve in disobeying you, and then in a growing cascade of rebellion through the ages. And so, in the judgment to come, there will be consequences. As John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
 
John 3:18 adds, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
 
In spite of the ongoing rebellion of many you, Our Heavenly Father continue to call all to repentance as Hebrews 4:7 states, “Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today…as was said before: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’”
 
So, we should be guarding our own hearts, while praying for and sharing with those who haven’t yet believed, so they may not condemn themselves, so there may be more worshipers both here in this world frozen in the grip of sin, and then in the sunshine of Heaven Forever.]
May be an image of nature, tree and body of water
May be an image of nature, twilight, tree and sky
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Psalm 1:4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 13, 2022
Psalm 1:3,4 ““Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.”
 
[This shows that you, Lord are just, wise and good. You bless those who obey and allow those who rebel to live out the consequences of their rebellion.
 
While those who surrender to you are like a fruitful tree, bearing good fruit, prospering in what you call them to do, those who don’t are like worthless leftovers on the harvest floor: abandoned as useless and blown away by the wind.
 
They have, by their own choice, become of no purpose, are of no consequence and no value, frozen in the rebellion of their own decision.
 
The sad thing is that people choose to be in this situation, meaning they choose to devalue themselves. You offer them love, grace, worth, purpose, protection, a present joy and a future hope–but they reject this to feast on the chaff and tinsel of this world, and they become what they feed on.
 
Praise you, Lord God, that this is not your desire. It is your will that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth…” (1 Tim 2:4). It is your desire that no one be condemned.
 
You work consistently to give them light, sending the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin, righteousness and judgement. But if they refuse to follow the light, they cut themselves off from all that is good. Sad, but their choice.
 
I praise you, Lord, that this saddens you more than me, for you are the God of love, forgiveness, mercy and compassion. Help us Lord to be consistent in joining you in sharing your light with all around us as the boy is doing in the picture below!
 
May be an image of 2 people and people standing
 
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haber

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 13, 2022

Merhabalar. Biz şuanda Ankara’dayız. Bizimle görüşmek istersen bize bir facebook message gonderin. Steve ile Barbara

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More on the Cowboy with Heavenly Wisdom

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 12, 2022
REAPING GOODNESS SOWED
Cody reined in his horse and held up his hand, signaling to Sam. He looked around him, especially back over his trail, ever cautious, ever aware that danger could be around the corner.
He also carefully looked down, checking for tracks, and what he saw disturbed him. “look here Sam, what do you make of this?” Sam edged his horse up for a better look. There were tracks of a number of unshod horses that had passed this way not long ago.
 
“Looks like Indians,” said Sam.
 
“You’re right,” replied Cody. “We need to be careful.”
The conflict between Indians and settlers had nearly ended, but there were always hotheaded young ones who wanted glory, scalps and horses. For the Indian, fighting was a way of life. He was a warrior first, everything came after that.
Long before the white man came, the tribes had fought each other, raiding for horses and women, goods and glory.
When the white men came, the Indians knew their way of life was threatened and sought to chase out the white settlers, ranchers and soldiers. They were similar to Dodge in that they wanted no change.
 
The Indians were superb fighters, able to live off the land, to sneak up on unsuspecting invaders and to strike with fury. They were brave in their search of coups and scalps and honor.
But they could never defeat the white man, for they were not united, and their Indian idea of a war was one battle and then they’d go home. They had no supplies or plans for a campaign, so they were unprepared for the soldiers who would follow them and attack again and again.
 
The Indians hadn’t changed much, even though they’d been repeatedly defeated, so Cody rode carefully. He turned off the path and moved through some cottonwoods growing along the trail.
 
“Better not to be in the open,” he said. They rode towards a rise to get a better look around, careful not the make a silhouette, staying in the cover of trees.
There they were, a dozen Indians, trotting across the plain. There were no women or children with them, so they were hunting, but the question was, what were they hunting? Scalps and horses, or deer and antelopes, as Cody was?
 
Cody turned his horse in the opposite direction and Sam followed. “Keep looking back to see if you’re followed, and look all around to make sure you’re alone,” Cody said to Sam. “No need to fear, but a great need to be cautious.”
 
On one of their stops, Cody got out his field glasses for a wider look and spotted a small herd of antelope, pointing them out to Sam. “This way,” he said.
 
“But we are going away from them,” objected Sam.
 
“Antelopes have very good eyesight; if they see you, they’re immediately gone. So, we have to move downwind from them and come up on them from around a hill so we can get a shot.”
They worked their way around to the south side of the herd, keeping to the many dips in the plain. When they finally again caught site of the antelopes, they were only about 200 yards off.
 
Cody lifted his rifle, carefully sighted and squeezed the trigger. Then he quickly lifted his rifle a bit and fired again.
“Did you miss?’ asked Sam.
 
“No, I wanted to get two, and did,” replied Cody. “I suspect we will need the second one. The Indians probably heard my shots and will come.
 
They rode over to the two antelopes lying on the plain and dismounted. Cody showed Sam how to skin and butcher the animals, all the while frequently looking around.
A bit later he said quietly to Sam. “The Indians are here. Let’s load up our meat.”
 
“How do you know,” asked Sam, looking around and seeing nothing.
 
“I feel that we are being watched; they are behind a hill observing us.”
 
Picture from the internet: Indians scouting
May be an image of 1 person, standing, horse and outdoors
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Psalm 1:3d Prospering as God defines it

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 12, 2022
 
For the man who meditates on God’s Word day and night, “Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:3d
 
[As a result of avoiding the three sins mentioned in verse 1 and meditating on God’s Word day and night with delight, whatever situation or work you call us to do, Lord, you promise to prosper both it and us.
 
This is partly because we will be thinking as you think, acting in accord with your Word, obeying what we know to be true, and living in your power not our own. It is partly because you will act on our behalf. This is the promise I will rest on.
 
Of course, your definition of “prosper” may be different from ours. What may look like failure of our efforts can be what you will be using to make us prosper spiritually.
 
One example of this is that our last church plant failed; humanly speaking this is not prospering, and I grieved when the church died. But we know that you can bring something better out of this death of a vision.
 
For one thing, the believers all moved to other fellowships, taking their training, maturity and drive with them. Some of those have gone through very difficult situations since and have stood strong in their faith, trusting you.
 
For another, you have deepened us through this, showing me that I put too much importance on being successful from a human standpoint instead of keeping you in first place. You are prospering our efforts in a way that is different from what we wanted, but you are bringing growth and direction.
 
Picture: The beauty of rocks in the woods, what could be unwanted if it were in a field.
May be an image of nature and tree
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Psalm 1:3c Remaining Green

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 10, 2022
 
 
The man who meditates on Scripture day and night will like a tree planted by the rivers of water “…whose leaf does not wither.” Psalm 1:3c
 
[No matter what happens around this tree, it remains green—in drought, dryness, winds, dust storms or disasters, failure of the seasons, failure of other streams–this tree , this man, always has water to draw from, for its roots are deep down into the true source of vitality and strength, the Word of God.
 
Whatever trying events come to us—weakness, hardship, insults, persecution, difficulties, or loss—we can remain lush and green, bear our fruit, and be a delight to those around us.
 
I have seen this true in my own life, living in a Middle Eastern country where at one point a cascade of disasters flowed into my life. I arrested for my faith several times, spent time in jail, was fired from my job, kicked out of our meeting place, abandoned by my team, threatened expulsion from our apartment, put on trial with the prosecutor wanting 7 years in jail for me and others.
 
In all this I kept meditating on the Word, remembering truth, replacing fear with faith, processing stress through the Word.
 
The outcome: moving through with God’s strength, ending up with no PTSD, no depression, no need for counseling, no need to abandon my post to recover.
 
This is all because of you, Lord, for you gave us your Word and draw us into it. And this is what I am experiencing again right now as my wife goes through a very difficult time—I am not withering up but remaining green and bearing fruit because you are empowering me to do so as I meditate on your Word.
 
Epilogue: in the end of my trial I was acquitted along with others and this brought a great freedom to share the gospel in this country for the next 10 years. God had a plan; we just had to join him in it.
May be an image of tree, nature and sky
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Psalm 1:3b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 9, 2022
 
Psalm 1:3 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water,”
 
[Planted, put down in one spot and kept there—it seems this is the result of a cooperation between you, Lord, and the person.
 
My part in being planted is to avoid the three sins of verse one, and then to delight in and meditate on your Word. Then you plant me in the right spot. And not by just one stream, but streams of water to put my roots down into, to draw sustenance from them and to grow strong.
 
This is your good desire for us, Lord, that our roots go down into your Word, which brings deepening dependance, maximum maturing, and spiritual strengthening.
 
There is no end to the insights, understanding, wisdom and guidance you give us from your Word as we meditate on it. Your desires are good!]
 
“which yields its fruit in season”
 
[For the person who meditates on God’s Word day and night, when it’s time to bear fruit, you, Lord, will bring it forth. And it will be the right fruit, whether it be a specific aspect of
the fruit of the Spirit
(love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
sweet reasonableness
and self-control),
 
or the fruit of praise,
or the fruit of good works,
or the fruit of those who come to Christ.
 
Praise you, Lord, that you make us fruitful as we abide in you, for without you we can do nothing.]
 
picture from internet
May be an image of tree, ocean, sky and text that says 'BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO TRUSTS IN THE LORD, WHOSE TRUST THE LORD He IS LIKE ATREE PLANTED BY WATER, THAT SENDS OUT IT'S ROOTS THE STREAM, AND DOES NOT FEAR WHEN HEAT COMES, FOR ITS LEAVES REMAIN GREEN, AND IS NOT ANXIOUS IN THE YEAR OF DROUGHT, FOR IT DOES NOT CEASE TO BEAR FRUIT." JEREMIAH 17:7-8'
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