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Psalm 91:14

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 7, 2021
“’Because he loves me,’ says the LORD, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’” Psalm 91:14
 
You, Lord Jesus, are a wonder, able in your incarnation to combine the unimaginable: you were both God and man, heavenly and earthly, infinite and finite, all-knowing and in need of teaching as a child, perfect and yet learning obedience.
 
No one else could have united these mutually exclusive opposites! I exalt you for your wisdom, your insight, your ability to put together things that we cannot unite even in our farthest imagination. You are the complete One, the perfect One, the holy One, the worthy One.
 
You also put together things in our lives that seem opposites. Psalm 91 says, “Because You have made the LORD Your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” (Ps. 91:9-10 ESV).
 
But then I think of Job, a man who made you his refuge, yet he suffered great tragedy, heartache, sickness, pain and problems both with his wife and his “friends.”
 
This is hard for us to understand. We must turn to you, Lord Jesus, as you have a bigger and better view of things. Your understanding of harm or evil is different than ours.
 
According to Him, evil or harm is not what makes us uncomfortable or disappointed or in pain–but evil and harm are what damage us spiritually, what drive us away from you. As we make you our refuge, you are always there to protect us from spiritual harm.
 
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him” (Ps. 91:14,15 ESV). And so you did for Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel and Paul.
 
Praise be to You, Lord Jesus, that you reveal to us wisdom, understanding and knowledge so we may join you in what you are doing by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in each happening, no matter how painful or problematical it may be.
 
Praise you that you have given us the armor to wear so that we may avoid spiritual harm in whatever you bring us through. You are faithful to deal with evil, to protect us, to give needed grace, to carry us along, to deliver us at the right time, to work out your purposes in our lives. Glory be to you.
 
You are worthy of worship, honor, praise and exaltation. I bow before you in amazed worship, and I rise up in wholehearted praise to live in joyful obedience to you throughout today.
 
Prayer: “Lord, help me to think as you do, to view difficulties with your eyes, as opportunities to join you in what you are doing, to honor you, to demonstrate your grace to those around me. Help me to take up your grace, to move into and through suffering and pain with endurance, to learn from it the lessons you have for me. May I honor you in trust demonstrated through praise. Amen.”
May be an image of road, nature and tree
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Learning to Really Live!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 6, 2021
As I now committed to following Hebrews 12:12-13 which says, “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed,”I got dressed and trudged out to my father’s tire shop, prepared to return to work, trusting God to show me the next step.
 
God didn’t keep me waiting long. In the following two days, three people unknowingly pointed out the major obstacle to my “really living.” It was very simple and very wrong: I was trying to draw my worth from my performance by doing things at an extraordinary level.
 
I realized now that my goal of redoing the woodshed roof in 3 or 4 days was totally unrealistic. A team of carpenters couldn’t have done it in that time. And I realized that my inability to achieve goals set at these high levels made me appear to be a failure in my own eyes, so on a subconscious level I was protecting myself from future failure by retreating into sleep.
 
The same had been true of a lot of the things I tried to do in life—setting unrealistic and mostly unachievable standards– and when I didn’t reach them, I felt like a failure.
 
For instance, a customer would come into the tire shop and want four new tires. My goal was to have those four tires mounted, balanced and onto his car in 15 minutes. Doable, but only if everything went just right, which wasn’t often. All it took was one phone call to make me unsuccessful in reaching my self-centered, foolish goal.
 
The important question for me was, “What difference did it make to accomplish this in 15 minutes?” The difference was only in my mind and emotions because I craved significance. It was an artificial, destructive goal.
 
With this new insight came a solution: I decided to set small, realistic goals for myself and begin to build up a series of small but real achievements.
 
A customer wanted four new tires. OK, my goal now is to jack up the car. Success! Now to take off a tire and rim from the car. Success. Now to dismount the tire. Success. Mount the new tire. Success. And put the new mounted tire back on the car. So it went, one small success after another.
 
In following this new way of thinking, within three months my heavy depressive feelings slowly receded until I had no feelings at all. In some ways this was worse, like walking a tight rope with no support on either side. But I kept on doing what was right, and soon positive feelings began to emerge. In another three months I was back to more or less feeling normal, with good, positive emotions.
 
For the first two months I had taken the anti-depressant the doctor had prescribed. It made me very restless; in order to just sit through the Sunday service, I had to walk the three miles to church.
 
One day I forgot to take my pill and one week later I experienced a big drop back into depressive blackness. When I later decided to stop taking the pills altogether, I found that I had become addicted! It was an uncomfortable time of weaning myself off of it.
 
This drug only dealt with the symptoms of my depression. In contrast, application of Biblical truth dealt with the cause of my depression. I was glad that God had freedom for me: both from the depression and from the drug!
 
Now that He had led me out of my prison of depression, life began to move uphill at a steady pace. Work in the tire shop went well. I was asked to work with the youth group in church. My prayer life continued to develop and I was continually experiencing new insights from meditating.
 
I was moving towards really living! Just as it is declared in Hebrews 12: “…we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?” In the Greek this word means “really live!”
Picture: Dad and helpers in tire shop
May be an image of outdoors
 
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Absolute Acceptance

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 5, 2021
In you, Lord Jesus, I am forgiven; in you I am being transformed; in you I am on the upward journey to heaven; in you I have worth and meaning and unfailing love.
Lord Jesus, my wonder at you grows as I consider what I am in myself: selfish, proud, weak, unstable, lustful, lazy, impatient, unbelieving and rebellious, to name a few of my sinful tendencies. And then my wonder grows more as I consider what I, as a sinner, deserve: condemnation, rejection, punishment, suffering, failure, death and eternal separation from you.
In the light of this, I am more and more amazed at your unending, rich, powerful and enthusiastic love, poured out over me every day. You are too good to be true. Too wonderful to be real, but you are! Too great to be grasped–you are beyond human conception, but you have revealed enough of yourself for us to trust you.
Yet, this is what you are! Your love is real, demonstrated at the culmination of history at the Cross and Resurrection–and then repeatedly affirmed in my life each day by your forgiveness, patience, kindness and grace.
What a privilege to bask in your love, exult in your goodness, revel in your acceptance, and rejoice in your forgiveness. May I dwell throughout the day in the warmth of your approval and acceptance so I may be a light to all those around me.
May be an image of tree and nature
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What a graceful God!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 4, 2021
I praise you, my Heavenly Father, for your steadfast, unwavering love and goodness.
 
I am so much the opposite: my emotions are up and down; my sense of achievement and worth waver; my happiness with myself fluctuates with what I perceive to be success or failure: my feelings change with how people interact with me, with how well I sleep and even with my dreams.
But you, Lord God, have made yourself my Rock, my stability. You are my Protector, my Fortress, my Forgiver, my Cleanser and my Father.
 
I praise you for the whole-hearted, deep and full acceptance you have given me in Christ. I thank you for the gracious correction, the loving help, the continual support from your glorious riches, from your constant presence, your protection and provision.
 
What a privilege to bask in your love, exult in your goodness, revel in your acceptance, and rejoice in your forgiveness.
 
May I never take any of this for granted, may my wonder at your great goodness ever increase and spill over into ongoing revival, which results in worship through obedience, praise through faith, and rejoicing through surrender.
May be an image of grass, nature and tree
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Psalm 32:3-5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 3, 2021
Psalm 32:3,4 “When I kept silent, [not confessing, not acknowledging my sin] my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; [this is your love, moving us towards repentance.] my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah”
Psalm 32:5 “Then I acknowledged my sin to you [may I ever do so quickly, immediately!] and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
[Because you are Love, Lord Jesus, because you are Faithful, because you have paid the great price and you love to forgive, we can eagerly and boldly come to you to confess and repent. We are safe in you, we are protected in you, for “you are good and ready to forgive and abounding in mercy to all who call on you” (Ps. 86:5).
Why hold back? Why prolong the painful resistance? And for what? A little more indulging in anger or resentment or lust? We thereby grieve the Spirit and end up with a mouthful of gravel!
Let us instead run to His open arms, eager to lay our sin at His feet, to be forgiven, cleansed and back into fellowship. This is wisdom, this is freedom, and this is what He desires for us–the restoration of our joy in Him.
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, my great Shepherd, my big Brother, My Lord, my King, my Creator and Sustainer, my God. You are worthy of worship, of honor, of glory and exaltation. May I give you these through whole-hearted faith, quick repentance, immediate obedience and ongoing praise in all things.
Help me to walk in the light of your presence today, Lord, clearly, unreservedly accepting what you have to say to me about my sin and about your love.
May be an image of flower, nature and tree
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(Untitled)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 3, 2021
Further Learning for the Add-on Eskimo
 
Ayit went to where his father and the others were gathered. The shaman was just finishing
his ceremony and the people were drifting away.
 
“There you are, Ayit,” said his father. “I wondered where you were. Come now, we are staying with Kingeekuk.”
 
Ayit followed his father to the house where they all sat down on the floor. Kingeekuk’s wife and daughters brought them food: walrus meat, fish, tundra greens and sea fruits, along with tea. They talked until late, then all slept together on the sleeping platform.
 
Ayit lay awake thinking about Apa and Jesus, about freedom from the spirits, about how to talk with his father about his new faith; and Jesus gave him an idea.
 
They all woke early and after breakfast, Okfagit went to visit others in the village, exchanging news, asking about hunting, getting hints on where to find seals.
 
Ayit went to visit Kolawi again, as he had questions about his new faith.
 
“What does our Jesus expect from me now?” he asked.
Kolawi thought a bit before answering. “The portion you memorized yesterday gives direction. Can you recite it?” Ayit repeated it exactly as he had heard it.
 
“Faith is Jesus’ gift to us,” said Kolawi. “Then we are to add to it the things he provides, but we must decisively take up and use them. Jesus does not expect ritual or religion. The first thing we are to add, virtue, means agreeing with Jesus. That is, we take his thoughts, his values to be our own. It is a full surrender to him.
 
“The second thing to add to your surrender is knowledge. You need to learn more about him, and this morning I will teach you another passage which will give you a wider view of him.
“The third thing to add is self-control, which means doing what he wants, doing what you are learning, whether you want to or not.
 
“This is then followed by endurance, for when we obey Jesus the spirits are not happy with us and may attack us; and for the same reason, many people will not be happy with us. They will oppose our new faith, for they do not want change and they are afraid of the spirits, of offending them by abandoning the old way. I know this from my own experience with my family and neighbors. But we can endure, press on through these difficulties with Jesus’ help.
 
“Then we are to add godliness, which means becoming like Jesus in our character. As we rely on him in our difficulties, we will be transformed by his Spirit. We will be more loving, more gracious, more kind and more wise.
 
“Then we add brotherly kindness, being good, kind and generous to each other, and add then God’s love, which keeps on even though the other person does not love us back. With God’s love we do good to those who do evil to us.”
 
“This is so different from what we all do now!” said Ayit.
 
“True,” Kolawi agreed. “We might say that the world is upside down, but knowing Jesus turns it right side up! Now, let’s go back to endurance. I want to repeat that when we leave the old ways it makes people afraid, for they think we will offend the spirits by not appeasing them and will bring suffering on the village. But the truth is, Jesus has vanquished the evil spirits and will protect us. Which is subject of the passage I’m going to teach you today.”
 
They talked some more, then Ayit went out to find his father. He was sitting and talking with Nungwook, a great hunter in the village. Nungwook had gotten a whale in the spring and was held in high regard by the other villagers.
 
“Yes, Apa gave me a whale but the spirits took my child shortly after,” he said. “She was a beautiful little girl—seven seasons old—happy, pleasant and hard working. She became sick shortly after the whaling season ended, although we did all we could to make her well.
 
“We changed her name to fool the spirits that were making her sick. We went to the cemetery up on Mount Sivukuk and offered sacrifices to the spirits of our ancestors. And, of course, we called the shaman to perform ceremonies, to use his good helper spirits to drive away the evil spirits who made my daughter sick. But nothing helped. The evil spirits were too strong, and they took my girl, my beautiful little girl!
“Oh, that we had stronger help! Oh, that Apa had used
his power to defeat these spirits that torment us!”
 
Nungwook hung his head and looked so sad. He did not cry, for that was for women, but he was stricken by this loss.
Picture: shaman in his ritual garb with boy he’s trying to heal
May be a black-and-white image
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Psalm 32:1-2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 1, 2021
Psalm 32 Of David. A maskil.
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
[Praise you, Lord God, the Great and Holy One, that you have provided forgiveness for my many sins, wiping clean the record of my multitude of transgressions, including the ones to come.
I thank you, with all my heart, that you took me from being a correctly condemned criminal to being a sovereignly saved son, dearly loved, doted on and delighted in. I praise you for qualifying me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in the Kingdom of Light–when what I actually deserved was to be cast out into eternal darkness.
What a wonder to be cleansed, transformed, adopted, accepted and delighted in–all contrary to what I actually should have been given! You are truly the God of Grace, the King of Kindness and the Lord of Love.]
Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
[Lord Jesus, I praise you that you not only erased my guilt, taking it upon yourself, but that you consistently work in me to bring transparency, making my spirit one of truth, instead of deceit.
My soul certainly has deceit—I do not like my sin being exposed, even to myself, and naturally seek to cover it up. And there is much hidden there that I don’t even know yet, but I know enough to confess consistently to you: that it is natural for me to be selfish and impatient, impolite and curt, proud and negative, thoughtless and overly focused on self–among many other sins.
Praise you, Lord, that your Spirit works in my spirit and soul to change all this, making me aware of what is wrong so I can abandon it, and what is right, so I can embrace it.
Help me to stand in ever-growing awe of your greatness and goodness, of the unceasing, ever-cleansing flow of grace from your heart, and to fear you, not man.
Help me today to follow the leading of your Spirit and to be wise and effective for you, basking in the truth that you will never count my sin against me and that you are unceasingly at work to move me forward in sanctification. I thank you now for what you will do today, whether it be pleasant or painful, trusting you to do and bring what is best.
 
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From EDIFIED!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 28, 2021
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him….”
Romans 15:13a
 
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, King of Peace, God of Grace, Giver of Good. You, in your wisdom have brought to us the possibility of peace, but have left to us the practice of partaking, implementing and enjoying it. You invite us to dine with you at the table of peace; if we refuse to sit down and join you by trusting you, we, by our own choice, will live in peaceless turmoil, worry and fear.
 
I praise you, Lord Jesus, for what you have done in your great Love, Wisdom and Faithfulness, making peace possible. In your passion you have provided for all people a passage from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. You have made peace available to all by sacrificing yourself.
 
Without you, Lord Jesus, there can be no peace. Without trusting you there can be no rest. You are a wonder, loving your enemies so much that you provided them peace at great personal cost. And in your wisdom you made us responsible for taking up and enjoying that peace through trust and obedience.
 
So now we can have peace, first with you, Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by confessing our sins, receiving forgiveness and surrendering to you as our Lord.
Then we can have peace within when we forgive ourselves as you have forgiven us.
 
After that we can have peace with others by forgiving them as you have forgiven us, and by asking for forgiveness when we commit an offence against them. The outcome is the release of grace from above, bringing peace within and the flow of peace without, to those around us.
 
This peace is carried on into our day as we trust in you, lifting up the shield of faith by praise, which is the demonstration of our trust in you, for, “You are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Ps. 86:5, KJV).
 
“Lord God, King of Peace, help me today to have peace with you, confessing all sin and receiving your forgiveness; to have peace with myself, forgiving myself for my failures and sins because your shed blood covers them; and to have peace with others, forgiving them as you have forgiven me. Help me to walk through this day in peace with all because of your great sacrifice, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
May be an image of sky, tree, twilight, nature and lake
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Depression and the way out

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 27, 2021

After the doctors shocking diagnosis, I said, “OK, Lord, I am going to trust in you. Show me what to do next.”

Immediately Hebrews 12:1-17 came to mind.  This was one of the chapters that Bill Gotthard had recommended for meditation and had entitled it, “Difficulties: where they come from and what to do with them.”  I got out my Bible and began to memorize it in preparation to meditating on it.

Almost from the beginning of this process, answers began to pop out from the page for me.  The first major point was that this depression was proof that God loved me! That was a major worldview shift!

Verses 5 and 6 said, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves…” His discipline, allowing this depression, proved He loved and cared for me. He know what I needed to take the next step up.

That was certainly a new thought, upside down from what is natural—or better put, what is natural is upside down and God’s thoughts are right side up! Clearly, if God loves me, He’d want to confront me on issues that need to be corrected.

Then as I continued memorizing, three important insights emerged that helped me grasp exactly what God is doing in disciplining His children.

The first was from Hebrews 12:9.  “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!”

This word “live” stood out to me–I was barely existing in this depression, not living at all. I looked up the Greek word in a concordance: it means to “live, to be lively, to be quickened.” A commentary I looked in said it meant to “really live.”

Clearly, “really living” was not what I was doing, but just as clearly it is what God wanted for me.  As I thought and prayed about this, it became clear that one purpose of God’s discipline was to show me what was keeping me from really living, what was keeping me from the rich, positive life He had for me, and every other believer.

A second insight was in the next verse, Heb 12:10  “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.”

So God’s discipline is wise, it is for our good, and it is to share His holiness with us in some practical way. That’s an astounding thought!  He is in some way seeking to help me to live out His holiness in my life.

“Maybe,” I thought, “in helping me to really live, He’s also pointing out what is keeping me from living out His holiness. In this depression God wants to free me to live in the way He has planned for me.” That made things look very different.

Then came a third insight in Hebrews 12:11, my favorite one, for it showed me that God understood how I felt in this ugly depression. It says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.”  I liked that: God wasn’t unfeeling, unknowing or uncaring, but understood fully what I was experiencing.

The verse went on, “Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

So the Lord had peace for me, something I did not have at the moment.  And it was clear that this peace didn’t come from just experiencing discipline, or just going through it, but from intentionally learning from it.

As I lay in bed that night, I prayed, “OK, Lord, what do I need to learn from this? What is keeping me from really living? What do I need to do to cooperate with you?”

The next two verses that I’d memorized gave me direction on how to move ahead.  Hebrews 12:12-13 say,  “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

“OK, Lord, I will gather up my feeble arms and weak knees, get up and go back to work, trusting You to show me how to proceed.”

The next morning I got out of bed and had to literally pry my eyes open with my fingers, my eyelids were so heavy. I got dressed and trudged out to my father’s tire shop, prepared to return to work, trusting God to show me the next step.

Picture: outside the tire shop at the time of my depression

May be an image of outdoors

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Psalm 83

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 26, 2021
In my morning reading I came to Psalm 83 yesterday and found it very relevant to today’s situation, especially considering some of the legislation being considered. These sections from this Psalm are a good prayer for us.
 
“O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God. See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.
 
“With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us destroy them as a nation….’
 
“With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you—Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like chaff before the wind.
 
As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze, so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm. Cover their faces with shame, LORD, SO THAT THEY WILL SEEK YOUR NAME.
 
“May they ever be ashamed and dismayed…LET THEM KNOW that you, whose name is the LORD— that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” AMEN
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