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Psalm 27:1c

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 20, 2020
Psalm 27:1b “The LORD is the stronghold of my life—“
[In the midst of uncertainty I can praise you, Lord God, for you are the safe Place, the generous Giver, the good Guide, the Rock and Stability of my existence. When things look bleak and unhappy like in the picture below, you are my Shelter, my Joy, my Strength.
 
You have revealed your beautiful character in your promises to provide what is needed in ease and pain, to give what is best, to protect me and sustain me with your right hand, to be my shield and enabler. And you faithfully follow through on every promise.
As my stronghold, you are the One who protects me in the hurts and harm of life. To you I can retreat and find safety, comfort, encouragement and joy when all else is bleak, broken, sad and dangerous.
Living in the power of your promises, I praise you now for what you will do today, this week, next month, next year. I praise you that each day is a new adventure with you, as you have laid out the race for me to run and are constantly helping me to see and lay aside the weights and sins that so easily entangle. I am so glad to be able to follow you.]
“of whom shall I be afraid?”
[A needed repeat in a broken world. Since you are the Almighty, the Most High, the Great King above all, who can contravene what you deem right? Who can overrule the desires of your great overarching plans? Who can condemn when you forgive? Who can harm us spiritually when you are there?
There is no one else I should fear but you, O Lord God, King of Glory. Help me to move every day away from fearing those around me to fearing you, away from fearing what others think of me to caring deeply what you think about me, about what I do and think, wear and say.
You are worthy of respect, honor and fear, for you are Awesome, Almighty and Eternal, while all others are not. Therefore, I choose to believe you, to fear you, to live in the light of your grace. Help me this day to consistently take refuge in you, thereby honoring You, your Name and your Word before all those around me.]
 
picture from the internet
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Psalm 27:1b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 18, 2020
Psalm 27:1b “whom shall I fear?”
[Who is greater than you? Who can defeat you? Who can fool you? Who is stronger than you? No one! You are the Almighty, the Most High, the Eternal One, dwelling outside of time, knowing and seeing all. “From His dwelling place the Lord looks down and watches all who live on the earth…He considers all that they do” (Psalm 33:14.15).
You are aware of every thought, every intent, every plan. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (Prov. 21:30). You have the power to counteract the devil’s every desire and duplicity.
Yes, whom should I fear, of whom should I stand in awe? Why should I fear the words and thoughts of others? You are the One who gives us significance, you declare us righteous in Christ, chosen and beloved. You have replaced our guilt with forgiveness, our shame with honor and our fear with faith, while those around us often seek their own honor by shaming us.
Forgive me for elevating the opinions of others over your truth, Lord. Help me to fear you, to respect you, to care what you think, not what others think, value or say. You are the measure of all, your Word rules, your estimation is supreme. Help me today to live in the light of this Truth, Lord.]
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Light

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 17, 2020
Psalm 27:1 Of David. “The LORD is my light and my salvation—“
[You, Lord Jesus, are the light Giver, the Sonshine of life, the Illuminator of our path, the Shinning on us. You show us the way, you reveal dangerous sins and snares so we can avoid them, you give insight and understanding, you help us to make the right choices.
Because of you, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining on ever more brightly till the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18). We no longer have to live in “the way of the wicked which is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19).
You have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light where you protect us from the devil, from death, and danger and difficulties.
 
You are actively working every moment to counter the attacks of the enemy, to shield us from his deceptions and help us stand against temptation. You also protect us from ourselves, from our old and evil nature.
Praise be to you that no attack, no opposition, no enemy is too fast, too great or too strong for you: you can counter all that comes, protecting and providing, keeping out what will harm while allowing in the things that make us effective. In your light we are safe.]
 
Help us, Lord, to dwell in the light, to turn away from darkness and live in the brightness of your love, wisdom and goodness.
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Thoughts on the Wonder of the Trinity

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 16, 2020

Praise be to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Triune Lord, God and King.

The fact that you are one Being with three Persons is one proof that you are truly God. No human or angel, devil or demon has ever thought up an idea like the Trinity. You are totally other than anything in your creation, being three persons in one God, having a character so complete and complex, so far above us that we cannot comprehend it.

Your being a Trinity means that you need nothing to complete yourself. You do not need your creatures for fellowship or fulfillment. Within your triune Being there is perfect love amongst you, full relationship and rich complimentation. I praise you for the marvel of your majestic unity, where there is no competition, no jealousy, no resentment, only full cooperation, joyful submission and perfect, lovely loyalty and leadership

In many situations you, Father, plan things. Then you, Lord Jesus, bring them to pass. And you, Holy Spirit bring them to completion. Salvation is the best example: the Father planned it, the Son bought it, the Spirit is bringing out the results..

I praise you that you are the One(s) who created all, rule all, and are bringing all to a conclusion. In you there is the hope of help, the goodness of your guidance, the power of your protection, the purity of your purpose and the stability of your shepherding.

I praise you that when turmoil comes, I can cling to the certainty of your almighty presence, the comfort of your unlimited help, the constancy of your goodness and the completeness of your power.

You have provided solutions for the three aspects of the curse flowing from the Fall. You have given us forgiveness and cleansing for our guilt; you have given us honor and glory for our shame; you have given us power and strength for our weakness and fear.

I praise you, Lord God, for what you are doing in and amongst us. To you be glory forever. In response to your goodness, may I live wholeheartedly for you, trusting you by rejecting complaining and grumbling through offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Fill me so full with your Holy Spirit that He will overflow onto all those I will meet today and thereby give you a continual flow of honor and exaltation. Amen.

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Add-on Eskimo

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 16, 2020
The Add-on Eskimo
 
The father of the family, Okfagit, looked around the circle of his family and gave thanks in his heart for his six healthy children, ranging in age from eight to eighteen. Among the Eskimos many children died before their second birthday; he was thankful that so many of his had survived.
 
As they ate, Okfagit said, “We will be hunting seals today, and you, my son Ayit, will come along on your first hunt!” Ayit’s eyes danced with pleasure, excited to hear that finally, at eight years old, he was going to be allowed out with the men on a hunt.
 
His father was a typical Eskimo, short, about five feet tall, with a round and somewhat flat face, well suited to the harsh arctic conditions of his homeland: his short nose did not freeze as easily as the longer one of a white man. He was strongly built, and the years of hunting had toughened his body so that he could go for long periods without sleep or food and still function well.
 
The life of an Eskimo here on the Eastern end of Asia was both harsh and dangerous. With yards of snow falling in the winter, it was a struggle to get about. And at each turn there was the chance of death: getting caught in a blizzard as Ayit’s grandfather had, falling through the ice, being injured while hunting alone, being swept off the cliffs by a strong gust while collecting bird’s eggs, having a boat capsize or sink, and even having a whale jump over the boat and land on it, killing all—which had happened to one family from their village just two years earlier. But Ayit didn’t think about such danger. He accepted it as part of everyday life
 
After breakfast Ayit collected the two wooden floats studded with metal spines used to snag the seals that were shot in the water. Before stepping out of the house into the cold, crisp air, his father took his big rifle, which he had gotten from Russian traders, put it into his gun sheath and slung his seal skin equipment bag over his back.
 
He looked around at the other homes in his village of Chatlino and saw others preparing to hunt. There were eight houses in the village of fifty-four inhabitants.
 
Okfagit looked out over the shore ice to the edge where it was piled up. This was where the moving ice packs had been driven by the wind and currents into the solid shelf of shore ice, stacking up towers of ice. He could see some open patches of water beyond them and smiled. These were where the seals would come up for air, places where he could get food for his family, oil for their lamps, and skins for their clothes.
 
His three older sons began to hitch the dogs to their sled, expertly putting the harness onto each and attaching them to the sled. They used the line method with a lead dog, and the others fastened behind, instead of the fan method some other artic dwellers used.
 
With Ayit and one brother sitting on the sled, their father stood on the back and spoke to the dogs. They leapt to their feet and, barking excitedly, lunged ahead, jerking the frozen runners out of the snow, and lurching off towards the shore ice. The two older boys walked behind, as it was only a mile to the edge of the shore ice, and it wouldn’t take them long to get there.
Okfagit pulled up the dogs at the piles of ice and stamped the sled’s anchor into the snow. The dogs laid down, knowing they were in for a wait. He took his pole, a walking staff with an iron point on one end and a metal hook on the other and climbed a pile of ice. He looked out in each direction, orienting himself to where the open water holes were. He then climbed down and called for the boys to follow him out onto the “young ice,” which had formed in the night as the ice packs had moved away from the shore ice.
This was dangerous because an incautious step could plunge one through the ice into the freezing water. If it was just a leg that went through, that was not a big problem because they were all dressed in waterproof, seal-skin clothes. But if a person went all the way through and water poured down inside his parka, it would mean almost certain death.
Okfagit tested the young ice (above) with his staff before he stepped onto it. His boys followed him carefully, each with his own stick. When they reached the open water, they found an ideal spot where some ice was piled up on the edge of the open water, giving them a hiding place. When a seal surfaced, it would not be able to see them, for if it did, it would immediately submerge before they could get off a shot.
 
 
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Arrival in Savoonga

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 14, 2020
Chapter 16 A New World
St. Lawrence island is located in the Bering Sea, 125 miles west of the coast of Alaska and 40 miles from the coast of Siberia. The international dateline runs just a little to the West of it. In theory the Eskimos were able cross the dateline into tomorrow to go hunting in their skin boats and come back to today with their catch.
 
The island is about the size of the state of Connecticut, but had a population of only about 600 Yupik Eskimos, originally from Siberia–two villages of 300 inhabitants each.
 
On the northern tip of the island is the village of Gambell, an ancient site that has been continually occupied for at least 2000 years. Then halfway down the coast on the Northern side is Savoonga, a village grown from a much more recent hunting camp. I was assigned to teach here.
 
As the little plane flew over the Bering Sea, I looked down at the waves. It looked really cold even though it was just the beginning of September. I was glad the plane had two engines in case one gave out.
 
An hour later we approached the island, which appeared at first as only a thin black line on the horizon. I looked for the village and was amazed at how small it was, just a tiny cluster of plywood houses on the shore, dwarfed by the empty vastness of the island sweeping up to the low volcanic mountains that made up its backbone. When I climbed down the ladder onto the runway, I stepped onto crushed black volcanic rock. I was now in a different world.
 
The principle teacher, Jim, met me and helped to load my baggage into the decrepit Ford pickup left over from the construction of the runway. Then we climbed in next to the Eskimo driver and rattled down the single dirt road into town.
 
Actually it didn’t go into the village, only to the edge where the road ended. All the houses were built on short stilts on the Tundra and boardwalks ran between them; there was no room for roads.
 
Jim got some of the Eskimos to help and we carried my stuff through the village to a little house on the point of land overlooking the water’s edge.
 
“Here’s where you’ll live,” said Jim. He patted the stove, “This is both for heating and cooking; it runs on kerosene. The barrel for it is outside. The janitor from the school will help you fill it when it runs out. The refrigerator also runs on kerosene, so you’ll have to keep your eye on that and refill it about once a week.
 
“Your water is stored in some barrels in an insulated shed behind this wall.” Jim tapped the wall that faced inland towards the mountains. “It’s brought here by dogsled from a spring two miles from the village. You can drink it, but should boil it first as there are liver parasites in it.
 
“And here’s your toilet,” Jim pushed open a plywood door to a little cubical in the corner. “As you can see, it is a ‘honey bucket,’ a chemical toilet. When the bucket is full, you have to take it out and empty it in the sea.” I nodded, somewhat surprised.
 
Jim turned and pointed to a ladder leading up into the attic. “Your bed is up there. We insulated the roof this summer; hopefully it will be warm enough for you when it’s 50 below 0.”
 
“What about taking a shower?” I asked
 
“You have to come to the school. There’s a place there where you can wash but there’s no shower. Water is a precious commodity here. There’s also a wringer washer in the utility room of the school you can use to wash your clothes.”
 
Life was about to become very different. In addition to all the changes of living in an Eskimo village and teaching school, I had to learn how to cook for myself. Beyond bacon and eggs I had very little experience in that department. I’d already written to my sister and asked her to send me a cookbook. Hopefully I could follow the directions.
 
Jim looked around, and seeing that he’d covered all the essentials said, “Ok, get your stuff unpacked and come over at five for supper.” He pointed through the big window to the white building further along the water’s edge. “That’s where I live–at the back of the main school building.”
Picture: village of Savoonga from the air
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Trinity of Truth.

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 13, 2020
Recently a little book Josh recommended to me brought together a number of truths I’d collected over the years. “The 3-D Gospel” by Jason Georges explains the three terrible results of the fall and the three wonderful ways God has provided restoration for each in the death and resurrection of Christ.
When Adam chose to trust Satan, his wife and himself instead of God, he ate of the forbidden fruit and Immediately he became guilty. He and his wife also became ashamed and tried to cover their shame with leaves. And they became afraid, hiding from God when He came to talk with them.
While different cultures tend to emphasize just one of these results over the others (Western “guilt culture”, Eastern “shame culture” and animistic tribal “fear culture,”) we all suffer the twisting effects of each part of this trinity of guilt, shame and fear.
In our Western culture, the gospel is presented mainly as dealing with our guilt (think of the Romans Road presentation—and this is certainly correct). However, little is taught about how the gospel also provides a solution for our shame and our fear.
Many (if not all) of us have has a sense of shame, maybe from past experiences where we were abused verbally, emotionally or physically. We also have failed to measure up to biblical and church culture standards. And we all have done foolish and destructive things we know are wrong. Shame is there, but often not acknowledged. Undealt with, it is a weight and blight on our souls, keeping us from loving ourselves so we can love our neighbors well.
Fear also is a big factor for us, as the world seems to be falling apart, as Christianity is more and more marginalized, denigrated and portrayed as evil, as millions of believers are persecuted We wonder where this all is going–and are filled with fear. Look at how many believers are consumed with worry, experience anxiety attacks and need medical help to cope.
God knows all about this and has provided a solution to each one. When the Holy Spirit does His work of conviction, He addresses each of our areas of need: guilt, shame and fear. As it says in John 16:9-11. “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong:
–“about sin, because people do not believe in me” [there is guilt];
–“about righteousness, because I am going to the Father” [there is shame as we stand humiliated before the righteous One, who exposes the emptiness of our futile, selfish attempts to make ourselves look good];
–“and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” [There is fear as we, too, without Christ stand judged and worthy of condemnation.]
However, for those who respond to the Spirit’s work, Ephesians 1:18-19 tells us what God has given to free us from each one of these: Paul writes, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know:
–“the hope to which he has called you” [forgiveness in place of guilt],
–“the riches of his glorious inheritance in his saints,” [honor in place of shame]
–“and his incomparably great power for us who believe” [power in place of fear].
All of this I vaguely comprehended, but now they have come into full 3-D focus and it makes a difference. I have wholeheartedly looked at my hidden shame from my failures and sins, as well as from others’ opinions of me, and am embracing the honor Jesus has given me by taking my shame on Himself in His suffering before and on the cross.
I have also confronted my fears more directly, embracing the fact that “God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7 KJV). This is making a difference in my life, and in the lives of those I am sharing this with.
So I encourage you, too, to embrace the full trinity of the gospel, internalizing the fact that Jesus died to save us from our sin, our shame and our fear. “My salvation [guilt covered] and my honor [shame covered] depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge” [fear covered](Ps. 62:7).
As Corrie Ten Boom said, “If we look around us, we will be distressed; if we look within us, we will be depressed; if we look to Jesus we will find rest.”
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Nurturing our first love for Jesus via Psalm 23

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 12, 2020
 
Meditating on, “The Lord is my shepherd….” Ps. 23:1
 
Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are the great Shepherd of the universe. You are wise, powerful, all knowing, all seeing, all present. You are the One who breathed the stars, who gathered them into the Milky Way, who hung the earth on nothing, who brings the dawn each day. You are the One who sets up and takes down rulers, who controls the flow of history, who will bring all existence to an end.
 
Your power is infinite: what we see in hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis is a tiny bit of your might. We cannot begin to imagine a power that could create a galaxy like the Milky Way: 100,000 light years in diameter, containing billions of stars, many much bigger than our sun. You simply spoke and they came into existence.
 
Your power and attention to detail is unbelievable. To make carbon-based life possible, you created the sun a million times larger than the earth, burning at just the right and incredible temperature. You placed the earth at exactly the right distance from the sun, so it won’t be too hot or too cold. You put it in an orbit just the right shape so summer is long enough for crops and winter isn’t so long that people would starve. You spun the earth at the optimal speed so night isn’t so long that we’d freeze, and day isn’t so long that we’d get too tired. And you tilted the earth at exactly the right angle to make the different climates. You did everything perfectly.
 
In this you show what a wise, strong, good and trustable Shepherd you are. I praise you for the wonder of your Character, seen in your being the Creator, the Redeemer, our Savior, Provider, Protector and Great Guide.
 
You are Love, you are Light, you are Life. And you have declared yourself to be my Shepherd: you wanted me as your sheep; you chose me before the foundation of the world; you arranged all the influences I needed in life so I could come to you.
 
What I actually deserve, as a rebellious sinner, is continual punishment, rejection, suffering, failure, hopelessness, despair, death and eternity in Hell apart from you.
 
However, you had mercy on me, you wanted me as your child. So, you suffered, died and rose again to make it possible that I would be your sheep. You called me, you cleansed and transformed me, you claimed me as your own, you commissioned me to special service and you cherish me.
 
I stand before you now dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in. In you, Lord Jesus, I am fully forgiven, fully loved, fully accepted, fully yours. I revel in your love, I bask in your desire for an ever-expanding relationship with me. I rejoice in your unconditional, deep, rich acceptance of me as your child, your sheep, your beloved.
 
I bow before you in awe and reverence; I rise up today to return your love in obedience to your Word, to walk in the joy of being yours, to reflect the light of your love to those around me, living in the perspective of Psalm 73:25: “Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
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Psalm 26:8-12

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 11, 2020
Psalm 26:8 “I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.”
 
[Praise you, Lord, that now you dwell in each believer, in each of us, and as we together are living stones we make up your church, your bride. Help me to live the reality of that, to love the church universal and the church local. Help all of us to be in awe of you and live in such a way as to bring you honor, both personally and as local congregations.]
 
Psalm 26:9,10 “Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes.”
 
[Praise you that, although I am naturally one of these sinners, in you I am made an innocent, being cleansed and forgiven, transformed and adopted. Therefore, I will not have to go with the wicked into punishment, but with you into an eternity of joy and peace, of goodness and grace.
 
Help me to recognize my tendency to do the natural, negative, nasty things, to reject them, and to live instead in the freedom of wisdom, the joy of submission and the goodness of obedience to your Word and Spirit.]
 
Psalm 26:11 “But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me.”
 
[I do want to live a pure life but cannot do so on my own; help me to walk with you in your way of purity, positiveness and power. Thank you that you have redeemed me and that I stand in safety because of your blameless life, Lord Jesus. Praise you that you are merciful to me far beyond what I deserve.]
 
Psalm 26:12 My feet stand on level ground;
 
[Praise you that you have given me level ground, that I have all I need in you for stability, effectiveness and safety. You have set a race out before me; you smooth out the way, you help me forward, and running before me, you guide and direct.]
“in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.”
 
[Before all, Lord, I want to give you honor and glory, praise and power, exaltation and strength. You are the good One, you are the powerful One, you are the trustable One. So, I bow before you in awe and thankfulness, I rise up in your grace and joy, I move ahead in this day with thanksgiving and faith, fully clothed in the armor of God, able to stand no matter what comes.
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Psalm 26:4-7

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 10, 2020
Psalm 26:4 “I do not sit with deceitful men,”
[Help me to recognize them and not join in their talk, and not to be deceitful myself.]
“nor do I consort with hypocrites;”
[That’s pretty hard avoid, as we are all hypocrites to a degree. But help me to avoid those who are blatantly, knowingly so. Point out my tendency to hypocrisy and help me not to be one.]
Psalm 26:5 “I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked.”
[Help me not to join them in any way, and help me to recognize the evil in my own heart and reject it in favor of obeying you.]
Psalm 26:6,7 “I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O LORD, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds.”
[May I consistently and quickly confess any sin and be cleansed by your forgiveness. May my focus be on you, Lord Jesus, listening to you, being obedient to you, thinking truth, doing what you proclaim to be right. Help me to be consistent in praising you at all times, proclaiming to all those around me your glory, revealed in your awesome acts and gracious goodness.
As we move through life with all its unknowns and challenges, it is wonderful, Lord, to know that you are guiding us, that you will lead us in paths of righteousness.
I am so small, so ignorant (I couldn’t even buy the right corner piece for the rain gutters today!), so weak, so bound up in my own viewpoint, so influenced by selfishness and sin that in myself I cannot make wise decisions.
When I tried to buy tickets for our trip to Germany last week, you prevented the transaction from going through, even though I thought it had. This was because you knew the dates I had picked were wrong, and enabled me to change the dates to better ones with better flights when I tried again. You, Lord Jesus, are my wise and all knowing Shepherd who cares for your sheep. You know the future, you know the next things to come, you know the needs I’ll have today, next week, next year.
I praise you now for how you will provide and protect, for you are good and pure, you are wise and loving, you are kind and firm, you are powerful and gracious. You are my God and my Rock: unshakable, unassailable, unchanging. You are my Salvation: the One who redeems and rescues. You are my High Tower: giving safety, vision and insight. I can trust you.
Help me to know how to deal with what will come today, Lord. Only with you can I press forward properly, denying self, obeying your Word, listening to your Spirit. I praise you now for your help to come. May I honor you today in all.
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