More on Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect;”

Praise be to you for teaching us that being weak is a wonder, that we can and should delight in our deficiencies and difficulties, for in such weakness your power is made perfect and Christ’s power might come upon us (2 Cor. 12:9,10).

You teach that to embrace our neediness and suffering is freeing, empowering and transforming for us and greatly glorifying for you. We are able to press onward and upward putting our hope in you: “The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” Psalm 33

Praise you that in your Word you give us vision and understanding of your perfect ways. “Teach me your way, O LORD; I will walk in your truth: unite my heart to fear your name” (Psa. 86:11).

Help us to walk in your truth consistently, denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following you, for therein lies the purpose of our lives, the meaning of existence and the hope of glory with you.]

More from my Autobiography

Fall of 2005

I continued to pray for revival, and in answer to my pleas, God gave me diarrhea! I was so weak that I spent five days in bed. I didn’t even have the strength to read, so I spent a lot of time in prayer instead.

During this God-ordered time of sickness, He pointed out nine sins He wanted me to deal with more seriously. I was fighting against some of them, but not whole-heartedly as He desired. Others, like thinking judgmentally of others, I was fully indulging in without restraint. I agreed to join God in dealing with these sins.

One sin was thinking and speaking negative and critical thoughts. This is just part of my nature, and part of how our family is. Most people wouldn’t even class this as a sin, but in God’s eyes it is both selfish and destructive.  For example, when Barbara and I would be driving along, I’d make comments like, “Look at that awful house! Who would ever want to live in something like that?” or “See that woman over there? What an ugly dress she has on! Why would she pick something like that to wear in public?”

Why would I make these unnecessary comments? Because making such pronouncements puts me in charge. I was the judge, like the   man in the picture below, proclaiming what was right and what was wrong. It made me feel superior and in control. But it was not good.

Even worse, I was critical of many things in our everyday interactions and didn’t hesitate to speak out about them. I criticized how a person did ministry, how someone dealt with his children, how a team meeting went, how others drove, how my wife cooked. Since my motive was wrong–desiring to make myself the authority–even if my comments were correct, they were usually not received very well. My expressions were selfish, controlling and destructive.

After confessing this sin, I asked God for help in spotting critical and negative thoughts before I spoke them.  It was amazing how many of my thoughts fell into this category, and how difficult it was to stop the flow. But with the Lord’s help and guidance, there was progress.

About six months later Barbara said, “You know, you don’t talk to me as much as you used to!”

“You’re right,” I replied, “I’m editing out about 50% of what I used to say!”

Not only did this change make our conversations more pleasant, I found that saying those negative things had been a burden to me, creating a cloud of darkness in my thinking. Now things were lighter, both in the load I carried and in my thought life.

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

Praise be to you, Heavenly Father, 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.”

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.]

More on Psalm 18:27 “You save the humble”

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!”

Psalm 18:26  “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 Jacob 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.