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Protection From The Great One

As we are poised now on the brink of a new week, I thank you, Lord, for what you have in store for us. You, the Star Breather, the Earth Spinner, the Dawn Bringer, the History Ender, are at work in great power, in deep wisdom and in rich love to bring what is best within a broken world.

I praise you now for what you have planned for my life today, knowing that you will guide, direct and protect. I think of all the times in the past when you have protected me in driving, times when I should have had an accident, yet you alerted me or kept me from changing lanes or had others avoid me.

Thank you for keeping us safe recently, when our brakes gave out—twice—and you prevented us from having an accident each time.  I praise you for what you are doing every day to protect us, both from our own foolishness and from others’ errors.

Praise be to you, Lord, for your great faithfulness and love, your gracious, undeserved protection and help. “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.” (Psalm 18:1)  May you be glorified and honored in my life, today, Lord Jesus, for you certainly deserve it!

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Thankfulness For God's Good Care

Thank you, Lord God, for your provision of a good night’s sleep.  I praise you for your powerful working in us on the very practical levels—you care for us wonderfully, persistently, lovingly, graciously.  It is especially warming to think of your loving care when we see it in contrast to what we deserve. I give you honor and glory for your powerful, persistent, perfect agape Love.

Thank you, too, Heavenly Father, for what lies before us today: partially planned on our part but in fact unknown to us, while it is fully planned and totally known by you.

What an amazing thought: you have gone through the day of each one of your children, billions of them, preparing in detail, planning individualized lessons, guidance, protection, chastening, blessing and provision for each one.  And you do the same for the elect, as well as similarly pouring out your goodness and attention on those whom you know will never believe.

“…your Father in heaven….causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  Matt. 5:45

You are truly the God of Grace, the God of Greatness, the God of Goodness. Such care, such compassion, such cherishing, such comprehensive love—it is found in no one else.

To you belongs all glory and honor, all praise and applause, all worship and exaltation, all obedience and reverence, all fear and love.  We fall to our knees in wonder, we bow down in awe, we rise up to give you honor in belief and obedience.   May you be exalted in our lives today.

 

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Thoughts on Psalm 27:4-7

Psa 27:4  “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,”

[When David wrote this, he thought of the tabernacle in Jerusalem. Today this request has come true for every believer because we have become the house of the Lord, the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are ever in your presence. That is the wonder of being your child: we are ever with you.]

“to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

[This is another matter, this takes intentionality, it takes focus, surrender and discipline—I must turn my eyes from the distractions of the world and look to you. I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you have led me to a small degree to gaze upon your beauty in personal worship, to see your greatness, your power, your wisdom, your grace, your wrath against sin, your mighty love demonstrated in redeeming your rebellious creatures, your great patience in working in us to bring us to maturity in you. I give you glory and honor which is due your name for your wonderful greatness. Thank you, Lord, for all that you are, for revealing some of it to us, for breaking into our lives, for dwelling with us when we deserve only rejection and punishment. Praise be to you, the Great and Glorious One who stoops to see and help us.]

Psa 27:5  “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.”

[This is what you will do: protect, provide, shelter and deliver. I must dwell with you, not venture out on my own to accomplish my own deliverance. You hide me, you will set me on a high rock. Give me wisdom, Lord, in knowing how to take shelter in you, to obey what I know to be true and to praise you in and for all.]

Psa 27:6  “Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me;”

[You will work things out, your will do what is best in defeating the enemies around me, who attack me, who bring pressure and harm. You will accomplish this as I follow and trust you in praise, in prayer, in obedience.]

“at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.”

[Because of your great love, your mighty help, your gracious goodness, I will rejoice in you, call out praise, live for you, sing and exalt you in music. I praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for your constant and good work in my life and in the lives of those around me.]

Guide me today, Lord, in giving you honor and thanksgiving, glory and exaltation that those around me may rejoice in you. I give you honor through praise, I give you glory through obedience. Help me to let go of what I should, help me to hold on to what I should, and wisdom to discern which is which. May you be honored in my life today. Amen.]

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Proclaiming His Love In The Morning Psalm 92

“It is good to praise the LORD…O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night….”  Psalm 92:1,2

It is right and important to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, O Lord Jesus.  You are faithful, You are good, and have shown Your faithfulness and love in enduring the ultimate suffering to provide permanent pardon for all who believe.  Therefore we can declare Your love before You do anything today.

Your character makes us sure that You will love us through the day, that You have gone before us to prepare good works, to protect, to allow what may be painful but profitable for us.  We can praise You without knowing what’s coming, for You are goodness itself. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

It is also right to declare Your faithfulness in the evening. As we look back on the day, we can see how You prepared, guided, protected, carried us through, worked things out, gave us strength and wisdom and insight. We can see how You answered prayer. We can now see how “goodness and mercy follows us all the days of my life.” (Ps 23:6)

We can also praise You for things that didn’t work out, that were disappointing or difficult or dangerous.  Those, too, show Your wise and loving faithfulness in bringing what we need for growth, for offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, for being weak so Your power can be perfect.  We praise You, we exalt You, we give You honor.  We bow before You in worship, we rise up to obey You today.

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Resting In The Truth of The Word

Your Word, Lord Jesus, is like you; reliable, steady, faithful, right.  What is written there is true and trustable.  My hope is rooted in you as revealed in your Word. Without this hope, my way would be unclear, unhappy, untenable.  But your Word, Lord, is clear, trustable, good and a joy. Heeding it, believing it I can walk through difficulties with the light of your Love showing me the way. I can trust you no matter what.

As we stood at the Lufthansa check in counter at the Boston Airport, the agent did not give us the seats listed on our tickets. And, it looked like these seats were not together.  I felt the tension rising; we’d picked good seats months earlier and now they were being taken from us.

But I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit, “Trust in me, rest in me.”  Psalm 62 came to mind, “My soul finds rest in God alone,” not in having the desired seats.  In obedience I rejected the urge to object. I let go of what was temporal, held on to God’s goodness and let my tension ebb away as I rose above the situation.

When we got on the plane our seats were not only further forward (meaning we got out earlier to make the plane change in Munich), they were right next to the business class section, giving us more leg room, there were only 3 abreast, not 4, and were near the bathrooms.  God has better ideas!

Trusting God, waiting on Him, being gracious as He is gracious makes everyone’s life easier.  There are times to object, but we’d better make sure our motives are right and that we wait for the right time.  When we live in the truth of His Word that “Knowing Jesus is Enough For Joy, period,” we live in true freedom with the ability to chose what is right.

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Psalm 25:11 For the Sake of Your Name, O LORD

Glory be to you, heavenly  Father, for you are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all who call upon you. (Psalm 86:5)

Psa 25:11  “For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” What a solid basis for appeal, that your Name be lifted up, glorified, magnified today. And that is what happens as you forgive me for me sin, and it is great. I do not know the tenth of it, but you know it all and have provided full, complete, free and effective forgiveness–cleansing and changing me from the inside out. My record is wiped clean, my past is changed, my future is sure and positive, full of upward movement into ever increasing freedom.

This is so because you are good, you are gracious, you are giving, you are great in mercy and love, kindness and grace. We are undeserving while your love is unending. We are unworthy but you are unrelentingly gracious. We are unrighteous while your forgiveness in inexhaustible. Praise be to you, the Great and Glorious God whose forgiving flows forever, transforming, teaching, training us to walk in the wonderful way of your Word.

Today lies before us, an unknown blank. You lead us into it, you walk before us, revealed in your Word, known in your ways, trusted in your goodness. I praise you for what will come, for how you will protect, for how you will act in wisdom and love to weave all into the fabric of your plan for today, a portion of your plan for eternity.

We cannot fathom even the events of today, to say nothing of your overall scheme of things. But we can trust you, the Great and Mighty Shepherd to lead us through them on the path of righteousness, despite what we are, and bring us safely through to the end of time and the beginning of eternity.

May continual praise be to you in my life today, through trust, praise and obedience. Amen.

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Over The Edge In Love

He ran, stumbling, panting, lungs searing, mouth dry, the bear not far behind. Catching up, probably, but he didn’t dare look back.

Bursting out of the bushes, he saw the edge of the cliff too late and plunged over, falling headlong into the abyss, rolling as he went, unable to control his fall in any way.

Just as suddenly as he had fallen,  he was jerked to an abrupt stop. He almost blacked out from the snap. He looked over his shoulder to see that his backpack had caught on a small tree.

He hung there, still gasping for breath. Above him he could hear the bear pacing at the edge of the cliff, it’s ground-shaking growls raising goose bumps on his arms.

He looked up; he was only about 8 feet below the edge of the cliff, just out of the bear’s reach. He looked down and then closed his eyes. It was a sheer drop of hundreds of feet.

Shortly the bear stopped growling and he could hear it scuffling away in the bushes, then silence.

He hung there helplessly, humbly, hopelessly, alone. He tried to reach behind him to grasp the little tree, but to no avail. He could do nothing, nothing to help himself.  He shouted, “Help me! Somebody, anybody, help me!”  There was no answer.  He hung his head in despair.

Time passed, but how much was hard to tell, 15 minutes? An hour?

“Hey, down there, are you alive?” came a voice from above.

He was startled out of his dark thoughts. “Yes, yes, I’m alive, but I stuck here on this tree!”

He could hear the person take off his backpack, “Ok, I can see how you are caught on it. Here, I’ll throw a rope down to you. Hopefully when I pull you up I can loosen you from the tree.”

The rope slapped down on his shoulder and he was able to grab it.

“You will have to hold tight, I’ve put a knot on the end to help you get a grip,” said the voice. “I’m going to pull you up now. You only have to hold on, believing that I can do it.”

The rope tightened, pulling his arms over his head, then his whole body began to inch upwards.  Then stopped.

“I can’t lift you off the tree, you are stuck. See if you can roll to the side and free yourself.”

He tried not to look down while he leaned to the left, then the right. His grip was sweaty and tense.  He felt himself come loose from the tree, swinging to the side, free to fall into the abyss or be pulled up.

“Ok, I think I’m free now,” he panted.

The rescuer began to pull again and he was drawn up, inch by inch, twisting as he went until he was facing the cliff.

He felt the edge of the cliff on his forearms, then his eyes cleared the edge and he could see his rescuer.  The small man had the rope looped around a stubby tree to give extra leverage and was pulling hard, leaning backwards towards the cliff, beads of sweat on his forehead.

Then he was up to his waist, then over the edge, this time on the safe side of the cliff. He let go of the rope and rolled over to get further away from the edge.

His rescuer, still pulling with all his strength fell backwards as the rope came free, plunged over the cliff and disappeared from sight. He did not get caught on a tree. And the cry of anguish did not come from the rescuer but from the rescued.

He sat up, groaning, thankful to be alive but shaken to the core and overwhelmed with shock. Putting his head in his hands, he groaned, “I killed my rescuer! My selfish impatience caused him to die! My life for his death!”

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So it is with us. Satan pursues us to the edge, we fall over, God catches us, Jesus comes to our rescue, sacrificing Himself because of our foolish sin and selfishness. He dies while we are snatched from the jaws of death and given a new chance at life.

Knowing this, our whole being should change direction. Our passion should be for our rescuer, the core of our being should be one of thankfulness, of love of obedience to the One who died for us.

Our first love for Jesus can well up each morning as we remember how He sacrificed Himself, as we think of what He has saved us from, how He continues to save us every day in the wilderness of this world.

How great is my first love?

 

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Foretaste of Heaven

Yesterday was a perfect early September day, absolutely gorgeous: pleasantly hazy and sunny, 85 degrees with a slight breeze. Along with this the air had a refreshingly cool touch.

Praise be to you, Lord, for such foretastes of heaven where all will be perfect every day. There we won’t need the challenge of weather or problems to keep us occupied. Your presence and personality, filling all the universe, will be far more than enough to keep us occupied and engaged.

And I suspect you will have lots of stimulating work for us to do there. You are such a creative God: there will be no end to new things you will bring out of your infinite mind and heart.

Such a God as you, the One and Only True God, are worthy of worship and honor and glory. You are worthy of our whole-hearted, continual and complete followership. You are worthy of total obedience, absolute surrender and complete trust. You are perfect, immutable, lovely, wise, powerful, just, pure, kind, forgiving, gracious and good.

You are far better than anything we could imagine, for in you there is no flaw—we have never experienced anything like that here on earth; everything has weaknesses, problems, faults and lacks. But in you there is no lack, no end of supply, no failure, no loss.

You are all that is good; you are void of what is bad. I praise you that you cannot sin, you cannot lie, you cannot be tempted with evil, you can do no wrong. These are the opposite of your nature. You are unchangingly pure. Therefore we can call you our Rock, our Fortress, our Defender, our Shield, our Strength, our Stronghold.

You are Glorious beyond our knowledge, you are Great beyond comprehension, you are Good beyond understanding, you are Gracious beyond measure.  In you lies all we desire, for we were made to live with you, by you, for you. In you we are complete, with you we are protected, by you we are empowered, for you we can live, work, love and die.

Your marvelous, rich, infinite and eternal character is the basis for our coming to you. In our needs and distress we can cry with the Psalmist:

Psa 25:6  Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.”  [Out of these two wonderful qualities you acted into the world, bringing complete, powerful, full-orbed salvation. Now, in our day, you are moved to act out of the same monumental mercy and long lasting love.  It is in you that our trust comes alive. It is your mercy and love that are the grounds for appeal to you. And it is out of love and mercy that you will answer with what is best, good and wise. We can rest in that truth, praising you now for what you will do without knowing what that will be.

Psa 25:7 “Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;” [How can the eternal, infinite all knowing Creator not remember this vast amount of pain producing rebellion that flowed from my heart? Yet you can choose to do so; you do choose to not remember. This is different than forgetting; the memory is there, but you will not to bring it to mind, for my sin and rebellion have been dealt with in Christ’s marvelous sacrifice. You can put it out of your mind, remove it as far as East is from West.

“according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.” [You allow us to appeal to your love; this is not just one of your characteristics, or qualities. You are love itself, it is your essence, it is what you are made of, along with life and light. We can rest in the ocean of your love and grace, your goodness and forgiveness, confident that in Christ we are cherished, delighted in and deeply loved.

What a marvelous, majestic, magnificent, mighty privilege it is to be in your family, a child of the King, fully pardoned, free of accusation, resting in your grace and goodness. We are motivated by your love to respond in love and obedience, rejecting the selfish, independent, stubborn, rebellious desires of self. Instead, within the freedom you have given us, we can choose to obey your Word and your Spirit, trusting in you, serving you, loving you.

Praise be to you, Lord God, as you have drawn us into your embrace and lead us onward and upward in our walk with you into the delightful difficulties, dangers and disappointments of this world—all of which pale to nothing in the light of your presence. With our eyes on you we can say with Asaph, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” (Psa 73:25)

Be glorified in my life today, Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit. May your goodness, grace, glory and greatness overflow from my life onto all those I meet today, that they may also turn to you. Amen.

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The Unimaginable Suffering

The death of Jesus on the cross was one he shrank back from, so horrendous was the prospect.  In Gethsemane, “horror and dismay overcame him, and he said,…“My heart is ready to break with grief.” (Mark 14:4, NEB).

Three main things brought this horror, and none of them had to do with the excruciating physical pain he would suffer in scourging and crucifixion, or the emotional pain he would suffer in being abandoned and betrayed by his disciples. The horror before Him was far greater than those.

First He was to become sin.  The ugliness, the stench, the squalor, the repulsiveness of sin, these he would become.  Think of being lowered into a pit of liquid manure, its greenish surface roiling with maggots, the stench overwhelming; and as you go down into it, it gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, and then lungs, engulfing you in its terribleness.  This is nothing compared to Christ’s becoming sin for us, the evil of it entering His very being.

Then He was under the righteous wrath of God which had been stored up from the beginning of the world against all the sin ever committed and which would be committed.  The unimaginably immense weight of wrath crashed down on Jesus, breaking and crushing him.

In the third and most painful suffering, Jesus was ripped out of the relationship of the Trinity, the perfect place, the unflawed unity, the beautiful balance, the wonderful warmth that had existed from eternity. As He became sin and had wrath poured upon Him, He could not stay in that intimate relationship with the Father and Spirit.    The fabric of the Trinity was torn, the essence smashed, the unity destroyed. This brought the greatest suffering of His sacrifice, not only to Jesus, but to the Father and the Spirit also.

The amount of horror for Jesus in this experience was immeasurably, unimaginably huge.  It was an infinite suffering borne by an infinite heart of love under an infinite wrath.  And it brought about an infinite solution for finite beings.  Only the God who is Love could do this.  Only Jesus could be our Savior, willing to go through suffering which was beyond the comprehension of angels. And He did it to save those who are lower than Angels.  Halleluah!

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Psalm 25:4,5

Praise you for what you will do today, Lord, bringing what is good, protecting from what is evil. I thank you now for your guidance and grace which you have prepared, for your wisdom which you have given for me to use, for your love shown in your thinking through my day and making all the arrangements.

Praise you for the opportunities you have prepared for me to give you glory and honor in faith, praising you in and for all things, whether I like them or not. You are good and gracious, kind and loving. I praise you for your purity and wisdom.

Psa 25:4  “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;” [Praise be to you, Lord Jehovah, the holy One who loves to reveal your ways to us. I give you glory and honor, praise and exaltation for what you have shown through your Word, what you will show through your Spirit. ]

Psa 25:5  “guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,” [Praise you for your consistent desire to keep us in your way, showing us your truth through your Word, giving us the needed input so we can obey you. You do this lovingly, whole-heartedly, consistently, for I belong to you.

You are Elohim, the powerful and faithful One who has provided salvation through your powerful and personal suffering. Having paid the highest price possible, you will certainly follow through in the small acts of applying that salvation to me every day. You are worthy of worship! You are worthy of obedience!]

“and my hope is in you all day long.” [In what else, in whom else can I hope? There is no one else powerful enough, big enough, loving enough, wise enough to hope in. And there is no one else who is faithful, gracious, good and great like you, you who cares for your sheep, protects your lambs, leads your flock.

You are the God of hope who desires to fill us with all joy and peace, if we will only trust in you. Then our lives will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13)

I praise you, Lord Jesus, for what you will do in this day, in the large situations before me as well as the small details. I praise you that you will do this in your goodness and grace, in your wisdom and love. I praise you for the need to wait, for the opportunity to trust, for the chance to give the sacrifice of thanksgiving, for the privilege of giving you honor by responding in faith rather than in nature.

You are worthy, O Lord, of our trust, our worship, our obedience, our praise. May you be exalted in my life today, O Lord God, King of glory, Lord of all.