Parting Is A Sweet Sorrow in Him...

Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. 35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, 38 sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.—Acts 20:28-38

I just love Paul’s heart here toward “his” flock.  His concern was for their souls and his affection for the people God had placed in his care is obvious as we read this passage. In verse 32 he commends them to God and the word of His grace because HE IS ABLE to build them up and give them an inheritance among all the justified of God. Such a good thing for me to remember when I am anxious about my own loved ones...both believers and unbelievers.  I can pray for them and commend them to God’s care who loves them perfectly. 

Paul rightly reminds them in verse 28 that the Church belonged to God and was purchased with His blood. He desired his overseers to have God’s concerns and not their own for the church, recommending his own selfless example in this; but also tops that with the example of Jesus who said that it is “more blessed to give then to receive.”  Those words of Jesus are what hit my heart this morning.  Truly, my Jesus surrendered all and gave His all.  How much more do we become like Christ then, when we too surrender to the Spirit of God and follow His self-sacrificing ways with sincere hearts.  Oh to be a cheerful giver!  To trust God to care for my physical, emotional and spiritual needs and give freely of what I have been freely given without hope of getting in return.  

In verses 36-38 Paul does what each of us should do when we part company with other believers...pray together.  I am thankful for my husband, whose leadership has made this the standard in our house.  How comforting it is to be reminded that no matter where we go, God goes with us and that while we are gone His people are praying for us.  We are one in Christ and in that, we are NEVER separated.  

Psalm 147...

Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.—Psalm 147:1

Truly there is nothing better we can do with our hearts and voices than sing praises to our great God!  As I read through Psalm 147 this morning my inner man was filled with gratitude.  My gracious Jehovah cares for the unimportant, the forgotten and the sorrowing.  This Psalm, like the others in this section of the book, begins and ends with an exhortation to praise our Beloved!  The rest of the Psalm is devoted to doing just that.  

Praise the Lord!

He gathers the outcasts...

He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds...

He is great and abundant in power...

His understanding cannot be measured...Our God “gets” us!...

He lifts up the humble...

He casts the wicked to the ground...

He prepares rain for the earth...

He makes the grass grow...

He feeds both beast and bird...

He takes pleasure in those that fear Him...

In those that hope in His steadfast love...

He protects us and blesses our children within...

He gives us peace within our borders...

He fills us with good things...

He sovereignty oversees nature... the normal and the abnormal...

He has given us His word...

He knows those who are His...like Israel we are also now His special possession..

Praise the Lord!

Beloved...Praise is good because it is right...God IS good and His steadfast love toward us never ceases.  Praise is good because it is an acceptable sacrifice to God. Praise is good because it helps us!  It rights our heart.  It reminds us that our God can be trusted.  He IS faithful.  His gifts to us are as relentless as the lapping of the waves at the seashore.  Praise is good because as it helps our heart, it also helps the hearts of those around us that hear.  We owe EVERYTHING to our God...all that we are and all that we have...even to the very breath in our lungs.  We cannot give our God anything for all His goodness and favor toward us, but we can, by His grace, lift up our voices to Him daily in songs of praise.  

Father

Forgive me! I want the background melody of my life to be praise, but so often it is one of complaint.  By Your Spirit who dwells within me, open my mouth in the morning with praise and overflow my heart in the evening with the thanksgivings and graces of the day.  May my days, Father, be replete with songs of Your praise...and when they are not...convict me and tune my heart to once again, sing Your grace.  

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!  (Psalms 147:7, ESV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.—Colossians 3:16-17

Praise the Lord, O My Soul...

Ps 146 begins and ends in the same way...Praise the LORD!  We start out in verse 1-2 with a commitment to praise.  What stopped me here...as silly as it might sound...were the words, “O my soul”.   You hear that a lot in the Psalms.  Sometimes I can read a phrase again and again and really not think about its meaning.  This was NOT one of those times.  The Psalmist is exhorting himself to practice what he preached!  Sometimes that is soooo hard.  My soul this morning was not in a place that lends itself easily to praise...a place of sorrow and grief.

Truth be told there IS much ongoing heartache and sorrow in my life that I am powerless to remedy.  The underlying song and background melody of my heart is joyful gratitude for all my God has done, but often my immediate presenting emotion is grief. In the past I have fought hard against this grief allowing myself to be deceived into thinking it wasn’t a big deal...that my grief wasn’t really that hard or even that sad...that I was just being a baby.  Condemnation is from the enemy.  Life IS hard and very often filled with sorrow.   There are and will be seasons where“Sorrow and Suffering” will be constant companions.   We ALL will face sorrows here on this earth...the difference is whether we face them with Him or without Him. I am so grateful that by His grace, I face my sorrows with Him!   AND THAT is where I began praising my God this morning.

 I am grateful, Father, that You are always with me...that You are my ever present hope and my never failing help.  I am grateful that whatever I go through in this life, I go through with You, my God, who works all of it together for my good and Your glory.

I am grateful that You don’t change...You are the same yesterday, today and forever.   I am grateful for Your word to me....it is my never failing comfort.  I am grateful that You are my God who “keeps faith forever”.  (Ps 146:6) None of Your promises fail...They are eternal in the heavens.  Truly, Father, Your steadfast love to me never ends.  I am grateful that my trials will make me more like You.  I am grateful that I can look to your example of other-centered, selfless love in my grief.  You were despised and rejected...and yet You were not overwhelmed in Your sorrow.   In Your greatest sorrow You poured Yourself out in the most magnificent display of love mankind has ever seen!   You suffered for us (me) and died so that we (I) could have the opportunity to live with You forever! 

In Your sorrow Jesus, Your concern was for others. On the cross burdened with the sin and grief of all the world, Your focus was for the thief beside You, for Your mom's well being, and for forgiving those who were crucifying You.   Seeing Your example and KNOWING Your love for me how can I wallow in my own sorrow...how can I not praise You!!?   I will do as Your word tells me and cast my burdens on You because You care for me...I will bear another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.  As I praise You this morning, my sorrow is lightened and my heart encouraged.  I will press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call.  What is the goal?   Christlikeness in the here and now...What is the prize?  Christlikeness in Heaven. 

Finally, I am thankful that it is You my God who works in me both to will and to do for Your good pleasure.  I am grateful that You will complete the good work You began in me. 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” --Matthew 11:28-30

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.--2nd Corinthians 3:18

Sparing Our Words...

27 He who has knowledge spares his words,

And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

28 Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace;

When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.—Proverbs 17:27-28

First off, I have to confess that I really don’t want to write on these two verses. Why, you ask?  Because what I write on, I am usually tested on...and in regard to sins of the tongue, nine times out ten I fail miserably and I hate to fail.  I don’t even hate failing for the right reasons. Yes, I am grieved that I grieved God, but my mostly I hate it because my pride was injured and I now have to “see” and “deal” with not just one ugly sin, but also the underlying causes and effects of my lack of lip restraint.  How much better it would be if at the outset, I had purposed to listen to His still small voice.  Then, I would have been counted as a wise woman instead of a foolish one who tears down her own house with the words of her lips.  How much easier it would be to just humble myself and pray BEFORE I speak.  Oh, to be a man of understanding, filled with the Spirit of God, whose spirit is calm and not clamorous to speak. 

James, by the Spirit of God reminds us in the first chapter of his book that a man should be slow to speak, and in Chapter 3 says the following..I am including the entire passage...I ALWAYS NEED the reminder.  

For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.  See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.—James 3:2-12

Sigh!  We all know what James tells us is true. We see it played out in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Beloved, the heart of the righteous studies how to answer.  The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious...the law of kindness is on his tongue.  In contrast, the lips of a fool swallow him up. The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, and the end of his talk is raving madness.   Truly, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking.

Oh, Father, Your lovingkindness is better to me than life!  Set a guard over my lips today that I might not bring reproach to Your name. I say to my own heart the words Job spoke to his faithless friends...

Oh, that you (I) would be silent,

And it would be your (MY) wisdom!—Job 13:5

Refuge Has Failed Me...

1 I cry out to the LORD with my voice;

With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.

2 I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare before Him my trouble.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

Then You knew my path.

In the way in which I walk

They have secretly set a snare for me.

4 Look on my right hand and see,

For there is no one who acknowledges me;

Refuge has failed me;

No one cares for my soul.

5 I cried out to You, O LORD:

I said, "You are my refuge,

My portion in the land of the living.

6 Attend to my cry,

For I am brought very low;

Deliver me from my persecutors,

For they are stronger than I.

7 Bring my soul out of prison,

That I may praise Your name;

The righteous shall surround me,

For You shall deal bountifully with me."—Psalm 142

In the midst of trial and trouble, I have found that no greater comfort can be found than in praying through the word of God...especially through the Psalms.  This particular psalm was written when David was in a cave hiding from Saul and his minions.  Now I have never prayed from the depths and the darkness of a cave, but I have been in some very dark places physically, emotionally and spiritually and prayer ALWAYS makes my night season light about me.  Praying brings my soul out of its prison and enlightens my eyes to see my God’s good and sovereign hand on my life. 

This effect of prayer on my heart and my mind doesn’t last forever, nor does it usually  change my circumstances, but it does change me a little more each and every time I lift up my empty and helpless hands to Him.  Prayer for me rights my thinking and makes room for the Spirit of God to transform me more and more into His image. As I behold Him and turn my heart upside down before Him...leaving all of what is poured out in His capable hands...my heart is lightened and my countenance changes. Joy mixed with relief fills my heart, because I remember that I am not sufficient. My God wants to relieve me of my burdens.  He wants me to bring them to Him always. 

What a gift we have in being able to come boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace to help in our time of need.  God is for us...He is on our side...He fights for us.  We stand in His grace and favor...He WILL deal bountifully with us.  There is so much in life that is just too big and too hard for me.  My heart can be overwhelmed so easily.  How wonderful to know that He knows my path and the way in which I walk.  My God can and will handle all that comes my way.  I can trust Him in my good times, but I can especially trust Him when my heart is brought low or when refuge has failed me and like the psalmist, I feel that no one cares for my soul.  Oh Lord, I have trusted in Your mercy...Your unfailing, grace giving and never changing love, and I am helped.  

The Truth Shall Make You Free...

And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.—Acts 15:1-2

The key doctrinal question of what someone must do to be saved became critical at this point in church history.  I love the example of James here.  He goes to the Scriptures and checks out the experiences of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas with the word of God.  His words confirm that what is currently happening with the Gentiles in the early church agrees with what the prophets have predicted would occur. Here are the words of James, Jesus’ brother.  

13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

16 'After this I will return

And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;

I will rebuild its ruins,

And I will set it up;

17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD,

Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,

Says the LORD who does all these things.'

18 "Known to God from eternity are all His works. 19 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 

I am thankful that the first Jerusalem Council defied those who would have placed a yoke of bondage on our necks by adding man’s requirements to God’s word.  I am thankful that these men listened to God and not to man, forever affirming that salvation is by faith alone through grace alone.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."—John 8:32

I will praise You, Father, with my whole heart, for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.—Psalm 138:2b

Oh LORD, I Cry Out to You...

1 LORD, I cry out to You;

Make haste to me!

Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.

2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,

To practice wicked works

With men who work iniquity;

And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

5 Let the righteous strike me;

It shall be a kindness.

And let him rebuke me;

It shall be as excellent oil;

Let my head not refuse it.

For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.

6 Their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff,

And they hear my words, for they are sweet.

7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave,

As when one plows and breaks up the earth.

8 But my eyes are upon You, O GOD the Lord;

In You I take refuge;

Do not leave my soul destitute.

9 Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I escape safely.—Psalm 141:1-10

Oh Lord, make haste to help me. Fill me with You...I want to walk trusting in Your grace, Your wisdom, Your power, and Your strength.  I want to speak Your words and Your truth over those You have placed in my life. My words are ugly and self-seeking. Yours are pure...like silver tried in the furnace of the earth, purified seven times. By the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.  Uphold my steps in Your paths that my footsteps may not slip. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in Your way.  Your commandment is my lamp and Your law to me a light. May my heart receive them today in all meekness.  My eyes are on You, my precious Savior.  In You I will take refuge. 

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

The righteous run to it and are safe.—Proverbs 18:10

Proverbs 31 Women in 2 Kings 4

There is so much in the first part of 2 Kings 4...I just want to read and reread it and pray that I can take a page so to speak out of both these women’s books.

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil...

Lord...I want to trust You when my faith is tested.  I want to cry out as this woman did and bring my need to You knowing that You will regard my prayer.   You heard the cry of this woman’s heart who was widowed, destitute and oppressed.  Your power multiplied “little” into “much,” filling all the vessels she had gathered to meet her need.

Elisha and the Shunammite Woman...

I have written Shunammite woman before but I can’t help it...I have got to write again.  Every time I read this section of 2 Kings my heart longs to be as this woman was...kind, others-centered and content.  I love thinking at how her contented spirit flowed from her outward focus and kindness to others.  Her mind was not on herself and what she didn’t have it was on others and what they needed.

Lord...I want to show concern and kindness to others like the Shunammite woman from 2 Kings 4.  Oh to have spiritual eyes to see a need among Your people and pray for You to use me to fill it.   

I love her answer to Elisha when he asked what he could do for her in return for her care and concern for him.  “I dwell among my own people”, she replied.  She WAS content!  She wanted nothing!   We read in verse 14 that her husband was old and that they were childless.  She suffered the stigma of barrenness and her husband might die without an heir to carry on his name and yet she asked for nothing!   Her God knew her need, though, and filled the longing in her heart and gave her what money could not purchase...a son.   

Oh, Father, work in me a contented spirit that trusts in Your kindness and provision and that looks to bless others.

Search Me O God....

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.—Ps 139:23-24

Psalm 139 is a Psalm of David.   For me, it brings to mind what the Lord said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16.  

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before him."  But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."—1 Samuel 16:6-7 

Maybe David even had those words in mind when he penned this Psalm.  I stand in awe along with the Psalmist at the depth of God’s knowledge and care for me.  He knows me inside and out...every detail...every thought.  Oh Father, who am I that You are mindful of me...that You take care of me??  I am thankful that there is nothing I can hide from You and nowhere I can go where You can’t find me.  That makes me feel so safe...hedged, as the Psalmist puts it.  

Strongs tells me that the primitive root of the word “hedged” means to cramp or confine.  Consequently, when I read this word, it brings to mind how I “hedged” my daughters when they were infants.  I would wrap them up tightly and securely in their receiving blankets and encompass them in my arms. Sometimes even that wasn’t enough to make them feel safe and stop their tears, but very often it seemed to be what they craved.  The more dependent I become on my Father in Heaven, the more I desire to be “hedged” about by Him.  

I hear this same desire to be dependent on and encompassed by God in David as I read through the two last verses of this Psalm. 

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

David wants God to continue His intimate, all knowing, everywhere present, and all powerful presence in his life.  He wants God to continue to read his heart and show him his sin.  David desires His divine guidance to direct him in the right way.  Praying that in my heart of hearts David’s desire is mine, also.  Oh Father, teach me Your statutes!  

Blessed [are] the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.—Psalm 119:1,32 

8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou [art] my God: thy spirit [is] good; lead me into the land of uprightness.—Psalm 143:8,10 

Our Hope Secure...

"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; 37 but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. 38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.—Acts 13:36-39

Feel the glory...the weight of these words...

The gospel rests on this truth...the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The resurrection of Christ is the ultimate proof that Jesus is the Messiah.  God, from eternity past, pre-determined that Jesus would die. (2 Tim 1:9) His perfect life and voluntary, atoning death on the cross was accepted by God as a propitiation for the sins of all mankind. Him whom God raised up, saw no corruption.  Jesus’ resurrection was witnessed to by over 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:3-5) and fulfills the three specific prophecies Paul outlined below in Acts 13:33-35.

30 But God raised him from the dead,

31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, "'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'

34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, "'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' 

35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, "'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.'—Acts 13:30-35 

Paul goes on to say in verse 38 that through this Man is preached to YOU...to ME...forgiveness of sins and that by Him, EVERYONE who believes is justified. (their permanent position before Christ is now “just as if they had never sinned).  When a sinner repents and believes, their war with God comes to an end.  They are now reconciled and at peace with God...His enemies no longer. Those who believe in Jesus are justified and stand permanently in God’s grace and favor...their hope of life eternal with Him now sure and certain. They are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 

I am so thankful for the clear and concise promises found in God’s word without which neither you nor I would have any basis for hope. 

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4, ESV)

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:12-22, ESV)

Sullen and Displeased...

Then the king of Israel said to him, "So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it." And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42 Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'" So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria.—1 Kings 20:40-43

And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money." But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you! "So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food.—1 Kings 21:1-4

Ahab wanted what Ahab wanted. He did not want what God wanted.  When Ahab’s will was thwarted he became sullen and displeased.  His discontented heart affected not only Ahab but everyone around him.  If there was one sin in my life that I could wish would be gone forever it would be this one...discontent. Why?  Because it is ugly.  It steals my joy...it steals the moment by blinding me to its preciousness and beauty...it sucks the joy from those around me also because in my discontent, I can make their lives miserable.  Discontent, is thankfully not one of my besetting sins, but even so, I hate it more than all the others, because it says God is not good and not enough. Matthew Henry says that discontent does not rise from a condition or circumstance but from our own minds.  I find this to be so very true.  He reminds us that Paul was content in a prison but Ahab was discontented in a palace. 

When I desire something that is not what God currently has for me it causes me to fret. Fretting, the Bible says in Psalm 37, ONLY causes harm.  This is exactly what discontent with my current lot from the Lord does for me. It causes me and those around me harm. I become vexed in my spirit with all manners of annoyances and irritations.  Like Ahab, I become sullen and displeased because God, in His grace and mercy toward me, loves me too much to give me my wrong desires.  Instead of accepting what He has for me and looking forward to how He might use it to transform my heart, I rail against it.  Instead of praying through it and asking God to show me His purposes in it, I become hardened, prideful and feel entitled. I forget that what I am truly entitled to is death and eternal punishment.  I forget that my God has pulled me up out of the miry clay.  I forget that I have been crucified with Christ and that the life I live now, I live unto Him who rescued me and redeemed my life and my very soul from destruction.  

The verse that I use to counter my wrong desires and wrong thinking is this very familiar one...

Psalm 23:1 (NLT) A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Psalm 23:1 (CSB) The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need.

Psalm 23:1 (NIV) A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

The Becoming One...the great I AM is my Shepherd and He lives in me!  I lack nothing!  I CAN be content because He is my shield and my exceedingly great reward.  I dwell at ease when my heart by His Spirit, commits its cause to God.  So much effort and energy goes into fighting for my way...energy that could be expended in His Spirit for His cause.  God’s people do not have to worry about themselves. They can focus on others because, as Spurgeon says,  God cares for their “estate.” 

Beloved, let Him do His perfect work in your life and in your heart.  Allow Him full sway.  Live in continual dependence upon your God and His grace.  Find your satisfaction in Him and dwell in ease and fullness of joy.  

The LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 

Oh Father, how very blessed is the man who puts His trusts in You!