You Are Faithful...

nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.—1 Corinthians 10:10-11

Truly the foolishness of a man twists his way and his heart frets against the Lord.  Fretting causes harm!  Instead help me to do as Your word says...

Trust in the LORD, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

Anxious care is forbidden!  I am to cast all my cares upon You BECAUSE You care for me. Your word tells me that my times are in Your hands.  Philippians 4 is the best advice here and are among the greatest of Your rules for living in this fallen world. 

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Oh, Father.  HeIp me to see past “my” desires for “my” life and be content with what You have both for me and for the people I love. Help my eyes to focus on the rainbow in the sky and not try to look through it or over it.  I don’t need to...whatever You have...wherever I am...it is good because it is EXACTLY what You planned. Your promises are true. I don’t want to be a complainer...I don’t want to want more or something other than what You, my Father in Heaven, have for me.  I want to trust You when my heart feels anxious.  I want to believe Your promises. Your mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.  You are faithful.  Help me to view my trials as the cords of Your loving-kindness, by which You are drawing me nearer and nearer to You. 

7 "For a mere moment I have forsaken you,

But with great mercies I will gather you.

8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;

But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,"

Says the LORD, your Redeemer.

9 "For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;

For as I have sworn

That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,

So have I sworn

That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.

10 For the mountains shall depart

And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,"

Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

11 "O you afflicted one,

Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,

Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,

And lay your foundations with sapphires.

12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,

Your gates of crystal,

And all your walls of precious stones.—Isaiah 54:7-12

8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.

9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.—Isaiah 55:8-9

Thank you Father that You are our sun and our shield.  No good thing will You withhold from those that walk uprightly. Today, I commit all into Your hands.  

Hear My Prayer...

Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You.—Ps 33:22

Today, Father, I am placing my hope in You and seeking Your mercy. You, my God, are trustworthy.  You have delivered my soul from death by redeeming me. You, who did not spare Your own Son, but delivered Him up, shall freely give me all that is needed to get me through this life and convey me into the Kingdom of the Son of Your love. 

Your divine care for me is evidenced in Your creation...the Word that created all things and holds them together also created me and holds me together.  Hold me, this morning, Father.  You are my Beloved and I am Yours.  My heart this morning is filled with the grief and sadness that accompanies life in this fallen world.  I depend on Your steadfast love and grace to sustain me as I walk through this valley of tears! Lord, I need You!  Be my Helper!

I am so grateful that there is truly nowhere I can flee from Your Spirit. You are always with me!  Your eye is always upon me!  You know all that is on my heart because You created my heart, and it has become Your dwelling place.  

Oh, Father...Hear then, my prayer this morning, and do not be silent.  My heart trusts in You!  You are my help and my shield!   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning—Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. But I have trusted in Your mercy.  My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me. 

Oh, let Your mercy be upon me, just as I hope in You.  Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.  For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.

To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock:

Do not be silent to me,

Lest, if You are silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications

When I cry to You,

When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.—Psalm 28:1-2

Staying My Thoughts on My God...

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,

The plans of His heart to all generations.—Psalm 33:11

I am just gonna rest here today.  As Spurgeon is apt to say, I am gonna lay my head down on the pillow of my God’s sovereignty and immutability.  My thoughts are racing this morning about things that I am powerless to do anything about.  When I get this way, I am thankful for 1 Peter 1:13.   

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

John MacArthur explains this verse this way and it has always stuck with me. 

“Gird up the loins of your mind”—the ancient practice of gathering up one’s robes when needing to move in a hurry; here, it is metaphorically applied to one’s thought process. The meaning is to pull in all the loose ends of one’s thinking, by rejecting the hindrances of the world and focusing on the future grace of God.”

By His grace, this morning, I pulled up the loose ends of my thinking and re-centered them on what is important.  Christ. My heart found its rest here. His will for me comes from His heart of love. By His Spirit today, I want to rest my hope fully on the promises in His Word. I want to live in the expectation of His return.  

God’s plans stand forever!! The world, my circumstances and the people around me (me included) change so quickly that it is difficult for me to keep up! My God, thankfully, does not.  He is completely trustworthy.  Neither He, nor His plans for me, ever change. 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  But You are the same and Your years will have no end. You will guide me with Your counsel and afterward receive me to glory.

Responding to Ridicule...

Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! 5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.  6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.—Nehemiah 4:4-6

I have said this before and will say it again...I. LOVE. NEHEMIAH.  I am so grateful for his godly example.  He is humble and kind...but also like steel.  If you crossed him, he prayed and when Nehemiah prayed stuff happened. 

Verses 4-6 show us how Nehemiah responded to ridicule. He prayed.  He didn’t give Satan a foothold.  He didn’t mull over the enemies words and allow their poison to reach his heart and affect his thinking. He did the very best thing he could do...he did what we should do when we find ourselves in similar positions.  He brought it all IMMEDIATELY to God.  He prayed and committed the whole matter to Him who judges righteously...to Him to whom vengeance belonged. God was Nehemiah’s defense and His Defender.  He didn’t even take the time or the energy to respond to their words...He knew God had heard them.   Verse 5 tells us what he did after praying...He and the people went back to work, undeterred by the provocations of their enemies. They continued to do the work they had been called by God to do and so should we.  

1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;

2 May He send you help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen you out of Zion;

3 May He remember all your offerings,

And accept your burnt sacrifice.

Selah

4 May He grant you according to your heart's desire,

And fulfill all your purpose.

5 We will rejoice in your salvation,

And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!

May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;

He will answer him from His holy heaven

With the saving strength of His right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;

But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

8 They have bowed down and fallen;

But we have risen and stand upright.

9 Save, LORD!

May the King answer us when we call.—Psalm 20

Abiding in Faith, Hope and Love...

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart,

All you who hope in the LORD.—Psalm 31:24

In verses 1, 6, 14, and 19 David tells us where he places his faith (trust)...in the Lord.  In verse 23 he enjoins his readers to love the Lord.  Now in verse 24 he reminds us to find our strength, courage and hope in Him, also.  Faith, hope and love...they go together.  They are where 1 Corinthians 13 tells us to abide.  

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.—1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope and love are often seen together.  I found these cross-reference verses on the BLB...

remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.(1 Thessalonians 5:8)

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:5-6)

Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:21-22)

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (Colossians 1:4-5)

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:12-13)

As Christians, as we sojourn here, these three are to be our foundation...they are to be where we live and what we pursue.  In heaven faith and hope will no longer be needed because they will have fulfilled their purpose. Love, however, is eternal. In heaven, love continues.  We will love the Lord and love each other. Our God IS faithful, but faith, in the sense that we as human beings need to exercise faith, is not an attribute of God.  Similarly, hope is also not an attribute of God because God knows all and is in sovereign control of all things. Love, however, is of God...God embodies love and therefore, it is the greatest. (1 John 4:7)

Beloved, abide in the love of God and share it with others.  Oh, that love would be our underlying motive in all that we say and in all that we  do!  Love fulfills the law...love never fails because it is of God and from God. Without love we are nothing....

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.—1 Corinthians 13:1-2

Addendum...I really liked this definition of the word for love as used in 1 Corinthians 13 from David Guzik on the BLB.  

“Agape is the fourth word for love. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting repayment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it is rejected. Agape love gives and loves because it wants to; it does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves; it does not love in order to receive. According to Alan Redpath, we get our English word agony from agape. “It means the actual absorption of our being in one great passion.” (Redpath) Strictly speaking, agape can’t be defined as “God’s love,” because men are said to agape sin and the world (John 3:19 and 1 John 2:15). But it can be defined as a sacrificial, giving, absorbing kind of love. The word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the sake of another.”

Some Thoughts on Psalm 31

David begins Psalm 31 with the most wonderful song a believer can sing...

In You, O LORD, I put my trust;

David places His confidence in God.  Would that I would follow His example!  Oh Lord, at the very beginning of every trial, every fear, every adversity, and even and especially in those moments when my heart sinks from grief remembered and longings unfulfilled, may my heart place its trust in You!   

Skipping down from David’s great beginning to verse 9 (where OYB reading begins today) we find David in trouble.  David has been brought low but once again cries out to His God who can give him the deliverance he seeks.  

Verses 9b-13 describe in painful detail the Psalmist’s despondent condition.  David’s eyes waste away with grief and his strength fails. He is forgotten as a dead man and likens himself to a broken vessel—a potsherd that can hold nothing and is flung away upon a dunghill. He hears the slander of many and fear is on every side. 

Despite his despondency...despite his circumstances, verses 14-15a, find David again singing the beautiful song of a believing heart.  

But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD;

I say, "You are my God."

My times are in Your hand;

David fully surrenders himself into God’s care. God has led David, whose heart is overwhelmed, to the Rock that is higher than He is.  David trusted God and he was helped.  His feet stand once more on the firm foundation of:

“I trust in You, O LORD”

Verse 15-17 are some of my favorites in the entirety of the Bible.  

My times are in Your hand;

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,

And from those who persecute me.

16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant;

Save me for Your mercies' sake.

17 Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You;

The sweet Psalmist of Israel understands that nothing can happen to him that has not first passed through the loving hands of His God.  David’s enemies cannot do anything against him without God’s permission. I love what Spurgeon says about these verses:

“Divine Providence is a downy pillow for an aching head, a blessed salve for the sharpest pain. He who can feel that his times are in the hand of God need not tremble at anything that is in the hand of man!”

David prays for God to lift the light of His countenance upon him...he prays for God’s favor because, if he has that, he cares not what man thinks.  If God is for him, who can be against him?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  

Father,

May I, like David, when I am in trouble, flee to You as a sheep to its Shepherd.  May the foundation I lay in each and every one of my trials be as a hymn of faith. Hide me in the secret place of Your Presence. Shine the light of Your countenance upon me..show me Your favor in this dark and dreary land. Let me not be ashamed for I have placed my trust in You.  Today, with David then, I will sing:

Oh, how great is Your goodness,

Which You have laid up for those who fear You,

Which You have prepared for those who trust in You

In the presence of the sons of men!

Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints!

For the LORD preserves the faithful,

And fully repays the proud person.

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart,

All you who hope in the LORD.

A Hymn of Faith

Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The LORD God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer's feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.—Habakkuk 3:17-19

The Lord Weighs the Hearts...

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,

But the LORD weighs the hearts.—Proverbs 21:2

The common denominator it seemed for today’s OYB reading was sin.  I went back and forth on which of them would be my focus.  I decided on Proverbs 21:2 because it seemed to tie it all together.  Truly, man can find a way to justify almost anything he does. In my flesh, I can always find an excuse for my sin. The cross-reference verses for Proverbs 21:2 were illuminating in this regard. 

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits.—Proverbs 16:2

If you say, "Surely we did not know this,"

Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?

He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?

And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?—Proverbs 24:12

And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.—Luke 16:15

God looks behind our excuses to the inward motives and intents of our hearts for our sin.  You might be able to deceive yourself and others in regard to your sin, but not God.  He sees the truth. 

Beloved, the Scriptures tell us to keep our hearts with all diligence because out of it springs the issues of life.  What helps me here is doing a heart examination to discern my true reason for doing something and then asking myself if my God would be pleased with those motives.   Here is what I have discovered over my years of doing this. In my flesh, I am a biased judge when it comes to my sins...I look at them in the best possible light, give myself much grace and always want mercy.  I am also a biased judge when it comes to the sins of others...I look at them in the worst possible light, give them very little grace and offer them little mercy.  As for their motives, I often assume the worst. 

I loved Ezra’s example in this today. I want to be like him when I grow up.  Ezra, after learning of the people’s sin, fell to his knees and IDENTIFIED with them in their sin, even when he had not sinned in the same way. Ezra wept for them, feared for them, 

and prayed for their repentance. Chapter 10, verse 1, tells us that Ezra’s prayer moved the people to tears. Oh, would that Ezra’s response to another’s sin, be mine, also. 

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.—Psalm 130:3-4

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?—Romans 2:4

Ezra showed the people in His care the mercy and goodness of God...this led them to repentance.  May I go and do likewise. 

The Good Hand of God...

I LOVE Ezra!  I love that he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and do it. I love that he not only taught the people God’s law but also lived it out in his own life.  This morning as I read through chapters 7 and 8, I noticed all the verses that spoke of the good hand of God.  It seems to be a favorite expression of Ezra's.  I like it too.   It reminds me of one of my favorite verses from Psalm 139.

You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.

My God’s favor is with me.  He not only gives me what I need for the journey but also guides my steps and does the work.   It’s all grace!

God's hand provided...

this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.--Ezra 7:6

God's hand guides us on our journey...

And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.--Ezra 7:8-10

God's  hand is encouraging...

Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem,  and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me..--Ezra 7:27-28

God's hand is good and brings us what we need...

Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men;  and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty men;  also of the Nethinim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were designated by name.--Ezra 8:18-20

God's hand is on those who humbly seek Him....

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.  For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”  So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. --Ezra 8:21-23

God's hand delivers us...

Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road.  So we came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days--Ezra 8:31-32

Psalm 30 from today’s OYB is a perfect capstone to Ezra’s “good hand of God”. ❤️

4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved."
7 By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.  (Psalms 30:4-7, ESV)

We Have the Mind of Christ...

But as it is written:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.—1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Beloved, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  Think on that!  Verse 16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ! 

I CAN KNOW the deep things of God because God has revealed them to me by His Spirit who dwells in me! 

Father...I want to KNOW You more!  I want to live in the secret place of Your Presence!   Take my heart and mind and lift them by Your Spirit into the heavenly realm.  Increase my love and desire for Your word. Reveal to ME Your thoughts and purposes through it as they relate not just to the world around me, but also to ME, personally!   Fill my heart and mind with Your wisdom. Ignite the synapses of my understanding.  Teach me and reveal to me that which is good and acceptable and perfect in Your plans and purposes for me.  

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.—John 15:15

12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.—John 16:12-15

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.—Ephesians 1:17-21

23 Thus says the LORD:

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his might,

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

24 But let him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these I delight," says the LORD.

2 Chronicles 36:22-23

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah—the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem]!'"—2 Chronicles 36:22-23

My heart trembled and my spirit was encouraged as I read these words from 2 Chronicles this morning. God had promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem at the end of 70 years...God’s word is here fulfilled by the mouth of Cyrus. God keeps His promises!  God has a plan!  

“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd (ruler),

And he will carry out all that I desire—'

Saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall [again] be built,'

And of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall [again] be laid.'"—Isaiah 44:28

Here in this verse from Isaiah 44 and contiguous verses from chapter 45, God shows His people that He knows the end from the beginning. He announces by name who will deliver his people from the Babylonian exile 200 years before the deliverer, Cyrus spoken of in 2 Chronicles was born!  

For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls [which] I have made.—Isaiah 57:16

For the Lord will not cast off forever.

Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.—Lamentations 3:31-32

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.—Matthew 5:18