It hurts!

Psalm 131: 2-3

But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, both now and forevermore.  NIV

I’ve always loved word searches.  You know, the printed puzzles with rows and rows of capital letters.  At the bottom, usually, is a list of words that are contained within the puzzle.  I don’t have any particular formula for solving them … I search left to right, top to bottom, and corner to corner.  But my favorite finds, the ones I find most rewarding, are the words that are spelled backwards.  When I put on my backwards lens, the puzzle looks completely different, and the hidden words that I’ve been over two or three times pop right out at me.

I’m having a bit of that same experience with this word search on “hope.”

I’m back in Psalm 131, where I was last March.

Having already catalogued verse 1 at that time, I’m now looking at verses 2 and 3.

“I have stilled and quieted my soul.”

I love that.  I’m not allowing my circumstances or my experiences to upset me or to rule my emotions, “I have stilled and quieted my soul.”

The Message says, “I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.”

Cultivating is work.  You have to first break up the hard soil, and then work in good dirt, and minerals, and a bit of nasty smelling stuff, and, in my experience, an earthworm or two.  It’s a lot of exhausting work to cultivate soil.

I realized back in March that I’m the ground on which the seed of the Word falls … I got that dirt could be enriched, that I could be enriched to produce better fruit …  but, I never until just this minute thought about it feels like to be cultivated.

It hurts!

Wow.

I’ve been cultivated!

I looked it up.  Cultivation implies preparation for growing crops … I wonder what will grow from all this work.

I’ve cultivated a quiet heart … I will hope in the Lord for what comes next!

That’s what I’ll think about today.

I’m standing on tiptoe

Psalm 130: 6-7

My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. NIV

Wait.

Hope.

Trust.

Obey.

All of these remedies for worry are stated either explicitly, or implicitly in these few lines from Psalm 130, a song of ascents.

I’ve written often of my previous obsession with the future, my need to know how things would turn out, my futile attempts to control my earthly destiny.  All of these are the negative side of a forward-looking personality.

But, there is a positive side.  My mother is also future focused, and, she is a pillar of faith.  A true child of God, she waits and hopes with great anticipation for what comes next.  And, she has the gift of encouragement, never failing to point her girls toward God and his plans for us.

So often this last year as she has walked this road with me, she has said, “I am just standing on tiptoe waiting to see what God is going to do!”

More than watchmen wait for the morning … I picture my mother on her toes so as to ever so slightly alter her perspective on the curve of the earth, so that she might catch a glimpse of what is to come just a moment sooner.

Put your hope in the LORD … to see what God is going to do!

Not, “if God will do something,” but a blessed assurance that God indeed has a plan, that He will act in His timing and that … with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

That’s what I’ll think about today

There’s always hope!

Psalm 71:14

But as for me, I will always have hope;  I will praise you more and more.  NIV

I absolutely love this verse.  I love everything about it.  It is the perfect answer to so many things.  I can’t see saying it out loud all the time, but it is a wonderful piece of internal dialogue … a constant prayer of praise and trust.

The last year has taught me the wisdom of this verse, day by day.

“The _____ is broken” … But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more.

“I have great news!” … But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more.

“I had a ________ day,” … But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more.

“________ has come to an end.”

But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more.

This is one of many lessons that I will carry forward from this project.  My hope is in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

I will always have hope.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

No worries …

Psalm 71: 5&6

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.  From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.  I will ever praise you.  NIV

The thing I learned about David yesterday was this:

When Samuel anointed him with oil as a young boy, the Holy Spirit came upon David.  Two things about that.  First, because I’ve always read the story with the knowledge that David was to be king — it is told from an omniscient perspective after all … the reader gets to learn what God is saying to Samuel as well as what Samuel is thinking — I’ve always assumed that the anointing was a sign to David that he would be king.

But, Samuel doesn’t say that to him.  He thinks it, he knows it, God says it, but, no-one says it to David.  Instead, as he is anointed, the Spirit of the Living God departs from Saul and comes on David in power.

Second, David is part of the lineage of Christ.  Before Christ’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit did not inhabit every believer.  Instead, I’m learning, it came and went in power to achieve God’s purposes.  It came upon David at the time of his anointing, and remained on him throughout, I think, his life.

So, as David (if he is the author of this Psalm) writes these verses, he has the same experience that we do today with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  When I accepted Christ as my Savior, there was no oil involved, but the oncoming of the Holy Spirit was undeniable.

It is through the experience of living with the Holy Spirit, that destiny, that David is able to write these words that are so meaningful to me today.

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. God is my confidence, not my own actions, or anything or anyone else here.  God has been with me since my youth … He is trustworthy.  I needn’t worry.  God is my hope.

From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. God ordained my life and the lives of each of His children.  We aren’t accidents.  He brought us forth for the purpose of communing with us.  I am God’s child.

I will ever praise you.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

There’s no room

Psalm 43: 3-4

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me;  let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.  Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.  I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.  NIV

It appears to me that the verses I looked at yesterday are a chorus.  David uses them repetitively throughout these Psalms, which look like praise music.

I learned yesterday that the way that David found his way into the castle and onto Saul’s staff was because he could play the harp.  Apparently, when the Holy Spirit departed from Saul, Saul became quite tormented and David would play his harp to soothe Saul’s soul.  I am wondering if these songs may have been ones that David sang to the king.

Either way, they are both beautiful and comforting.

Send forth your light and your truth … because you know both the way and the whole story.

God, my joy and my delight … amen!

I will praise you … O God, my God.

If I remain focused on God as the source of light and truth … if I keep Him at the center of my life as the source of my joy and my delight … if I am consistently praising him, there’s no room for the worries of this world.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Body and Soul

Psalm 42: 5-6a

Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. NIV

I would imagine that everyone, at one time or another, has talked to himself.  Whether it’s a reminder of something you must do before going home, or a stern discussion that might start, “Why did you do that?” I’m pretty sure almost everyone has had at least conversation with his inner self.

I love this little snippet of dialogue between the Psalmist and his soul.  I love this his advice is spot on — “Put your hope in God!”

He then goes on to say, as if speaking for the body, “for I will yet praise him.”

Even at times when his soul is uncertain or downcast, he will still open his mouth to praise the one true God, our Savior.

I will praise Him, body and soul.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Watch this!

Psalm 33: 18-19

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. NIV

I like the way The Message paraphrases this verse, “Watch this:  God’s eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love.  He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times, in lean times he keeps body and soul together.” MSG

I like that is starts out, “Watch this!”

Watch this — God is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat, and you’re going to get to see it.

Watch this — God is imminently able to protect and provide for his own, and he may choose to bless them in ways that will astound you … and them.

I love also that it says, “He’s ready to come to their rescue.”  That ties to all the verses that I’ve looked at that detail God’s desire for us to call out to Him in times in of need.

If we will call out … He’s ready … Watch this!

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Every day, all day long

Psalm 25: 4-5

Show me your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths; guide me to your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long.  NIV

A year ago, I would have thought this was a pretty verse.

Today, I see it as a summary of many of the things I’ve learned lately.

Show me your ways, O LORD … not my way, not the path I think I ought to take at the moment, show me the way that YOU would have me to go.

teach me your paths … I love the use of the word “path” here.  Dictionary.com lists six definitions for the word “path.”  Among them are, “a narrow walk or way, ” and,  “a course of action, conduct, or procedure.”  Teach me the narrow way that you have gone, O LORD … teach me to conduct myself in ways that will honor you.

guide me to your truth and teach me … don’t let me be sucked in by the world’s truth, I want YOUR truth.  Teach me, tutor me in your ways.

for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long. My only hope is in Christ, all day long, every day of my life.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

He’s set me free

Psalm 146: 7b-9

The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.  The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.  NIV

He sets prisoners free.  I have been a prisoner to worry for years and years.  Christ has set me free from it.  Praise God!

He gives sight to the blind.  I was so trapped in my self-made worry prison, that I couldn’t see a way out.  I didn’t even recognize how much I was in bondage to worry.  I see that now.  I recognize it.

He lifts up those who are bowed down; He loves the righteous.  I’ve been bowed down.  As I’ve earnestly sought to be obedient to God, His love has lifted me.

He’s set me free, given me a new perspective and lifted me up with His love.  He watches over me as I live in this world.  Faithful God: My Helper, My Hope.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Stick together!

Psalm 146: 7a

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  NIV

I love that.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed.  There are many instances recorded where Jesus was on the side of the underdog.

… and gives food to the hungry.  The story of the loaves and fishes, where Jesus makes one little boy’s lunch feed a crowd of hungry listeners (with baskets of food to spare) is one of my very favorites.

Today, in 2011, the Holy Spirit relies upon me to help in that work.  I must do His work … uphold the cause of the oppressed … give food to the hungry.

But, here’s the beautiful thing … if I do unto others, they will do unto me … my cause will be upheld by other members of the family of God.  My earthly needs will be met by those who are walking the same path that I’m walking … by those that are seeking to be obedient.

God doesn’t want any of his children to be oppressed, either by worry, or by whatever else is hemming them in.  He sent His Son to save us from that fate.

While we’re here, we’re called to work as one body.

I love that poem, “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten,” by Robert Fulghum.  The last line says, “And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

Good advice!  God calls us to love others … to SHOW love to others … to help each other through the trials that will inevitably come our way.

If we will be faithful in that regard, we will be instrumental in achieving God’s plan — the cause of the oppressed will be upheld; the hungry will be fed; and our needs, too, will be met in the process.

That’s what I’ll think about today.