I am thankful for...

What do you have to be thankful about? 

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
   he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
   he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
   because they take refuge in him.
Psalms 37:39-40 (NIV)

I am thankful for my salvation. The truth is that without the Spirit of God reminding me every day to read the Bible and pray, I would just go on about my day. I am thankful that my salvation is for today, not just yesterday. 

What are you thankful for?

Are You Focused on the Water or the Fairway?

Do not fret because of those who are evil
   or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither,
   like green plants they will soon die away. 
Trust in the Lord and do good;
   dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:1-4 (NIV)

I golf. Not very well, but I do golf. One of my problems is focus. I'm not the only one. Whenever water is in play it acts like a golf ball magnet for a lot of us. I think it's because when you think about not hitting your brand new ball into the drink your focus goes there and that's where your shot goes. It is especially true when your "well meaning" partner quietly says, "Don't hit it in the lake", just before your tee off. 

What does that have to do with Psalm 37? It's all about focus. Am I focusing on what non-believers are doing or on the faithfulness of God? Although I need to be cognizant of the traps the enemy will set out in my life, I don't need to go examine them, walk all around them and see how close I can get to them. 

God has created us to have many desires. The way of the world is to fulfill their desires via any means possible. As a Christian we are supposed to trust God to meet all our needs in Christ Jesus. Psalm 37 tells us to trust God and do the right thing. Spend you time trying to do what you know is right. God will take care of the rest. 

In golf you are supposed to focus on the fairway. In Christ we focus on Christ's faithfulness while serving him and others. 

Thank you for deliverance / Psalm 37:40

"The LORD helps them and delivers them;
     he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,  
 because they take refuge in him." Psalm 37:40

Thank you, Lord, that you help me and deliver me from those who seek to harm me. Thank you for delivering me from sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I take refuge in you and look for your deliverance. Praise be to you in me today!

THERE WILL BE TROUBLE, BUT GOD IS OUR SALVATION: PSALM 37:39

"The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
     he is their stronghold in time of trouble." Psalm 37:39

The question of the day: What do you look to in times of trouble? Do you turn to your bank account? Do you turn to the television? Do you turn to your computer? To alcohol? To drugs? To someone else?

David reminds us that our salvation comes from the LORD. The LORD is who I am supposed to look to for help when life gets hard. 

Notice that David does not say that the righteous won't have trouble. Everyone has trouble. Trouble is part of life, whether we want it or like it, trouble will come. If you are like me, sometimes it seems like I have a particularly strong attraction to trouble.   

Trouble will come. We turn to God. That does not mean hiding from trouble. It means seeking God in the midst of trouble and by faith acting in righteousness. Acting righteously by faith is the Christian way of fighting your way out or trouble. Seek Christ, do the right thing by faith, love as Christ loved you and God will be your stronghold in times of trouble.

Thank you Father, for being our stronghold in times of trouble. Help us to walk by faith, to fight by faith as we trust in you to be our stronghold in times of trouble. Praise be to you in us today! 

OBEDIENCE IS FAITH IN ACTION: Psalm 37:27-28

"Turn from evil and do good;
     then you will dwell in the land forever.
 For the LORD loves the just
     and will not forsake his faithful ones."
 Psalm 37:27-28

There was a florist I used to get flowers from for my wife. A very nice guy and we usually ended up talking awhile. One time he mentioned to me that we should do some business together exporting things from his native country. He said it would be easy because he already knew who we would have to bribe. I said no thanks and walked away. For him that was just how you do things. As a Christian, that is not how we do things. He went out of business eventually, by-the-way.

The truth is that we trust God to take care of us even if everyone else around us is doing things differently. I don't want to get all letter of the law and legalistic. I just want to remind you that obedience is faith in action. You obey because you believe that God is Sovereign and will take care of you. Sometimes we don't feel like obeying and everything within us wants to go one way but we know God would have us go another. Go with God. David reminds us that God will not forsake us when we seek to be faithful to him.

Father, help us to walk by faith in obedience to you. Praise be to you in us today!

BE STILL BEFORE GOD: Psalm 37:7

"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
     do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
 when men carry out their wicked schemes." Psalm 37:7

A teacher at Capernwray Bible School used to tells us that we all needed to learn to wait upon the Lord. He would say, "You are so impatient you can't even spell wait. It's W-A-I-T, wait!" Then whenever he would bring it up the whole class would say it out loud in unison. It is true, we really do struggle with the idea of waiting on God. 

One thing I would like to think about is that verse 7 says, "Be still before the LORD" (emphasis mine). Sometimes, I just need a walk with the Lord.  I don't need my cell phone. I don't need worship music playing in my mp3 player. I just need to walk and be silent. I just need to get my head clear. If God wants to put something or someone on my heart, he will. But mostly, I just need remember that God is Sovereign and has unfailing love for me.

I encourage you to spend some time before the Lord, being still. Remember who he is...

Father, thank you that you are Sovereign Lord over our lives and that you have unfailing love for us. Praise be to you in us today!