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Psalm 32:11
..."Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
you righteous ones;
And shout for joy,
all you who are upright in heart."
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“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her,
that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
“Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says,
“Call out.
” Then he answered,
“What shall I call out?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
When the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers,
the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem,
bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
Behold, the Lord God will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?
With whom did He consult
and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice
and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,
Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing
and meaningless.
To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
“To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might
and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."
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Precious Believer…If you do not know already - learning this lesson is an ongoing job. We actually never “get there”, we will never receive an “A”, we will always have something in life which “trips us up”.
Most people do not realize this is actually a good thing. ALL of our reliance should be in the LORD ALL the time. We should never say, “I’ve totally got this.” Instead, we could say, “I am prepared, LORD, please help me do a good job.” Or “Thank you, LORD, for helping me prepare.”
We are not God’s puppets. He did not “wind us up” to fulfill His plans. He does not “pull our strings” to make us do this or that. As children of God we are His. We live in His grace and mercies, we desire to glorify His Name, we “feed” on His Word to know Him better, and if we do these things we are drawn closer and closer to Him. We then readily do what we can to serve and glorify Him with our lives and so part of that would be resting in Him every day. Trusting Him to hold us, to guide us in our walk with Him, and knowing that He will not let go of us.
So the next time you feel like you are “tumbling out of control”, you do not know what on earth you are doing here, or you feel like a failure in all you do - remember who you are in Christ:
You are a child of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, SAVED BY HIS MARVELOUS GRACE, You are in His Royal Kingdom.
Romans 8:1-4, 12-15, 18-25, 34-39
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit...
...So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ...
...For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it...
... Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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R. D. Wedge: To reclaim America, Reclaim Virtue
This last month our area of the midwest had Straight Line Winds as we have never seen before. There has been so much damage and the clean up and repairs seemingly without end.
At least once a week I am driving in the town where the highest winds hit. Even though so much clean up, clearing, and repairs have already been accomplished it still looks like it happened last week even though almost two months has gone by.
Driving through is extremely wearing on me. The sadness overwhelms me.
Even though very few people were killed, many have been physically hurt in just the clean up. I haven't heard how many need a new roof- it must be astronomical. It has been estimated that the tree canopy is 70% gone. The town does not look like Itself.
I am grieving for the monetary amounts which will affect the people, the ones who have no home now, and the trauma we have been through and continually see.
This last week as I drove through I was praying with my thoughts turning Heavenward. What a change of perspective for me! Praise the LORD!
Although I can still grieve for the people I can remind myself that this damaged world - damaged in so many, too many ways - this damaged world is not my home. My eyes are heavenward!
Jesus died on the cross for me and all the people who acknowledge and know He is their Savior! We aren't staying in this failing world! We are Homeward Bound!
I'm Homeward Bound!
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On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.
Refrain:
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound for promised land,
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound for promised land.
Oh, the transporting, rapturous scene
That rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight!
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O’er all those wide, extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.
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No chilling winds or poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.
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When I shall reach that happy place,
I’ll be forever blest,
For I shall see my Father’s face,
And in His bosom rest.
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Filled with delight my raptured soul
Would here no longer stay;
Though Jordan’s waves around me roll,
Fearless, I’d launch away.
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Samuel Stennett
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Hebrews 11:16
"...But as it is,
they desire a better country,
that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God;
for He has prepared a city for them..."
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