Lead Me

Psalm 25 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.

A great prayer that God will most certainly answer.

We can follow all sorts of “truths” out there, ones that change from day to day depending on the announcer, the leader, or the media.

Or we can follow HIS truth and learn of him, the way of meekness, gentleness, and mercy.

He is our Salvation.

He is our Teacher.

And nothing else will do but him, at the end of the day.

God will always lead us when we are willing to follow in His ways that lead to life.

Great & Gentle

Psalm 18 

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great.

Look what we have when we know HIM.

The shield of His salvation – nothing can harm us or take us out.

His right hand – when we fall and stumble he grabs us and holds us up to carry us onward.

His gentleness – this makes us great.

Say what?

Yes, his gentle spirit makes us great.

I love that thought, and I want to be gentle like he is, and great in love and mercy like he is, as well.

But...

Psalm 13:5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

See that preposition “But?”

Those are the kinds of words we need to use when we are discouraged or starting to believe lies about our God.  We need to switch out thoughts using words like “but,” “yet,” “nevertheless,” and then follow it with our faith and trust, and the truth.

If we feel God is unfair or unjust, we can switch our thought to the truth that he is loving and good.  That’s the truth, whether we understand his ways or not.  Just like our kids think we’re mean when we won’t give them every piece of candy they see in a store, we’re not mean – we’re their parents.  And we know what’s good for them.

Even more so, God know what we need, when we need it, and how to dispense it.

He is our savior.

And we can tell our hearts to rejoice in the knowledge of that truth!

Face Them

2 Chronicles 20 You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”

What a great passage!

There are times we need to be reminded that the battles we face in life are not ours to fight.  Seriously, they’re not.  We have a Savior who takes on our enemies and defeats them daily in our lives, and all we have to do is trust him.

So don’t fear or be downcast today, or tomorrow.

Face what’s in front of you.  The Lord is with you. And you don’t have to fight.

Just stand still and see what He does on your behalf.

What a great passage! 

Did I say that already?

Day to Day

I Chronicles 16, for this Easter day:

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

I hope you’re attending services somewhere today to sing with others in a loud voice of His salvation and love that drove him to the cross, to be the perfect sacrifice, to cleanse us and save us eternally, from sin and death.

Sure, there are hypocrites in the church, but isn’t that the best place for them to be, where they can hopefully let go of the fear that causes them to act the way they do?

Sure, churches are flawed with religious people who judge, but shouldn’t we who have been humbled and realize it’s all about HIM be a shining light to those who still try to perform?

Sure, we can stay home and worship quietly alone, but why?  Why wouldn’t we want to hear the roar, the harmony, and the beauty that comes from corporate worship?

Enjoy the song today with multitudes of others standing by you in a crowded room, looking up…

5 Titles

II Samuel 22 says My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence.

I love these words used to describe God:

Rock

Shield

Horn

Stronghold

Refuge

Savior

What more do we need?  A firm foundation, protection from rapid fire, a peak of strength, a place of security, a place of safety and a rescue from death.

Sounds like a good place to be.

Three S's

It is Easter weekend, when we celebrate the risen Lord.  

And why do we do that?  It’s because of his death and resurrection that we experience salvation – rescued from the penalty of sin – into eternal life.

Exodus says, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him.”

What a pretty verse!

Three S’s

Strength, Song and Salvation

If we can remember over this weekend to praise Him for each of these aspects of His willingness to obey his Father and die for us, we will experience joy in His presence.

He is our strength always…even on our weakest of days.

This realization places a song we can sing without missing a note – a song that He hears and loves.

And salvation – the great rescue from death – is ours for now and forever.

Is he your strength, your song and your salvation?

If not, just ask Him to be and He is more than willing to say YES.

Him

Jude 24 says  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…

I don’t know about you, but I stumble and fall often.  I grow weary, I falter in my faith, and I question way too much.  I make mistakes, I misspeak when I should be quiet, and I get angry when I should pray.

However, His Spirit that resides in me and his blood that was shed for me covers all of my sins and holds me up and makes me stand.

And even with all of my failings, he invites me into his presence where he sees me blameless, and I become full of joy – and so does he!

That’s the beauty of a relationship with Christ.  When I am weak he is strong.  When I am brought low He is lifted high.  And when I am too weary to walk he carries me. 

And in his presence here I stand.

Blameless.

Faultless.

Righteous.

…and full of Joy.

He Will

 ^{James 4 says} Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

I wonder what it means to humble ourselves in his presence? 

I think it means to come to him expecting him to speak, but not to answer all of our demands.

I think it means to enter his presence with thanksgiving, instead of complaining.

I think it means to draw near to him in repentance, instead of with a lifted fist.

We can enter his presence with our own agendas, our own plans, and our own ideas of what we want him to do for us…or we can bow down and worship Him for who he is and choose to sit at his feet and listen and be still and be small…

While he exalts us.

Not to a place of honor where we can feel proud and self-absorbed.

But to a place where we can be near him and feel him breathe, and be at rest.

Questions and Answers

Psalm 139 might be one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  Here’s a piece of it:

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

Again, the psalmist is asking himself questions.  It’s good to do that sometimes, to ask ourselves questions aloud, and then listen for the answer.

He realizes after he asks his questions that God’s presence is with him wherever he goes.  He doesn’t  stop leading him, he doesn’t stop pursuing him, and he doesn’t abandon him in the darkness.

In fact, he goes on to state the truth about God’s character and his power – that darkness is not even dark to Him (remember he created the light and separated it from the dark?) and night is nothing to fear (remember he set the sun to set and the moon to rise) – it’s all the same to Him.  Nothing looms in the dark that cannot be dispelled by the light.

Take comfort in knowing that He is with you and that the morning is coming…and in his presence you can rest and be and live.

To the Rock

Psalm 95: O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods…

I don’t know why, but some seem to have issues with shouting joyfully in the middle of worship.  It’s okay at sporting events and concerts, but not at church.  I do get it, partially.  We are to revere and come into His presence in awe and quiet reflection of who he is and who we’re not.  He is high and we are low.

However, there is a time to rejoice and sing about his goodness in our lives, and to shout with joy because of who He is and what he has given us.  Why wouldn’t we rejoice and shout for joy?  We were once dead, and now we’re alive.  We were lost and now we’re found.  We were full of shame and now we’re full of joy.

Why can’t that joy explode, and why can’t it be okay?

Well, here we read that it’s more than okay.  We’re invited to come and sing, shout, give thanks – all because he is GREAT – the king above all gods.

That’s better than any artist or athlete or actor – humans who receive accolades that should be reserved for the King.

Go ahead.  Shout it out.  And do it with joy!

Why?

Psalm 42:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.

Have you ever spoken to your soul in this way and asked yourself why you feel so bad?  

Why you’re so disturbed?  Sometimes, circumstances certainly cause us to feel down, but other times we just feel despondent for no apparent reason.  We just do.

We then have a choice to make. We can sit down in despair and fall into the pit of hopelessness and wallow down there in the dark for a long while…or we can praise Him for the “help of His presence.”

It really does take a choice on our part, just like Eve was given a choice in the Garden – to obey and eat and live – or to disobey and eat and die.

It’s an amazing gift we were given when we were created – that of choice.

But when we turn and make the choice to praise him, dwell in his presence (that never leaves us), and look up instead of down – the darkness of despair really does dissipate and light begins to appear once again.

He Will

Psalm 16: You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

A path in his presence that is full of pleasure.

But, wait!

The paths of life are often very steep, very dark, and very hilly.  And even in his presence we sometimes feel grief and sorry.  Pleasures are fleeting, aren’t they?

This verse says He will reveal to these wonderful things along the way, right in the middle of the steep climbs, the vast darkness, and in the wake of sorrow.

I don’t understand that, I can’t wrap my mind around it, and it seems impossible.

But if he said it, I must believe.

There is a place of joy and pleasure and life even where there seems to be no reason to be joyful, life is hard, and death is at the door.

That’s the amazing love of our God.

At the Table

Deuteronomy 14:23 says You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

In Psalm 23 it says he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies.  Can you picture that?  Right where we are supposed to sit down and eat, enjoy a meal, and set up camp, we’re surrounded by evil.

Here in this verse it says we can eat in His presence, and that’s why there is no fear, even though darkness surrounds us.

Nothing can take what He has established for us and ours – our sustenance, that which satisfies us, and his anointing, etc. – nothing. 

We can eat in peace and in his presence, learning to fear the Lord and not the darkness.

I can’t grasp that concept.  Sometimes it seems the darkness does win, does steal, and does destroy.

But the truth is that the table of his presence is always set, always full, and He’s always there.

I want to learn that, to breathe that, to live that, and to  believe that.

There is a place in his presence where He chooses to establish us so that we learn to trust Him – even with enemies in sight.

Think on that one today…

The Crossing

Numbers 32 - …  while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.

Isn’t this an interesting choice of words?

Right in the middle of His presence we can be at war, and in a battle.

Some think the absence of conflict means peace, but it’s not true.

In the middle of war, armed for battle, with a huge sea that we need to pass through, we can be in His presence.

And in His presence we are then able to “cross over.”

Are you in a battle and feeling less than rest and peace?

Arm yourself with his word, step into His presence with praise and faith, and watch for the opening to cross over…

His word is true and faithful, and He will accomplish all that he says he will do in your life.

Rest

In Exodus 33 Moses has this cool discourse with God, who sent Moses to bring a large group of people out of slavery…into freedom.

And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 

Anywhere we are present with the Lord is peace and rest.  And anywhere peace and rest are absent, we are not experiencing His presence.

God invites Moses to go, knowing He will be with him. 

Moses responded by acknowledging that without God’s presence, he didn’t even want to move.

Like we said yesterday, walking out of God’s presence when we have sinned and experiencing shame is sad, lonely, and causes us to hide, because of fear.

However, staying in his presence and not being willing to even move or breathe without his directive results in being led out of slavery…into freedom.

I don’t know why we leave His presence so often, looking for rest in other places, but we do. 

Lord, grant us the ability to realize and choose YOU…and find ourselves at rest.

The Presence

I want to look at the word “presence” in the Bible – God’s presence, that is.  After all, in his presence is fullness of joy, and we don’t always live full of joy.  Why not?

Genesis says, of Adam and Eve,

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

These two had walked in His presence but now knew they had disobeyed his directive, and they were hiding. They could hear the Lord walking and they most likely longed to be near Him, but their shame was too great.  They knew they had listened to a lie about God and listened to God’s very enemy – the serpent.

We can wonder why, if God’s presence was so real and tangible and great, why in the world did Adam and Eve walk away? 

Their act of disobedience came after listening to an untruth, a falsehood, a lie.

Even the best of marriages can be destroyed when one hears that the other has cheated, stolen, or abused – even if it’s not true – if that person chooses to believe the lie.

In order to believe the truth, we must know who He is.  And that comes from reading his word to read, learn, and believe in the goodness of our Father.

Then we when hear anything other than that, we know to turn away…back to His presence…in the cool of the day.

Eagerly Waiting

Romans 8 says

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.

No one likes suffering, I’m sure of it.  Although there are athletes that sure endure rigorous training and almost “abuse” of their bodies so that they can obtain a prize or win a race.  Why do they do it?  They want to win!

Suffering in this world is present all around us, every day.  We either stub our toe and suffer a few minutes in pain, or we lose a loved one and suffer the ache and grief for years.

But this verse says sufferings here don’t even stand up or bear credence to the glory to be revealed in us.

I can’t imagine that, but I choose to believe it.  There’s a day coming when I won’t be constricted by what I think, feel, taste, and see because all will be revealed and all will be made whole.

Suffering will be no more.

Isn’t that comforting to know?

Come and Find It

Matthew 11 (it’s a good read and a good study) ends with this…

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If we are weighed down, burdened constantly, tired, weary, about to fall…it’s a good indication that we aren’t giving our burdens to Him or resting.

Sounds like a good idea, but hard to do?

This verse says his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  I think that’s because he knows the outcome of this tiring life, he knows that his Father sees all and has a good good plan with a dynamic finish, and he knows that when we connect with him and understand this – we too can enter in to the same rest he has with his Father.

It’s a oneness and a unity like none other.

And it’s ours too, if we just come to Him, take, and learn from our gentle Savior who whispers rest to our weary souls.

The Wise Man

^Matthew 7 says Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

This is part of a larger story that includes the foolish man too, who builds his house on the sand.  So that when storms come, his house falls.

But this verse says those who  build on the rock (Jesus) are to be compared to the wise.

Why?

Because a wise man knows that storms will come and winds will blow, and something has to stay firm underneath his family so that no one is lost.

That foundation is Jesus. 

And we are wise if He is the foundation we give our children, we stand upon ourselves, and we invite others to stand with us.

No other name but the name of Jesus stands…when others fall.

Established

More from Isaiah 46:

For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

If that doesn’t settle our anxious hearts, I don’t know what will!

We need to remind ourselves from time to time of the wonder of the God we serve.  He’s not just a name we call upon when we’re in trouble.  He’s the name above all names, no one else is like him, and nothing can stop his purposes.

He will accomplish all that he set out to do with our lives – his good pleasure!

He takes delight in fulfilling his purposes and pleasure in our lives, to bring him glory!

He knows that when his glory is revealed in our lives that we will then be whole and complete, lacking no good thing.

Listen to his voice speak to you today.  He is the great “I am” for whatever you need, now and forever.

To Whom?

Isaiah 46:5 To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me,

That we would be alike?

What a question!

This comes right after the verses we mentioned in yesterday’s devo about the Lord bearing us, carrying us, and delivering us.

There is NO OTHER ONE who compares to Him and his great provision for our lives.  All of the in between suffering, questioning, grieving, rejoicing, aching, enjoying, etc. that we do is only the space between his hands and arms.  He never drops us, never loses us, and never will let us fall off the shelf in a tumble…he’s GOT US!

And because of that one thing, his sustaining love and power, there is no other to compare to him or even come close to being his equal.

Not power, not riches, not gold, not status, not fame, not anything on earth compares to the GOD who sustains us and keeps us all of our days.

Wow…

Listen to me...

I’m going to stop and linger a few days in Isaiah 46.  I love this passage…

Listen to me… Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your  graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

Whatever age you are as you read this, you either have gray hair yourself, you have parents with gray hair, or grandparents with gray hair…and it’s hard to watch ourselves and them get “older” and become less adept at living life to the fullest…

But wait.

EVEN in our old age, HE is with us. 

I love the imagery here of him bearing us and carrying us and delivering us.

It’s hard to watch my aging parents, but I feel comforted to know that the one who carried us out of the womb won’t stop carrying us…ever…until we’re in his arms…forever.

That brings comfort to my soul…especially since I too have graying hair…