Category: Psalms

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Oh, how beautiful is the picture of this spiritual reality. ‘Secret place’ in Hebrew is mistar ~ ‘a concealed place where treasures are stored.’  Don’t you want to go there?  Don’t you want to discover it?  This place is actually ‘in Christ’ and the treasure ‘is Christ’. This hidden place is both positional (doctrinal) and experiential (a living reality).

I grew up in the church and heard the phrase ‘secret place’. It was a charming thought but no one ever really explained it as something a child of God could experience. It was sterile dogma. If only I’d heard that God had a heart and I could draw close to Him to experience it.

The secret of my hiding place is that there is spiritual power there. It is resident in Christ and when I am near Him, He is eager to let me experience all that He is.  And He promises to share it with me so that my heart beats like His. What that means is this ~ I can rest in my spirit though I’m physically stressed. I can be strong like steel even though people around me expect me to break. Though all hell unravels, I can be of sound mind and possess unshakeable calm.  You have been a place of safety for the poor and need in times of trouble. Brutal enemies pounded us like a heavy rain but you were our shelter. Isaiah 25:4

So, why do I temporarily leave this place? Because life throws me a curve I didn’t anticipate and I focus on my circumstances. Or, a faithless person talks me out of my peace and I cave to their flawed logic.  The outcome?  I sink like Peter in waters way over my head.  For every child of God, there is a secure fortress. There is no storm too furious.  No foe too mighty.  No tragedy too hopeless.  No grief too consuming.  I am a child who runs home continually, reminding my enemy all the way ~ “Wait till I tell my Father.”

I’m going to believe you, Lord. Every foe today is already defeated. They are very well aware of their end and are pretending to wield a power that isn’t theirs. I’m not fooled and with Your Word, I call their bluff.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. Psalm 36:1-4

How does the way of the wicked unfold? There is an evolution. Anyone who treasures wisdom and carefully watches the lives of others play out can see the progression. It’s sobering. I have seen these stages materialize in myself and I see this same sequence in others, Christians included. Here’s the map downward into wickedness.

1. It starts with no fear of God. While ‘fear’ often means ‘reverence’ in scripture, that is not the word meaning here. This time, ‘fear’ means ‘terror.’ If I see no present evidence of a God who holds me accountable for my sin, I might assume He won’t. Biblical warnings are ignored and, worse yet, ridiculed. Terror of God is absent and therefore sin is conceived without any fear of consequences.
2. Then, I’m driven to flatter myself. Privately, I think I’m a great person and a snob is born. Publicly, I may even boast about it. When God gives a platform, never should it birth a bragger. Unfortunately, I know a pastor who tells his people often how brilliant his professors said he was in college. He even goes so far as to say that he was encouraged to go to an Ivy League school to pursue an intellectual field instead of the pastorate. What he does not see is that his choice to continually flatter himself is described in Psalm 36.
3. When I become a bragger, a general bent toward deceit follows next. I’ll think nothing of telling one-person one thing and someone else something differently entirely. My guiding paradigm will be whatever makes me look good to protect my reputation. If I’m a leader, everything beneath me implodes.
4. Lastly, wisdom erodes. In the first stages, wisdom can appear to be present but eventually, my conscience sears. The cycle of sin and the resulting stronghold in my life turns me into a foolish person who runs her world recklessly.

I do not know if you find yourself in this progression. At times, I have. I was careless with my sin. I made poor choices with the awareness that all I had to do was tell God I’m sorry. I took advantage of His grace and I possessed a lazy view of His justice. As a rule, I want to be able to see myself at the beginning of this journey downward, humble myself before an all powerful and merciful God, and make a course correction.

I see the map. The way down is not abstract because You laid it all out for me. Pave my way with warning signs if I start down the wrong path. In Jesus name, Amen

Every day, we have more reasons to fear.  This morning, a well respected psychologist was interviewed and he advised us to keep our exposure to the news to no more than one hour a day.  After that, it becomes difficult to keep a perspective.

Such advice reinforced again that without God there is no comfort, no peace, and no hope for the future.  Many were kept awake last night by the sound of their own crying.  Comfort was needed.  Comfort was sought.  Prayers for God’s presence were whispered through their tears.

You may be asking, how does God comfort me?  He reveals Himself in scripture as a Father.  He says that he hovers over me, as a mother hovers over the young in her nest.  He dries my tears and He shares my tears over the things which hurt me.  He sings over me as a mother or father sings a lullaby over their young child.  He quiets me with His love when I’m beside myself.  He often sends a dream that will convey a specific message of comfort.  He will send someone with human arms to enfold me and give me a taste of what it’s like to be hugged by God.

Each nurturing way comes by way of scriptural promises.  I must search for them and own them, memorize them and use them as swords when doubts and fears would take me into the shadows. Through them, God is whispering ~ “I’m here.  Don’t be afraid.”  “I’ll never leave you.”  “You can trust me.”  “Come to me, lay down your burden, and find the rest you’re seeking.”

More than two decades ago, I traded the inspirational idea of God’s comfort for experiential reality.  One feeds my intellect; the other feeds my heart.  God’s comfort is meant to be experienced and it’s there today for any of us who are overcome by current events.  Not one bad headline can eclipse the good news that God has the last word on this broken world.  He grieves with us, He comforts us, but He is working in power to redeem it all.  What we see now is not what will be.  PARADISE RESTORED will be the final headline.

 I’m living in Your promises.  Amen

Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.  Psalm 2:10-11

Worship and trembling go together.  I’ve been so moved during worship that I could no longer stand up.  It’s a beautiful thing to be overcome by the Spirit.  He may be my home but I never get so used to Him that I fail to be affected by His glory.

 In Hosea, God calls His children silly doves.  They fail to know where their true home is and their heart has grown too cold to pursue it.  “There will come a day,” God foretells, “when they will come trembling again to their houses.”  “Trembling” means to “flutter with haste”.

A woman ceases to make God her home when she no longer believes He can offer her what she needs.  The promise of the abundant life no longer appears abundant.  There can be many reasons for this.  1.) She has experienced too much pain in this world and God is blamed for it.  She runs from the One she believes is responsible instead of understanding that He is her healing.  2.) There has been no instruction on how to make God her home so she sojourns in distant lands, looking for anyone who will offer her temporary shelter.  3.) Satan has taken advantage of her in her time of vulnerability and offered her some counterfeit ways out of distress.  Whatever the reason, leaving home is rarely a short trip.  It can often span the first half of someone’s lifetime.

There comes a day when God begins to clarify.  The fog of misunderstanding of who He is begins to clear and a woman shakes her head and realizes her folly.  God’s true character materializes in full-blown pictures in her spirit.  Hunger for His presence is awakened.  She prepares for her trip back home, back to her roots.  “Before the foundation of the world, I knew you.”  Ah yes, she remembers the verse now.  She realizes that the only place she can find the person, the Love, she’s been looking for is at home with God.  She comes trembling, with awe and excitement, to the land that has always been hers.  She comes to claim it with joy.  The theme of her life is finally summed up in one phrase ~ LOST LOVE FOUND.

Home is sweetest to the one who has been homeless.  Seeing the lights of home makes her hasten her steps.  Walking over the threshold brings waves of contentment.  It’s home.  Everything is just like she needs it to be.  Never is she more at peace than when resting with God.  Any who loses her life in Him will find it.

It took me over forty years to find my home in You.  I lived many places, emotionally, even though I called You, “Father.”  I’ve never gotten used to the wonder of living with You.  With time, ‘home’ means more, not less.  Thank you. Amen

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Make me to know your way, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Psalm 25:4

I can judge nothing with my senses correctly without consulting God.  Nothing!  What looks lush one day can be a wasteland tomorrow.  What looks barren today can become lush once the hand of a miracle-working God touches it.  I can never judge a book by its cover.  I just never know enough to run my life successfully!

May I learn from those who have walked before me.  Does history not teach me that God chooses the least?  The ones others pass over?  He chooses the uneducated, the spurned, the unpopular.  When people choose leaders, they choose with their senses.  They go for charisma and good looks.  God’s man, as with Jesus, may be someone others walk by and never give a second thought.

God might call me to embrace a place, a calling, a companion, a direction in life that appears to be wrong.  It may not glitter.  It may have little earthly appeal.  I should not second-guess God’s voice.  Jesus was born in a stable, not a palace.  What seems so common is transformed by the wind of the Spirit into something heavenly.  That principle of the kingdom applies to people, to land masses, and in fact, to anything that waits to be touched by a God who turns deserts into gardens.

Are you facing a crossroads today?  Does one way appeal more to your senses because it seems more fertile?  Be careful.  Commit yourself to prayer.  It would be a tragedy to suffer a bias caused by a feast for the eyes.  We risk settling, working, and marrying in Sodom.  Remember Lot?  Abram let him choose his future home.  Lot chose a city in a lush valley, pitched his tent there, and it ended up being Sodom.

I shut the eyes of my flesh and journey with You through the back door of blessing.  In Jesus name, Amen

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary. Psalm 63:1-2

If someone told me that I would be taking someone into my home for the next twenty-five years, I would pause. Who are they? What are they like? Can this person be trusted? Will our personalities clash? Setting out to find the answers, I’ll research him well. Then, if possible, I’ll ask for several face to face meetings to see if what I’ve heard bears true when in this person’s presence

If I would do this much for someone who would live with me for two decades, shouldn’t I do far more for someone with whom I’ll live for an eternity? Especially knowing that this person gave up everything so that I could eventually be with Him. I was banned from this possibility because of my sin, He knew that, and made a way for me to come home to Him. Very costly to Him personally, I might add.

Yet, I can be full of excuses when it comes time to invest in the relationship. God remains very much a stranger if I don’t take the time to know Him and spend time with Him. Unless I do love-driven research and ask Him to draw me close in prayer, I won’t have any experience of Him. Knowing that He is merciful and knowing how He is merciful to me are two different things. By the time I get to heaven, I should have had thousands of encounters and a myriad of shared experiences.

Wouldn’t it be a bit embarrassing to get to heaven, meet Jesus, and know almost nothing about Him?   Wouldn’t it be sad to have nothing to review? “Lord, remember when….” should encompass the first hundred years of eternity.

“Lord, remember when you rescued me in 1997?”

He nods and then asks, “And remember when I asked You to trust me when it looked like you couldn’t? I was so proud of you.”

I’ll nod ~ ever grateful that, in this life, I didn’t miss out on making memories.

“Oh Jesus, and My Father, and Holy Spirit inside ~ let me know You and take part in Your slow dance. Amen

Great peace have those who love your law, nothing can make them stumble.  Psalm 119:165

When the Spirit of God inspired these words, He used the word ‘nothing’ in the last phrase. What a promise that absolutely the worst thing imaginable can not make me stumble if I am grounded in the word.

I have been showered with emails since sharing the news of Ryan’s death yesterday.  Every single note was just right ~ so comforting and void of cliches and sermons.  Our devotional family is just amazing.  I’m so impressed by the depth of your faith and your wisdom.  You reached out in such powerful ways.

Our family, like your family, is being presented with situations every day that, if navigated without the Word and the Spirit, will end badly.  Today, my friends, we can each exhale in relief because nothing can shake loose our tranquility.  Not death, disease, persecution, and tribulation.  The love of God is not a wimpy thing because the One who offers it is the great I AM.  His arms keep us steady and surefooted in the fury of the storm.

Tormenting things happen.  But when I stand in the cement of ‘You’, nothing can make my feet slip.  Amen

Return to your rest, O my soul. The Lord has dealt bountifully with you. Psalm 116:7

The next time you’re part of a group, introduce the topic of ‘the yoke of an oxen’ and there probably won’t be much interest, even among Christians. However, the topic is unavoidable because we’re all yoked to someone. Satan yokes us to him whether we want it or not. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6 Jesus, if we’re willing, breaks the yoke of our oppression and invites us to take on His yoke instead.

He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Who wants to be in a yoke? That’s the opposite of freedom. Jesus’ promise that this way of living is good for me makes me skeptical. Once I’m freed from the enemy’s cords, can’t I just do my own thing?

Let’s consider the context of Jesus’ words. Two oxen are chosen to share a yoke. The first is an older seasoned ox. He is trained and rugged from years of routine. The second is a new young ox. He has potential but is inexperienced. By sharing the same yoke with a seasoned workhorse, the mature trains the young.

Not only that, but the experienced one pulls harder to bear the majority of the load. Since the older one leads, the younger ox does not have to wonder what to do. He leans on his mentor and copies everything his he does.

Sounds like discipleship, doesn’t it? Jesus invites me to ‘learn of Him’ which is another way of saying ‘be my disciple.’ There’s rest in not having to figure life out on my own. There’s security as I follow His lead.

Jesus also reveals that His yoke is easy. The word ‘easy’ doesn’t mean ‘simple’, but ‘good’. If I’m yoked to Jesus, there’s rest in being yoked to someone good, loving, and patient.

The paraphrase? “Get in the yoke with me. Let me disciple You. I’ll bear the weight of your burden. My yoke is good and you will find rest and companionship in our labor together.”

You were yoked to Your Father and that’s how You survived. Your life was the slow dance of the trinity. I want that. Amen