My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.  Psalm 119:81

I’m guessing that each of us is waiting for something to be resolved that is painfully unresolved.  While it hangs in the balance, there is continual longing.

Someone is waiting to get well.  Someone else is waiting for a job or anxious to go back to work.  An anxious mom is waiting for inner peace.  A harassed spouse is waiting for intervention.  Someone very ill is waiting for a definitive diagnosis.  Someone is waiting for deliverance out of crushing circumstances.  Someone else is waiting for the ability to face the future after the death of a loved one.   All are waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises.

I can never know if the salvation I seek is of the immediate kind, the kind that will come in the next twelve months, or is of a distant kind.  The prophets waited on a word and it stretched their eyes to distant horizons.  Abraham believed but he never got to see “the Word become flesh.”  Yet, the hope of it sustained him.

All my hope lies in God.   The knowledge of salvation, now or in the future, sustains and comforts me.  I do know this ~ I will live to see His Word fulfilled.  My hope is well placed because His promises are solid.  In whatever ways my faith is stretched, in whatever ways salvation waits on some distant horizon, God will give me grace to wait.  He will fill my heart with the Word of promise and with the hope that comes every word He speaks.  I don’t need to see it come true today to know joy.  I just need to know and believe the One who says that it will come true.

Creation groans for the revealing of the sons of God.  In the waiting, His Word continues to pulsate in my spirit with the kisses of promise.

Your Word simmers beneath the surface of my heart. Ever warm, I feel its comfort. Ever powerful, I feel its hope.  Amen

I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.  Psalm 119:102

Most of God’s children caught the essence of their faith from another person.  Seeing faith in action was the catalyst for their own new birth.  Once they trusted Christ, that person who was so influential, most likely, also became the one who discipled them.

A potentially dangerous thing can happen, at that point, they are not shown how to connect with God in His Word and prayer.  They will learn to depend on the mentor instead of on God.  The one who disciples others does a poor job if they fail to transfer their student’s dependence on to their new Heavenly Father.

Second hand faith never works well for long.  When teachers tell me, “This is what God says…”, I end up becoming me a weak child of God.  When adversity comes, and when I need God the most, mentors can fill in the gap but only God’s voice and presence will give me what I need to survive.  I can more easily turn aside from God’s ways if I live off the faith of others.

The application is two fold.  1.) Upon whom do I depend today?  If they give me their support and their comfort, will I reach out to God as well?  I must.  Because at some point, they will fail to give me their support, and I will fail to have the strength I need to stand up tall in faith.   And, 2.) Who am I training today?  Who leans on me?  Am I intentionally showing them how to live in the Word and to hear the Spirit’s voice or am I fostering dependence on me because of my need for significance?

When the Spirit of God is our teacher, we will walk God’s paths with joy and endurance.  Only His voice gives the strength needed for the long journey.

Lord, I tried to walk faithfully simply by watching other strong Christians.  I failed miserably.  Only when I heard Your voice for myself did my strength come.  Help me pass that on as my legacy.  Amen

Your statutes have been my song in the house of my sojourning.  Psalm 119:54

Everyone’s home experience falls somewhere on the continuum between bad and good.  For some, it was predominantly positive.  For others, mostly negative.  But for most, it was life-giving punctuated with some hardships.  One thing is for certain for all of us; home is temporary.  Just ask any who are old enough to have buried their parents and watch as their childhood home was sold to strangers.

So what kind of statutes was the psalmist referring to in today’s scripture?  What could possibly make me sing in the home of my ‘temporary-ness’?  Why would I want to sing if my experience was painful?  What kind of joyful song could be composed if my home was a wonderful place, but is now just a distant memory?  How about lyrics that express these truths!

I existed with God before I was ever born to my family.

He loved me from before time, before I had a last name.

I’ll have a home He’s preparing for me that no one can take away; it will exceed any pleasure of my earthly home.

My identity in the kingdom is solid through and through, even though I may have been undefined here and opportunities lost.

I have a beautiful name that means something even if my name here has negative ties.

Family members do not always greet each other with hugs and affirmations.  When homes are unlike the kingdom, we do not have to wander off in shame and anonymity.  Lyrics are waiting to be crafted.  Melodies are waiting to be hummed.  Songs are waiting to be birthed on the tongues of those who have long realized they need a real home, a lasting refuge, a perfect Father.  Every statute of our permanent Father is waiting to be discovered, then sung by the tongues of His children.

Many orphans have heard you call them home.  They finally found where they belong.  I am a child in the children’s parade; we’re all making our way home to the gates of your kingdom.  Amen

Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.  Psalm 119:142

It’s tough not knowing where you stand with someone you love.  Even tougher with someone you need.  If that person’s values have never been made clear, if their personality is hidden, then the relationship flounders.

If God is that unknown person, any security I might feel with Him is non-existent.  If I don’t know Him; what He’s like, what He loves, what He values, what He hates, then I will have no idea if what I do pleases or displeases Him.  I will approach Him with a nervous heart, wondering if I am good standing.  I will be like a nervous child peeking around the doorway to a parent’s room, wondering if they approve of me.

Security for any child begins with secure parents.  The adults set up parameters for how the home operates.  There are family systems in place so that everyone knows where they fit in.  With no guesswork and with righteous leadership, children flourish.

So it is in God’s family.  He is righteous.  He leads righteously.  His Word is true, safe, and reliable.  This provides an infrastructure where faith flourishes, where prayers are confident.  Because I know who my Father is, I know what to pray for and I know the nature of the One who says He loves to bless meGod’s Word frames an infrastructure where His children move around inside with safety, confidence and joy.  The laws were written with love.  They don’t change for anyone, under any circumstances, and are permanently in tact.  Guesswork is a thing of the past. This infrastructure, the haven of the kingdom, is the place my soul lives and thrives forever – starting now.

You, and everything having to do with You, are permanent and enduring.  I can breathe out a sigh of relief because my home with You is a place I can relax and know I’m finally home.  Thank you for knowing how to handle children.  Amen

Let your mercy come to me that I might live.  Psalm 119:77

The psalmist could not fully understand how his cry for mercy would be fulfilled in Christ.  He saw mercy as a ‘thing’ God would bestow.  Ultimately, God sent mercy as a person.  Mercy touched our eyes so we could see God, forgave our sins so we could approach God, and ultimately died so we could belong to God as sons and daughters.

Mercy was not something Jesus had to learn.  It was part of His character.  I can’t understand the kind of love that fuels mercy either.  It was mercy that prompted Him to come as a baby to a turbulent Roman world.  Mercy subjected Him to chaos and murderous plots.  Mercy led Him to die for people who needed forgiveness yet were insulted by the suggestion of their need for it.

The baby who embodied mercy came with a sword in His mouth because mercy comes with a partner.  Truth.  When truth hits hard, mercy is right there to catch me when I fall.  Truth tells me that I’m a sinner and doomed to pay for it.  Mercy reminds me that He loved me enough to pay sin’s price in my place so I can be freed from my guilty verdict.

The sword of truth in Jesus’ mouth was veiled for a time.  He was a baby, like us, who cried  indistinguishable words.  Not for long though.  Once He started speaking, earth has never been the same.  When His Word is read or spoken, the sword still falls.  For any who desire to see, truth invades deception and cuts with a clean slice.  Mercy comes right along behind it.  Jesus, my merciful Savior, offers hope and redemption if I do my part to embrace the truth of my need.

“Let mercy come to me” is a beautiful prayer.  However, the beauty will never be experienced if I pretend I have no need of it.  By brushing it aside, it is cheapened to a mere trinket.  People cry out for want of love, of goodness, of beauty and of mercy and yet refuse to prepare their hearts to see all of this in God.  Mercy is there, resident in Christ.  The kingdom is here now.

Reveal my need of You.  Let Your mercy come to me.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.  Psalm 119:73

Just as there are developmental impairments in children, learning impairments exist in God’s children as well.  Each of our stories render us incapable of learning certain kingdom truths.  Some of us can’t trust because our trust has been fractured.  Others of us can’t receive love because we withdrew our arms early in life.  Some can’t believe that God forgives because their relationships have been fraught with grudge holding.

When one of our children is stuck in their spiritual life, who better to understand the barrier than a parent.  We know the child well; what he believes, what successes and failures have shaped his life.  We are able to pray intuitively because we know how he’s wired.

So it is with God.  He made us.  He knows our stories and not only knows how we reacted to what happened to us, he understands how we interpreted the events that led us to react like we did.  He is intimately acquainted with our learning impairments.  He knows the network of lies at the root of the disability.

There are places each of us are stuck today; experiences God wants to have with us but we aren’t open to it.  Our arms are crossed.  Distrust and fear lock us up.  God has the key and is willing to unlock our heart.  His strategy to reach us is customized according to our individual design.  Oh, what a magnificent Savior.  He goes to great lengths to save us from ourselves.  Our defenses crumble under His persistent, yet gentle, wooing.

Where am I still scared of You, Lord?  Show me.  Amen

But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him; he is of age.  He will speak for himself.  (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)  John 9:21-22

The man whom Jesus healed of his blindness, and his parents, were brought to the synagogue to be interrogated by the religious leaders. Their answers were critical to their future as traditional Jews.  The parents validated their son’s identity, an admission that was easy to make.  It was the Pharisees second question that was problematic.  “Who healed your son?”  At this point, the parents did what all of us have done when looking into the faces of bullies.  They diluted their answer and passed the buck.

Isaiah, writing under the influence of the Spirit, delivers us this message from God.  “I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass?” Isaiah 51:12  Perhaps you are in a relationship with someone who is emotionally threatening.  You’ve known that you were being bullied.  Every question asked is high stakes.  Answer wrong and you’ll be made mincemeat.  You pray for God to change this person and take away the sharp edges.  You perceive that this is the only way out of the trap you are in.  However, there is an additional way of escape.  You must not fear man the words of man.  Living in relationship with a toxic person can be a catalyst, providing proof that God’s opinion is the only one that matters.

Becoming spiritually robust enough to stand tall in the presence of a bully does not happen overnight for any of us.   There is a slow progression from paralyzing fear to bold truth telling.  A transformation such as this can only be made with a strong connection to Jesus, by meditating on His Word and promises, and then drawing strength from His powerful presence.  As we try on the armor of God and the resulting new boldness, there will be a new combustible reaction.  Expect it.  But, instead of abandoning the path of holy confidence, we need to see this as an opportunity to strengthen new faith muscles.  Jesus is there, the only One who matters, and He will give us the courage to stay on the path of fierce resistance.

Strengthen me according to Your Word and the power of Your presence.  Amen

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