July 6,7,8 - Day 43,44,45

Psalm 69-150

OK, so if you're checking in today, you're obviously going to see that our recent trip to visit family has thrown my normal schedule for a loop and I'm back posting for several days. For the most part, I've kept up on my reading, I've just not been going the extra step to post my thoughts... so for today I'm going to transcribe the thoughts I've scrawled in the margins of my Bible....

Importance of recording and re-reading the stories of God's provision:
I wrote this down as I was reading about the various ways God has blessed the nation of Israel and the many things the psalmist has learned from these blessings. I reflected on the purpose of the Psalms. Most were written as a way of praising God or conversing with Him. Yet many have been used over the generations to teach each other before the word was written and mass produced. By setting them to music and committing them to memory, travelling "storytellers" were able to relay these gifts of praise to everyone around them and help the generations to come remember God's provisions and sources of blessings.

The application to me is to ask the question of myself, "How good am I doing at recording and re-reading the story of God's blessing and provision for our family?" Many times we praise God in prayer for the blessing as a family but we don't continue to reflect on it - especially in times of hardship - for us to recognize God is always faithful and He is always there.

Ps 86:1 "Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy."
It feels good to say this... both because I admit I am poor and needy but also because I like to tell God what to do... Hear me and answer me... Yet when I reflect on when I've said this the most it is when I'm listening the least. God is answering me but not just in the way I wanted to hear Him answer. The answer I want is not always the answer I get, but it is always what I need.

Source of so many praise songs
Just the other day as Nicole was completing her reading she remarked to me what I had just been thinking as well... it was how interesting it is that we can recognize songs today sung on the radio that have taken the words directly from the Psalms. There is no new words to the Bible, just new applications daily. Even today, his word brings comfort to those who read it and those who hear it. How thankful I am for talented artists who record these words to music... If you haven't already , tune into your local Christian radio and see how many you recognize!

Ps 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat and for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Lately, I've not been very disciplined with my time. It is summer and I feel like I deserve some rest. Yet I also recognize that I get tired easily when I do work. I toil for food to eat... (well maybe I'm not actually producing the food, but I'm earning a paycheck to pay for it) ... and that makes me tired. I keep thinking if I can just sleep in a little later then I will have the rest I need to make it through tomorrow. What a lie this is. This Psalm reminds me of it... HE GRANTS SLEEP TO THOSE HE LOVES.... I can't do it on my own.

Ps 138:8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; Your love O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands
When I read this verse it spoke to my soul in this present hour. I just returned from an extended weekend with my family. I attended our county fair and watched my nephew exhibit his 4-H animals for the first time in his 4-H career. It reminded me of my "previous live" and all of the nostalgia came flooding over me. It was a huge part of my life. In many regards, showing livestock and 4-H helped form the person I am today for good and for bad. I reminisced with old friends and acquaintances as I watched the youngsters compete. I reflected on the life I used to have with the life I currently have and how different they are. I grew up in a rural environment with "friends" across the county. Now I live in a suburban environment and have difficulty finding friends whom I stay in contact with more than once a month. I live closer to people today and am more connected, but they know less about me and I about them. Complicating this whole picture are the difficult questions I get when I visit with people who knew me in my "previous life" about when I'm going to "come home" to work on the farm... or when my kids are going to be in 4-H. These are all things I would like to be able to answer. In many regards they are only difficult because they force me to deal with them rather than being able to distract myself with something more short term as a sort of anaesthetic. These are all questions that fit with my previous life but I don't know how they fit in my present life. I would never trade what I have now for what I had then... but I would like to make the two merge somehow. Yet in my own temporal mindset, I can't see the bigger picture. As I read this scripture today I was reminded what His purpose is for me.... like we tell our kids every night... my purpose is to bring Glory to God ... and He will use whatever situation he pleases to achieve this purpose in my life. I get hung up with the momentary life and confuse this with my life's purpose... when in reality my purpose in life is to achieve His purpose. It doesn't make my present struggle any easier right now, nor does it make my feelings of nostalgia evaporate. Yet, it does help me readjust my perspective which is always good from time to time to keep looking up for direction.

July 5; Day 42

Dear God,
I was reading on our Pastor's blog as he completes the 90 day readings as well. He encouraged us to think of the Psalm's as a "vertical book" which helps us understand how to relate to you. As I read these Psalms I recognize that there is no feeling, thought or action that suprise you. There is nothing we need to hold back from you. As I read these Psalmists words I recognize how much I've been holding back from you... and making excuses for not sharing it with you. Please forgive me... and help me relate to you as my heavenly Father and personal savior.

Amen

July 4, Day 41

Psalm 45-69

Happy Independence Day. Whilst we celebrate the birth of our nation and the freedoms we enjoy, we should also celebrate the freedom we have in Christ.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great compassion.
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash away my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51:1-2

My prayer is that we make this OUR prayer. Our national prayer and that some day we'll be led into repentance as a nation.

Happy 4th of July! In God we trust!

July 2&3; Days 39 & 40

Psalms 1 - 45

I'm not much of a poet nor am I one to appreciate poetry all that much. So naturally it is difficult for me to read the Psalms this fast. My favorite way to "read" the Psalms is to pray the Psalms. I traditionally have dissected down an individual Psalm verse by verse and made a small prayer out of it for myself based on the author's words. However, at this rate of reading that is not reasonable. I find myself reading but not really applying them. You see I like context. I like to know who is writing the Psalm and the situation in which they are writing it. Individually reading the Psalms doesn't provide much context for understanding.

There are so many phrases that speak to me as I read them that I can't record them all here. Rather as I was reading I reflected on the following things...

1. Each of the authors has an intimately personal relationship with the Lord. This is evident because the author speaks to God as if they are personal friends. Pouring out emotions, fears, concerns and joys. We don't get this deep with causal relationships... only those that are intensely personal. Do I have this deep of a relationship with God and how often do I pour myself out this intensely to him?
2. There are many different attributes of God named in these Psalms. Comforter, sustainer,counselor, Righteous one, rebuker, shield, protector... God is bigger than you and I can imagine. How many attributes of God do I recognize?
3. Though I'm not a poet, I recognize that many poets are often inspired and in order to relay their emotions appropriately record their artwork in poetry. Surely this was the case with David and the other Psalmists. What do I do when the Lord inspires me? How do I show him my praise and adoration? What do I do when I'm upset or frustrated? God created us us to be creative in His image.
4. I've only been reading these Psalms for 2 days now yet there are enough Psalms for 6 days worth of reading in this 90 day format. That is more than any other single book of the Bible. If it is important enough to capture this much space in the preserved Word, then it must be important enough for me to carve out this much proportional time in my life to give the Lord praise and create dialogue with Him. Unfortunately I fall extremely short in this area. What would it be like to spend an entire day with God talking to Him like the Psalmists do? Maybe you and I should try it more often....

My prayer is as go through the remaining days of Psalm reading, I will draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit to help me understand what God is speaking to me about.

Help me use these Psalms as a model for the depth of relationship I should have with you and to learn how to relate to you as Friend AND God.

July 1; Day 38

Job 25 -42

How can innocent become evil so easily?

You see, I've recently joined the technological age and using some of the tools available to us today. It started with this blog and understanding more about this mode of communication. Then recently a friend of mine - a strong Christian friend of mine whom I've been on a Great Banquet Team with - sent me a link to Facebook and invited me to see his page. We'll in order to see what he posted, I had to join. So by default I've joined the Facebook Generation. To date, I've avoided all of this technology because of the "evils" reported on it.

So fast forward, after a few hours of playing around with Facebook, I managed to establish my own page with limited information and connect with a few high school classmates I hadn't seen forever. So I began thinking... "This technology thing could be pretty good. Perhaps God even directed me to this because He wanted me to connect with others in a different way. After all, it WAS sent to me by a strong Christian friend innocently asking me to connect with him."

So fast forward a few days... I began receiving "invites" to be friends with people I didn't know. Then I learned how to set my privacy settings to screen these invites out. Secondly, I began perusing "Friends of friends" and I realized not all of my friends are keeping "up and up" company. At least some of the pictures and things posted on these sites were not God honoring. But did I choose to look away? No. I chose to click one step further and see how much people would reveal or show. WRONG CHOICE. Before I knew it... or before I really came to reality, I was seeing things and thinking in ways I should have never been. I let my guard down because something innocent turned evil in an instant. It pulled me away from following Jesus in a moment... and deceptively I might add.

Now link this back to the story of Job. His friends came seemingly innocent to him. They wanted to sympathize with him and help him. Yet under cover of darkness their human self kicked in and they became evil to him in an instant. They started trying to pull Job away from his faith. God sent me a friend. Admittedly one I haven't kept in very good contact with for a while, but one none the less who wanted to connect with me on this technology. Yet I let my humanness step in and get in the way. I fouled it up. Is this not what Job's friends did? They followed God in obedience to showing a friend sympathy yet in their humanness they forgot to ask God for what he wanted them to share with Job. God even rebukes them in Job 42:7-9 by saying "You have not spoken to me what is right as my servant Job has."

Just like Job's friends they wanted to follow God. My friend wanted to connect with me. What fouls it up is the fact that our human nature kicks in and we believe we can "go it alone." When Job's friends went it alone, they spoke of God incorrectly. When I went alone I ended up in places that I'm ashamed to admit and places God was not honored.

Life is too difficult and the devil is too sly ... don't go it alone today my friend. I know I need you.

Postlogue:
Out of this conclusion of Job I gain some solace which is this: After such tremendous suffering, Job didn't lose his faith. It was the one thing he clung to when all else was stripped away. Then in Job 38 I see the bright promise available to all of us. "The Lord answered Job about of the storm." We see Job and the Lord in a dialogue. A real conversation of hope and renewal. Finally in Job 42 we see that renewal... spiritually and physically. "The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. . . and so he died, old and full of years." (vs 12-17) The Lord may allow temporary suffering, but he always promises hope for the faithful.

Please Lord, forgive me for going it alone and taking the wrong path. Speak to me in the storm as I know you will. Help me cling to my faith when all the world is telling me to leave it behind for moments of folly... and help me be worth of blessing that I might die, old and full of years.

June 30, Day 37

Job 1- Job 23
I'm in a bit of a predicament. I realized today I'm not as good of a friend as I always think I am...

In the past as I read of Job and heard of his plight, I always knew God had allowed Satan to harass Job. But what I never realized was Satan never specifically asked to pick on Job. Satan and an angel come to visit God. God asks Satan, "Whattcha been up to?" (Loosely paraphrased of course) and Satan says he's been roaming back and forth across the earth. Then God offers this suggestion... "Have you considered my servant Job?" God just offers willingly to let Satan consider harassing Job. This doesn't seem quite right to me... but yet I know God knew Job well enough that He knew that whatever Satan threw at Job was not going to break his love for God. Does God know me like this? Probably he knows me... but he may not trust me like this yet. Too often I blame God for my challenges rather than looking at Satan as the source of the strife. God is not the source of confusion. Satan is. God may have allowed the strife to take place but Satan is the source.

The other thing I recognize from this story is that God allowed Satan to cause all kinds of trouble in Job's life. But could Satan have also provided the "friends" to Job? I mean it is obvious that from the beginning they cared for Job. They wanted to come and mourn with him and remained silent for 7 days and 7 nights just letting Job mourn. But yet... when the mourning carried on longer then they thought it should, they started to try to "fix" Job. They tried to point out the problems and the sources of problems to they could help him get over it. Obviously they were growing faint of hearing him mourn and lament. They wanted action. What determination and faith Job showed by holding on to God during his friends accusations. There are times when Job wanted to die and be put out of his misery, but he never renounced God in the process.

I try to put myself in the shoes of the "friends" of Job to get a better perspective on my life.

• Have I ever travelled out of my way to mourn with a friend for 3 solid days? Not very much.
• Have I remained silent and seven days and seven nights to listen to someone else's problems? I grow faint of listening to problems after about 30 minutes max... let alone 7 days.
• Have I ever tried to fix a problem for someone else by attempting to find the "root cause" and suggest a solution? (If my wife is reading this, she is not allowed to post comments in response to this question.) Of course I do... all the time.
• Do I rush to judgement and start condemning a perfectly innocent person, simply because God was using them as an opportunity to show the world their faith in Him?
• Am I being used by Satan more than I'm being a Godly friend to others in their time of need?

Now you can see my predicament... Even when I think I'm being used by God to be a good friend, I still allow myself to be used by Satan. My calling may be from God to be a friend in times of need... but my need to fix the problem or offer advice may be getting in the way of God's plan. If you are reading this, you are someone I consider a friend. And because you're reading this, I'm expecting you to help hold me accountable now that I know this... please remind me that I'm trying to fix the problem when all you need is a Godly friend to sit and listen... and ultimately God's glory will shine through both of us.

June 29; Day 36

Esther

For such a time as this... Esther was chosen to be queen. This is the application I'm always reminded of as I read this story. It tells me that Esther was born at that time for that reason and was in those specific circumstances so God's plan could be revealed through her. Isn't this the same for all of us? We're all here for a specific reason at this appointed time. Make it count.

Yet today I recognized something else. God had chosen Esther and she had to choose to obey. Yet even choosing to obey, she still had to learn how to be most effective in her environment. God had placed her in the Queen's role. And He had divinely appointed her for her role. No doubt He was also strengthening and guiding her along the way.

What I was impressed with today was that she had to learn how to make requests of the king. No doubt she - as the queen - had witnessed individuals making requests the "wrong way." Perhaps they demanded the king do something or they threatened the king. We see that even for the king to hear the request was something of a challenge as he had to extend his scepter to you. Even for his own wife.

Esther knew this wasn't going to be an easy task. She asked for fasting and prayer as she prepared herself to do so. But she resolved to do so, even if it meant she would perish. When we see Esther asking the king I notice her phrasing... ever so particular...

"If it pleases the king to grant my petition..." (Esther 5:7)

Why does this strike me so? Because Esther never super ceded the king's authority. She never placed herself above Him by demanding or even suggesting that He should see things her way. Rather she made a suggestion only if it pleased the king. How often do I tell God what I want to have happen. I reflected back on some of the requests I made of God this morning.... "Bless me today as I tackle this difficult conversation." "Strengthen me as I endure this challenge." "Be with my friend as he goes through this difficult problem." "Grant my children peace and rest after a busy weekend." And it goes on and on... but never did I say, "If it pleases the king..."

How much I could learn from Esther. Not only has God chosen me for this time and place to accomplish His will... but I also have to learn to make my petitions of the King in such a way I continue to demonstrate His Lordship over me.