Monthly Archives: April 2016

April 20 – Ain’t No Mountain

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Psalms 121, 123-125, 128-130

Several of these psalms speak about mountains. For one thing, a mountain isn’t going anywhere. During the days these psalms were written, living close to a mountain provided protection from invading enemies. And if you lived surrounded by mountains you were extra safe.

Very often in Scripture mountains are used to represent problems, something to be conquered, or to get over. These psalms had me looking at mountains today in a different light.

God is asking me today where I go for protection from my enemy Satan. Do I turn on Dr. Phil, read a self-help book, talk to a friend, take a pill or have a drink? How is that working for me?

Psalm 121 reminds me God made heaven and earth, that He won’t let my foot slip, that He’ll protect me and keep my soul. Psalm 124: “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 125 tells me if I trust in the Lord I can be as immovable as Mt. Zion. It also says God surrounds me like the mountains around Jerusalem.

Today, I want to seek shelter in God who is more sturdy than any mountain He created. I want to live in the shadow of the mountain that is God Himself. He is my shield and safety. He is my protection and strength. None of my problems are too big for Him.

And He’s not going anywhere. He is as immovable as a mountain. And if I go to Him by reading His Word and praying, He is there.

You see, there “ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough” to keep God from me. That’s where I get my help. That’s where I get my strength. That’s where I want to be.

 

 

April 19 – When God Is Silent

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I Samuel 28-31, Psalm 18

I am having one of those mornings where God seems to be silent as I read His Word. My mind wanders. My eyes fill with tears.

So I will pray back to God His own words from the eighteenth psalm. It’s all I have to offer today.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” You are my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge. You are my shield, my salvation, and my stronghold. I call upon You, Lord, because You are worthy to be praised. I am saved from Satan’s hold on me, I am protected from his arrows. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me. Your gentleness makes me great.

The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation. (from psalm 18:1-3, 35, 4)

April 18 – Out of the Darkness

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Psalms 17, 35, 54, 63

When you read these psalms you can almost hear the sadness in David’s voice. Life is not being fair. He is in despair. His enemies are real and fighting hard to destroy him. For no reason.

But you can also get a sense of the trust David has in God. David is not without hope. You can read about his torment. But listen to his words of faith:

17:15 As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I wake.

35:28 And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness and Your praises all day long.

35:54 Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. 

And here is the key to what I believe is David’s ability to completely trust God during the worst time of his life, during his darkest hours:

63:1  O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

If you don’t read anything else today, I hope you’ll read Psalm 63. If you are beaten down by the cares of this world, if you are being treated unfairly, if it seems like Satan is winning the war, turn your eyes toward Jesus.

The more you dwell on the problems in your life, the more power they have over you.

Does your soul thirst for God, or for something else? Does your flesh yearn for God? David tells us God’s lovingkindness is better than life itself. Do you believe that?

Allow yourself to rest in the shadow of His wing. Cling to God because His right hand can hold you up through these dark days. You’ll begin to see the light because Jesus tells us HE is the Light of the World. He’s the light of YOUR world.

When you take your eyes off the problem, when you spend time in God’s Word and allow Him to carry you, the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of the Savior’s glory and grace.

My Dear Comforter, I pray for hurting people today. I thank You that You inspired David to write these beautiful psalms that express what many of us are going through thousands of years later. And I thank You that David reminds us that You are able. You are righteous. You have our backs. And when we cling to You, You are able to give us exactly what we need to face today. May hurting people spend time in Your Word today. May they talk to You, the One who loves them to death. And may they allow You to bring them out of the darkness of the situation, into the light of Your Presence. Comfort them. Strengthen them. May we all look to Jesus only today.

April 17 – Forgiven and Blessed

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I Samuel 25-27

Abigail asked David for forgiveness. Yes, it was her husband Nabal who had refused to help David. But 25:28 tells us Abigail, after falling on her face at David’s feet said, “Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant.”

In verse 35 we see David granted her request. And later, after Nabal’s death, David brought Abigail into his home and made her his wife. She became the king’s bride.

As I read this today I saw a picture of my relationship with God. When I fell on my face before Him and asked Him to forgive me – he did! Then He lifted me up and took me for Himself. I am His. He is mine.

The Bible calls believers the Bride of Christ. That’s me. And all because I humbled myself and asked Jesus to forgive me. How blessed I am.

I pray you can say the same.

April 16 – Tears In A Bottle

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Psalms 56, 120, 140-141

Have you ever felt the need to shut the door to your room and just cry? (And men, I’m talking to you, too.) You can put up a brave face for only so long, and you realize you have arrived at your breaking point. You are alone. Not even your loved ones understand. You need to be by yourself and let it all out.

But you are never alone. There is Someone right there with you who loves you beyond what you know. And it’s at our lowest points that God wants to hold us, comfort and strengthen us.

I love what David said in Psalm 56:8:

You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in your book?

There isn’t a tear that falls from your eyes that God does not see or consider important. And he doesn’t forget a one of them.

David’s circumstances did not change. Saul still wanted him dead. The Philistines held him captive. But listen to David’s words in the midst of his pain:

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You, in God whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?

If you are sad, or alone, or fearful, or all of the above, get alone with your Savior. Read the psalms. Let God gather your tears and replace them with Himself.

He loves you so much.

Hebrews 12:3-11, Consider…

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I hope you’ll take some time to read this thought-provoking post. It’s a re-post from a man whose ministry has spoken to me often. Parents, Grandparents, voters, teachers, there is something in there for all of us. And may God speak to your heart as He did to mine.

vonhonnauldt's avatarnightlightblogdotcom

[3]For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.  [4]You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.  [5]And you  have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons:  ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; [6]for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’
[7]If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  [8]But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  [9]Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.  Shall we not much more readily be in subjection…

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April 15 – When Life Gets Tough

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Psalms 7, 27, 31, 34, 52

There is so much gold contained in the psalms. In the five we read today, you get a feeling for David’s pain, his confusion. He is being pursued by Saul, and betrayed by Doeg. David is hiding in a cave while he writes these words.

In these psalms David also gives us a glimpse of Jesus. Look for verses that refer to our Savior as you read. It’s pretty awesome.

But what stood out to me today as I read these psalms was David’s unwavering faith and trust in God. Yes he was running for his life. Yes, he was being treated unfairly. But no matter what, David rested in God alone.

52: 8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever.

34:1  I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth.

34:4  I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

34:8  O taste and see that the Lord is good.

31:14&15  But as for me, I trust in you, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands…

27:1  The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?

7:1  O Lord my God, in You I have taken refuge…

I hope you’ll read these psalms as the prayer of your own heart. Substitute David’s enemy with whatever it is you are facing. I pray you’ll be able to face whatever would destroy you, with the same confidence David expresses in these beautiful psalms.

When life gets tough, the only place I want to be is clinging to God who loves me and shelters me and holds me close. There, and only there, I have no fear.

April 14 – God Uses Sinners

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I Samuel 21-24

David was described as “a man after God’s own heart.” But David sinned. And some of his sins were doozies. Here in these chapters of I Samuel we see David lie to a priest of the Lord. Ahimelech the priest gave David food and Goliath’s sword because David told him the king had sent him. In fact, King Saul had not sent David.

David got what he had come for. But it cost Ahimelech his life, and the lives of his family. David would have to live with the fact that his lie brought about those deaths.

Yet this liar is described as a man after God’s own heart.

My pastor talked to us last night at prayer meeting about Zaccheus (Luke 19). Zaccheus was a hated tax collector, getting rich by extorting money from the people. His neighbors described him as a sinner. But Zaccheus was radically changed when he met Jesus.

Think of the cruel and murderous Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus. And think about how he was used by God after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus.

What I notice about these three men is that they didn’t let their past sins stop them from serving God. Read David’s psalms and hear him repent of his sins, and put his trust in the Lord. The Bible is full of examples of how God used David to bless the nation of Israel, and yes, even examples of what a man after God’s own heart looks like. See how, when God called Zaccheus and Saul by name, their encounter with the Savior effected the rest of their lives.

God didn’t say, “Clean up your act, then come back to me.” Instead God says, “Come as you are.”

Hear God call you by name, then respond to Him with a repentant heart. No sin is too great for Him to forgive. No life too shattered for Him to transform. And no sinner is too far gone to be used by God, once that sinner has met the Savior.

I prayed for you today.

April 13 – BooYa!

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I Samuel 18-20; Psalm 11&59

I don’t know what it is like in other parts of the world, but here in the States we have always prided ourselves in working hard and building this country by the sweat of our brows. (present history excluded) We’re the home of the brave, after all!

I’m pretty sure that attitude is not exclusive to the USA. It’s more of a mankind thing. People like to see the fruit of their efforts, and take great satisfaction in their accomplishments.

When King Saul offered his daughter to David to be his wife, David politely refused. Twice.

I Samuel 18:18 says, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?”

Then in verse 23: “Is it trivial in your eyes to become the king’s son-in-law since I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?”

David was a simple shepherd. He had no means of paying a dowery to the king! He was the youngest son from a simple tribe of Israel. All kinds of legitimate reasons why he didn’t deserve to marry the king’s daughter.

Now hear what happened when Saul told David how he could “earn” the right to marry his daughter by bringing him 100 Philistine foreskins:

“…it pleased David to become the king’s son-in-law.”

David would have to kill a bunch of men, cut off their foreskins, and present them to Saul. Do this, this, and this, then you earn the right to be a member of the king’s family. That made David happy.

THEN David when out, struck down 200 Philistines and presented 200 foreskins to Saul. BooYa!

This story helps me understand why grace is such a hard thing for some people to accept. They think their sin’s are too many, or too severe. They think they don’t deserve God’s love because of the awful things they’ve done. And they are right to think that.

But here’s God with outstretched arms saying, “‘Come unto Me’ anyway. Just come to Me and accept this free gift I am offering you. Ask me to forgive you and see what happens next!”

Somehow I think if God told us to bring him one hundred foreskins, or climb a mountain, or build a tower, or tap our heels three times, our churches would fill their pews.

BooYa!

But salvation has nothing to do with what we do. It has everything to do with what Jesus has already done.

Being a child of God doesn’t cost you a thing, other than a little humility, other than asking for forgiveness, other than trusting the One who loves you more than you can imagine. It’s really not that hard.

But the result is a blessed walk with the Lord! Victory over sin and death! Strength. Love. Protection. Eternal life.

BooYa, Lord!

 

April 12 -It’s A Giant!

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I Samuel 15-17

So often Scripture gives us examples of God’s power demonstrated through individuals. Like Moses through whom many miracles were performed. Like Gideon who took only 300 men into battle and won the war. Like what we read yesterday about Jonathan, and again today as we read about David’s victory over Goliath.

When David heard Goliath’s threats and saw the reaction of the Jewish soldiers, he didn’t get it. “Who is this Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

I think that, in a sense, we 21st century Christians are a bit like that army David was talking to:

The media is against us. The government is against us. The laws are against us. People say mean things about us.

Scripture says that when faced with the giant, the Israelite army “fled from him and were greatly afraid.” (17:24)

It took one person – David – to recognize that God is greater than anyone. David could face Goliath with confidence, because David’s confidence wasn’t in himself.

David’s confidence was in the living God!

We are facing a giant here in 2016. Do we believe God is more powerful than our enemy? Just where have we put our confidence?