Tag: Peace

Mighty to Save

by Coddiwompling, posted in Bible Study, faith, Going Deeper, Lessons Learned, Mighty to Save, Protection, Uncategorized

A few weeks back I had to attend a legal hearing. Not only did I have to be there, I was going to be asked to testify. I was none too excited about this. The closer we got to the courthouse that morning, the more the butterflies in my stomach were starting to feel like vampire bats jostling for position as they erupted from their cave into the night sky. My heart raced as my mind frantically spat out monosyllabic prayers. Truth be told, I was a nervous wreck.

Then it happened. Holy Spirit brought to mind one of my very favorite Scriptures, Zephaniah 3:17. I won’t say that I was totally chilled out, but there was an incredible sense of calm. My breathing settled down and I could think more clearly. In that moment, God impressed upon me five truths contained within this one verse. Let’s take a look at this verse, phrase by phrase.

The Lord your God is with you

  • We have His Presence

One of my favorite things about God is that He promises never to leave us or forsake us. Sometimes our circumstances may cause us to wonder if He really is anywhere to be found. But even when He is silent, He is present. This does not in any way mean that our lives will be perfect. We live in a fallen world. People around us make mistakes. We ourselves make mistakes. There are often repercussions as a result. Still, through the good times and the bad, God is there. Always.

He is mighty to save

  • We have His Protection

It is easy to focus only on the kind and compassionate nature of Jesus and portray Him as a cosmic Mr. Rogers, with a soothing voice and a little song to ease your pain. Jesus absolutely is kind and compassionate. But that is a tiny tip of a very large iceberg. He is more, so much more, than that. God is a mighty warrior. The full power of the universe is at His command. He is the one who spoke that very universe into existence. And He strongly supports those whose hearts are completely His. Sometimes this means deliverance from the storm. Other times this means deliverance through the storm. Because He is more concerned about our character than our comfort, the protection God offers may not look like the storybook picture we create in our minds. However, with a bit of time and perspective, we see that the provision God offered was exactly what we needed.

He will take great delight in you

  • We bring Him Pleasure

This is the one phrase that caught me off guard when I first started meditating on this verse. I mean, WOW, the Almighty God, the Holy One delights in me…ME! That’s a lot to wrap my head around. My relationship with my father was rocky at best. Growing up it seemed like the only time my dad spoke to me was when he was yelling at me about something. The relationship with my earthly father has definitely colored my relationship with my heavenly Father. I have caught myself in a time of prayer when I would think through my words very carefully – like a witness being cross-examined by a ruthless attorney – so as not to create any kind of loophole where He could use my words against me. I’m embarrassed to even say that. Once I realized I was doing this, it opened the door for deeper relationship when I confessed my difficulty and asked God to teach me how to love Him as Father. That is a request He has been more than happy to honor.

A few years back I heard a great quote by Eric Liddell that at the time I simply could not understand. He was the Olympic runner whose life story was the inspiration for the movie “Chariots of Fire.” Liddell said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” Doing what we are created to do makes God smile. Everyone is good at something. Whether that means designing great works of art, or helping the sick, or cleaning up after a natural disaster, or writing down the impressions He makes upon our hearts, whenever we do what we are wired to do, God is delighted. No matter if to everyone else our creation looks like a masterpiece or a lopsided, child-like stick figure, our Father will still proudly display it on His refrigerator door. It brings Him pleasure.

He will quiet you with His love

  • He brings us Peace

Sometimes I get anxious. I’m one of those people whose natural tendency is to wig out for a few minutes, calculate the worst-case scenario, and proceed straight to panic mode. Fortunately, over the years I’ve learned how to manage this impulse and mostly keep it to myself. I’ve learned to take a deep breath and pull up scripture from my internal rolodex to remind myself of the goodness of God. Practicing the promises of God settles me. It helps me get my eyes off of the monster before me and onto the Spirit Who lives within me. Scripture clearly tells us that trusting in God is the pathway to peace (see Isaiah 26:3; Romans 15:13).

He will rejoice over you with singing

  • God Parents us

This statement creates a beautiful mental picture. I can just imagine God, the ultimate Father, singing to His children. In times of trouble, that might look like quiet songs of comfort. In times of joy, it could be exuberant songs of celebration…or maybe even a war cry as He rushes in to defend His precious child.

When my daughter was a baby, and a very grumpy one at that, one of the things that quieted her was being sung to, and the radio simply did not cut it. One day my husband was driving somewhere with her in the car. She started squawling and would not stop in spite of his best efforts. In desperation, he called and asked me what to do. I told him to sing to her. “What should I sing?” he frantically inquired. “It doesn’t matter. Just sing to her,” I replied. He couldn’t think of any good calm-down-your-howling-baby songs, so he sang the only song that came to mind: I’d Be Better Off in a Pine Box.  This still cracks me up years later. But you know what? It worked. She heard her dad’s voice (and he’s not exactly Sinatra!) and immediately calmed down. In times of distress, she needed to hear the sound of her parents’ voices.

The fact that this phrase goes a step further blows my mind. Not only does God sing over us, He rejoices over us. Just let that sink in. God loves you so much – YOU – that He bursts into songs of rejoicing. You make the Lord of Hosts, the Creator God, the One True King, sing out in absolute joy. The very idea makes my heart swell in response to His great Love!

Memorizing scripture is so important. When life gets tough, it gives us material for rehearsing the goodness of God, for remembering Who He is and who He says we are. It calms our anxious thoughts. It destroys fear with absolute Truth. When we hide God’s Word in our hearts, He pulls it into our consciousness at just the right moment to remind us that we are His, and we are held, not just for today but for all of our tomorrows.

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Photo credit:

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Stained Glass Lives: Psalms 7

by Coddiwompling, posted in Bible Study, faith, Finding Peace, Going Deeper, Lessons Learned, Perspective, Psalms, Refuge, Stained Glass, Uncategorized

Lately I have been enjoying – and drawing strength from – a leisurely stroll through the book of Psalms. It is amazing how words written thousands of years ago by a man very different from me in his culture and experiences can shed light and breathe life into my modern circumstances.

This section of Psalms has really hit home with me. David speaks a great deal about needing refuge, a safe place to hide, a place where he can be protected and secure. I get that. Man, do I ever get that. Sometimes the tenants of our faith can be so simple, so easy to spout out when “someone else” is experiencing trouble or grief or hardship. But when the roles reverse and it’s our trouble, our grief, our hardship. Well, now; that’s a different matter entirely.  Then all the cute catch-phrases suddenly seem like just another Hallmark card. It’s like we are starving to death and someone offers us a giant bag of cotton candy when what we need instead is something solid and substantial. What’s a girl (or guy) to do? Turn to Scripture – more importantly, we need to turn to the Holy God who gives His backing, His authority, to these written words.

Verse 1

1) Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me

David jumps right in with a plea for help. He addresses God as Lord, recognizing his subservience to the real King. Not only does David acknowledge the sovereignty of God, he also establishes that their relationship is personal. Yahweh is not just a God out there somewhere: He and David belong to each other. And this changes everything. There is a President in the United States. He has responsibility for us as a nation, but it’s not like President Trump and I have a personal relationship. I can’t exactly call him up and ask for a favor. (Please don’t miss everything else by latching onto the pro/con Trump train. It’s just an example.) But my Father is an entirely different story. Like David, I can go to Him in my distress and ask for help. He is my refuge, my safe place. It is He who saves me, who delivers me from those who pursue me.

Although he had been anointed as Israel’s next leader, David spent many years being chased down by King Saul in a dangerous and very literal game of cat and mouse. I don’t think I’ve ever understood before what it feels like to be pursued in this way. I’m sure that there are people out there who don’t like me very much. I’m not sure what their problem is, but I am sure that these people do exist. (:P) In all seriousness, while I can be pretty sassy,  I’m basically a non-confrontational kind of gal. I’d rather look for a solution than a fight. But sometimes fights find you whether you’re looking for them or not. And so it has been. Through the times of incredible difficulty, the overwhelming love of friends and the Father has been such a comfort. There were times I needed to hide, to allow myself the luxury of a safe place to fall part. My troubling times have certainly been different from David’s, but I do understand the cry of his heart.

Verse 9

9) Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure – you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts

Yeah. I’ve prayed this. Often several times a day. I’ve got to be honest with you. David’s words in this Psalm are quite strong. He asks for God to end the violence of wicked men and to uphold the righteous. Look at David’s word choice here – the righteous God, who probes our hearts and minds, makes the righteous secure. Of course I’d love to believe that I am righteous, because surely the world revolves around me, right? But it doesn’t work that way. I need to probe my own heart and mind. Am I righteous? What makes me any better than this other person that I have labeled as wicked? At the risk of opening an incredibly large theological can of worms, the simple answer is Jesus. When I become a dedicated Christ-follower, I am granted the righteousness of God. I am still going to mess up, regularly, I’m afraid. But the blood of Jesus has covered the sins I’ve committed in the past and the ones I haven’t even gotten around to doing yet. This is not a license to sin, but rather a relationship to be fostered.

Verse 10

10) My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart

As a soldier, David uses a lot of military metaphors in his writing, like I might be inclined to use teaching or running or parenting. This flowed out of who he was. Certainly I have never been in the throes of battle, never had to duck behind a wall while projectiles were hurled my way. The arrows of my battle have been words aimed at my heart and mind. The impact they make may not be visible, yet they leave gaping wounds.

This verse creates a strong mental picture: Two opposing armies face each other. The tock and swish of flying arrows. The cries of the injured. The muffled last breath of the direct hit. Metal shields glistening in the sun, offering protection, security. David’s shield is not made of wood and leather, or even iron. His shield is God Most High, the One who saves the upright in heart.

Once again, this begs the question, does this mean me? Can I number myself among the upright in heart? As a follower of Christ, I can. I am delivered, not because of my shiny external image and resume’ of good deeds, but because of Jesus! An honest inspection of my life reveals that, no matter how much I try to appear so, I am not a “good person”. What I am is imperfect, broken, shattered. The good news is, when I gather those shattered pieces of my life and place them in the hands of the Father, He takes them and He transforms me. He doesn’t just put me back together as I once was. He creates something new, something magnificent, something I never was before. At His touch, this pile of broken glass, once suitable only for the rubbish heap, is now an exquisite work of art. As the light of His Son shines through me, His beauty, His righteousness is reflected in my life.

I am a firm believer in the eternal security of the believer. Once I place my faith and trust in God, my relationship with Him is sealed forever in Christ Jesus. The fellowship we experience, however, can be impacted by unconfessed sin in my life. Like dirt on a window must be cleaned away in order for the light to shine through unhindered, we must, as one of my pastor friends states it, “keep short sin accounts.”  In this way, righteousness (maintaining a right relationship with God) is a continuous process.

Verse 17

17) I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

David begins and ends this psalm with the goodness and power of God. Whether or not he has already received his deliverance, David gives thanks. It is the righteousness of God that makes all the difference, so much so that David bursts into song.

Sunlight coming through a window is a mere fraction of the power and energy of our universe’s most important star. Even when it rains, we know the sun is there, sending forth its rays of warmth and light. Similarly, in our daily lives we can catch small glimpses into the boundless heart of the Father. When times of trouble come, we can know that He is always there.

The righteousness of God is eternal, infinite, unchanging. He is good, and I am His.

That, my friends, is a reason to sing!

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Image Credit: http://elderberry.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-2-2016-reflecting-gods-light.html

Finding Peace

by Coddiwompling, posted in Bible Study, faith, Family, Finding Peace, Going Deeper, Legacy of Love, Lessons Learned, Moving Forward, Perspective, Tough Times, Uncategorized

Some days I laugh out loud about funny things my mother said or did. For example, for a woman gifted with many talents, the extremely simple concept of throwing a Frisbee completely eluded her. A Frisbee toss with Florence required cat-like skills, and maybe even a football helmet. Some days I smile at things she taught me, like how to sew a simple stitch – with or without a sewing machine. Some days my smile is more wistful, as I consider the lessons I picked up on simply by watching her live her life. Some days I just miss my mom. I mean, really, really miss her.

My mom passed away a little over two years ago, during Mother’s Day weekend. I don’t have her anymore as my top cheerleader and sounding board. But I do have two treasures: a stack of her journals (which one day I’ll be brave enough to actually read) and two of her Bibles. One is the beat-up old Scofield KJV that I vividly remember from childhood; the other is an equally marked-up Amplified version that was her study Bible in her last days.

The past year has been a tough one. I find myself walking on ground I never in a million years expected to trod. Yet here I am. I wish my mom was here to guide me, to talk to, to hear her amazing blend of compassionately no-nonsense wisdom, to see those green eyes light up with fiery passion, then with sweet grace, as she prayed with me and for me. These days the missing her is a deep, unfathomable ache, almost another presence in the room.

Having been a Christ-follower for the majority of my life, I feel like I should certainly have a better grasp on what to think, what to do. But I kinda don’t have a clue. So I do what my Mama taught me: I turn to Scripture.

For the last couple months, I’ve been taking a very leisurely stroll through the book of Psalms. If anyone ever in the history of mankind understood the heart of Father God, it is David, shepherd boy turned king. My basic plan is to read one chapter per day, and then spend the day considering what it says and how it might relate to my life. Sometimes a particular psalm will require more than one day. There’s a reason the 23rdPsalm is one of the most treasured chapters in the entire Bible. I believe a person could spend time pondering it, line by line, word by word, for a year and never fully grasp its rich glimpses into the character of God. I didn’t camp out quite that long (yet), but I surely did enjoy the days spent there.

In one of those amazing planetary alignments, I was asked to share a devotional at a small women’s gathering, I was kind of caught up in Psalm 37 at the time, and I was so very much missing my Mama. As I began to pray over what to share, I was certain that Psalm 37 would be the foundational text. I had a vague idea where to go with my talk, but it just wasn’t shaping up quite right. I wondered what my mom thought about when she read King David’s words. I took her time-worn KJV off my shelf, pausing a moment to savor the weight of it in my hands, of seeing her handwriting on the pages, of catching that warm scent that happens when old leather books are opened. And wouldn’t you know it? She had marks all over Psalm 37. For a fleeting second it was like she was leaning over my shoulder, her hair brushing against my cheek as her delicate finger pointed out, “Here! Look at this!”

What follows in bold text are the verses, with underlining and points she designated. Now, knowing my Mama, she may have heard this in a sermon and thought it worthy of remembering, or it may have been something God revealed to her during a time of private study. Either option is just as likely as the other. I’ll also share a few of my own thoughts on each verse.

 

FRET NOT: Five Active Verbs – Recipe for a Fret-Free Life

Psalm 37:1-9 (KJV)

1 Fret notthyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

  • It is so easy to get stressed out over the things we cannot change. “Bad” people seem to get ahead while “Good” people have a hard time of it. No matter our circumstances, there is no need to fret. We can trust God.

TRUST

3 Trustin the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 

  • We need to trust our heavenly Father. This sounds so very obvious, but when we have been wronged in some way, our natural tendency is to take matters into our own hands. Many is the time I have wanted to put a hand on my hip, point my finger in someone’s face, and tell them off. Man! Wouldn’t that be satisfying…for about ten seconds! Instead of retaliating, we need to seek God’s wisdom. Sometimes He will reveal a course of action, perhaps relying on the legal system or seeking mediation. Sometimes He will ask us to do the hardest thing of all – nothing. This one is hard. So stinking hard. However, when we trust God and do good (even when we REALLY don’t want to), we are submitting to His Lordship and aligning ourselves with His heart. My family is in the middle of a situation in which a person who has done wrong seems to be winning at life, whereas our every step forward is slow and methodical and earned at a great price. Yet even in this we can see the fingerprints of the Father. It will not be our job to take this person down. Our greatest responsibility here is to live justly and entrust the situation into the hands of the only One with any real power to change things.
  • When we take that monstrous leap of trusting Him, we will see that God is much more concerned with our character than our circumstances, and obedience will always precede blessings.

DELIGHT

4 Delightthyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

  • I used to think that this verse meant that if I just worshiped God on Sunday, He would give me anything that I wanted, kind of like a cosmic Santa Claus. And I wanted all kinds of things, many of which weren’t especially good for me. Much like a small child who has never been given the safety of reasonable limits (admit it, you’ve seen more than one toddler fling himself to the floor in a store when he wasn’t immediately given whatever it was he wanted at the time.) when we live for our own selfish desires, we can quickly spiral out of control: “So what if I don’t have enough money for those cool new shoes? I really, really want them. I’ll add them to the credit card. What’s another $200? I won’t have to pay for right away. Ooohhh! Look at those earrings!” Then ten minutes later, we want something else, then something else, then another something else. When we are grasping at the latest shiny thing, we will never be truly satisfied. There will always be that something else that we think we need. The same principle applies in our spiritual lives. I’ve grown to understand that when I delight myself in the Lord He is able to give me the desires of my heart because as we spend time together my desires begin to change. It becomes more clear that all the fancy cars and houses and shoes will never bring me joy. Not for long anyway. What my heart truly longs for is wisdom and peace and love, and for the people that I love to experience these things as well. As I invest in our relationship, I become more like my Father; what I want is what He wants.

COMMIT

5 Committhy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

  • Committing my way unto the Lord means surrendering the ownership of my life. There’s that trust thing again. The whole WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) fad a few years back took an amazing, life-affirming concept and somehow managed to make it trite. This is more than just throwing out a buzz phrase or wearing the latest trendy bracelet. One of the things I’ve started doing is consecrating my day to God. Before my feet hit the floor, I make an intentional effort to focus my mind on His mind, my heart on His heart (AKA the Gospel), my thoughts, my actions on His. This takes effort and intentionality. When I realize that I am not my own, I can quit fighting. I can let go. I can quit worrying about things. When I am obedient, my only concern is doing what God says; making it happen is His job.

REST

7 Restin the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret notthyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

  • Resting in the Lord is a lesson I am currently learning. My family is facing a challenging situation right now. I look at the circumstances and get so afraid, so frustrated. Nothing looks like it is going to work out right. The immediate natural impulse I have is for something – anything – besides resting. That’s when I have to take a deep breath, remember the ways God has intervened on our behalf, the way He orchestrated events as we never could, and then rehearse the goodness of God. I can rest because He is faithful. I can rest because He reminds me that what “seems” is not necessarily what “is.” I can rest because my enemies are no match for Almighty God. I can rest because He is true to His Word. I can rest because the track record for God keeping His promises is exactly 100%. Whether we can see it or not, God is at work. I can rest in Him.

CEASE

8 Ceasefrom anger, and forsake wrath: fret notthyself in any wise to do evil.

  • Letting go of anger is so important. This verse does not in any way imply that we are wrong to be angry about certain situations. Even Jesus got angry when people were turning His Father’s house – set aside to be a house of prayer for all people – into a place to turn a profit at the expense of others. Genuine injustices should make us angry. It’s what we do with that emotion that makes all the difference. When someone we care about is wronged, for example, we want to retaliate. We want to make that offender pay, and pay dearly, for what they have done. There have been situations when I have taken my anger to God …but had to be very careful not to pray that the offender be run over by a bus. One thing I have learned is that when I let anger get deep within me, I have allowed the other person control over me. They may not even know or care that I’m mad. People have spent decades wallowing in such anger and bitterness. And that’s just sad. Letting go of anger involves forgiving. This ain’t even easy. But it releases the control that the situation has over you. There is a difference here between forgiveness and excusing. Excusing says “That’s Okay.” And it’s not. Whatever happened was harmful or hurtful to you. Forgiveness says “That hurt me. Still, I release you from this debt” – and in doing so I release myself.

ADDED BONUS: A PROMISE

9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

  • God will take care of the evildoers. We don’t have to worry about that. When we follow His leadership, God will bless us. All that we need will be supplied in just the right way and at just the right time. We can quit worrying. Period. We can enjoy our relationships with other people and with Him. This is perhaps the best part.