Thursday... He really knows us and he won't.

I love the Psalms and their honesty. The writer of the longest Psalm, Psalm 119 at the end of the first section says something that I know we all feel at some time in our life. Verse 8 (NLT) says, "I will obey your degrees. Please don't give up on me."

At 76 years of age I still need to pray that prayer. "Please don't give up on me." I love the honesty of the Psalms.

It is so easy for us to give up on people, isn't it? They maybe don't live up to our standards but God gives us grace and help and so should we.

Verses 4-8 says, "You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your degrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! I will obey your degrees. Please don't give up on me!"

That is so good. That shows our desire and our commitment to live as he wants us to live but it also shows our need for his grace and his help. Now if we aren't trying, then that is something different.

How gracious are we with our family, with our friends, with our church? We have not arrived and neither have they. And maybe our prayer could be, Please let us not give up on them.

The Message puts it this way, "I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me." We need him, we do. We can't do it alone. And they need us and him too!

The Amplified Bible says it this way, "I shall keep Your statutes; Do not utterly abandon me [when I fail]." We really do need him. We think we have what it takes in ourselves but the truth is we need his grace and we need his help, don't we? Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... We have this hope of expectancy.

Psalm 5:3 (NLT), "Listen to my voice in the morning Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly." Friday... We have this hope of expectancy. Now David found a great way to start his day. He says in Psalm 5:1-3 (NLT), "O LORD, hear me as I pray." And that is a great place to start. It really is. Morning sunrise He goes on, "Listen to my cry for help, my King, my God, for I pray to no one but you." And that is so important. We don't try to pump ourselves up by ourself. No, we pray to no one but you, God, my LORD, my King. Now this relationship with God is so, so very important. And then David says, "Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you" And that is so great. And then he says, "and wait expectantly." Yes, we have this hope of expectancy. We are experienced. That is what a relationship with God and a moment by moment connection does. It makes a difference in our daily wa...

Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true.

Psalm 12:6 (NLT), "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true. Maybe this is what you want to say in this day in which we live. Psalm 12:1-2 (MSG) says, "Quick, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, all the friends I depend on gone. Everyone talks in lie language; lies slide off their oily lips. They doubletalk with forked tongues." Do you ever feel that way?" Have you found that to be true? Well David the writer of this Psalm continues and says in verse 6 something to encourage us, to lift us up, to give us hope. Psalm 12:6 (NLT) says, "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." The Message Paraphrase says verses 6-8 this way, "God's words are pure words, pure silver words refined seven times in the fires of his word-kiln, pure on earth as well as in heaven, God, keep ...

Wednesday... It is amazing what we can see.

Psalm 3:3a (NLT), "But you, O LORD, are a shield around me." Wednesday... It is amazing what we can see. And what we see does make such a difference in our day. Now David, he writer of Psalm 3 starts this Psalm this way. He says in verse 1 (NLT), "O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me." Yes, he is saying this to the LORD, the one he serves. Verse 2 says, "So many are saying, 'God will never rescue him!'" And that is so true with that outlook. So many of us get out of bed with that outlook every morning. It is amazing what we can see. Now I woke up this morning and eventually found myself outside on my couch with my Bible and I read this outlook in verses 1-2 from David. But I didn't stop there and neither did David. But that is an easy place to stop, isn't it? And it is true. Yes, David didn't stop there. Verses 3-4 says, "But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I...

Today's Beginning

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