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... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless. It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...

Todays Beginning

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