Wednesday... He wasn't perfect, but.

I have spent a lot of time with King David, the writer of many of the Psalms and he wasn't perfect. I have been reading a Psalm a day for almost 50 years and David has shown his feelings, his failures and his areas that he had problems but I love how he starts Psalm 26.

In verses 1-3 (NLT), he writes, "Declare me innocent, O Lord for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth."

Again, "For I am always aware of your unfailing love." He was not perfect but he knew that God's love was unfailing. Now that is what we each one need, isn't it? But that kind of love only comes from a relationship with God. But how each one of us need that and each one of us needs to live with that. Yes, I am not perfect and I need that kind of love.

Now he had some qualities that made a difference. He had integrity, he trusted in the Lord, he lived with the right motives, his heart was right, he lived according to God's truth and he was aware of God's unfailing love. And that is so important for each one of us.

Verse 3 in the Amplified Bible says, "For your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked [faithfully] in Your truth."

Oh, how we need to see that and live with that. We really do in this world, in our families, need to show kindness and love. We too need lovingkindness.

Now in verse 4 he says something important. He says, "I do not sit with deceitful or unethical or worthless men, nor seek companionship with pretenders (self-righteous hypocrite)." We need to watch out who we spend time with. We really do.

Back in our beginning days of marriage, when Margaret and I were in the learning how to do it stage we tried to not spend a lot of time with couples who were having trouble in their marriage, who were striving to find out what love meant in a marriage. We tried to spend time with mature couples who really loved each other and who had a mature relationship with God. We had a time that we spent a lot of time, too much time with a couple who were having trouble in their marriage and it was not a good time for us in our marriage.

Verses 4-5 (NLT) says, "I do not spend time with liars or go along with hypocrites. I hate the gatherings of those who do evil, and I refuse to join in with the wicked." We may spend too much time watching TV and gossiping on the internet. There is a whole lot of anger on TV and the internet especially right now.

And then verses 6-7, "I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders." Now that is a great way to spend our time.

I have found that spending some time in the Psalms, in Proverbs and in the New Testament is a great way to start my day. We need to reinforce what God's unfailing love for us and through us means in how we live and how we respond to ourself and our imperfections and others. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...

Today's Beginning

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