Monday... You really do know us.

Psalm 139:3b (AMP), "And you are intimately acquainted with all my ways."

Monday... You really do know us.

Psalm 139:3b (AMP) says, "And you are intimately acquainted with all my ways."

I'm not sure why this jumped out at me this morning but it did. Relationships are so very important for us. We each one need people in our lives, who really know us and accept us. We don't need a lot of friends but we need a few.

Proverbs 18:24 (AMP) says, "The man of too many friends [chosen indiscriminately} will be broken in pieces and come to ruin, but there is a [true, loving] friend who [is reliable and] sticks closer than a brother."

That really is important for us to know. Again Psalm 139:3b (AMP) says, "And you are intimately acquainted with all my ways."

Now verse 1 (NLT) says, "O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me."

Margaret, my wife definitely knows me better than anyone else and she has stayed with me for over 51 years. But she doesn't know me like God does.

Here's why. Verses 13-14 says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it."

Now that complex part can be difficult for some to accept and for us to share with others. But real love accepts. Verse 1 of Psalm 139 (NLT) shows where God is different. It says, "O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me." He really does know us.

Verses 1-3 in the Amplified Bible goes on to say, "O LORD, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do]; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and You are intimately acquainted with all my ways."

Now some get to the place that they think they really do know a person and they strive to change them. They feel that they need to change their complexity but God really is the only one who can do that. Oh I am really different now than what I was 51 years ago. Margaret's love and acceptance of my complexity has made a difference in me in so many ways. But really God is the only one who can make a difference in us because He made us and our complexities. He knows more about us and He is the one we go to for real change. You see He is the only one who is intimately acquainted with all my ways and who can examine our heart and who made us so wonderfully complex.

And that is why we need to pray this prayer to our LORD. Verses 23-24 (NLT) says, "Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious life. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

There is so much about our friends, our mates, our kids that we need to give over to God and quit trying to change. Oh we do have a part to play in their change but it is only through God's guidance because He is the only one who really knows the why He made us the way we are and who really knows our heart and where the real change needs to be made.

Yes, God, "you are intimately acquainted with all my ways." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

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 ...

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