Today's Beginning

  Psalm 94:19 (MSG), "When I am upset and beside myself, you calm me down and cheer me up." Tuesday... Ok, let's just calm down! But that is easier said than done, isn't it? Now Psalm 94:19 (MSG) says, "When I am upset and beside myself, you calm me down and cheer me up." Have you ever sensed in those times when you are upset there is a still small voice that is there striving to calm you down?  Probably not. The problem is to stop and sense that it is there and to listen to what it is saying. Now God also uses people. But most of the time we are so focused on ourselves that we don't sense anything but the anxiety.   Now our pride and our self focus many times believes we can handle it. But can we? Too many times we just let the anxiety pile upon us.  The New Living Translation says, "When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gives me renewed hope and cheer." I love that. What are we filling our minds with? Look at these verses. Verses 16-19 say...

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...

Thursday... This is so, so very true. There is one thing that those of us who are on this side of 70 have and that is experience. Some good and some bad. I was born into a Christian home so my experiences have come from that perspective and what I was taught has held true through all these years. Now I was taught to spend time in God's word, in the Bible and to live by what it says. Thank you God for parents who led me to you. Now along the way I fell in love with the Psalms. They are honest and they are uplifting. And here is what I read today. In verses 18-19 in Psalm 94 (NIV) I found something that is so, so very true. It says, "When I said, 'My foot is slipping.' your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." And I have slipped along the way and I have found that unfailing love of God supported me and that when my anxiety was about to get me down his consolation brought me joy. That is so, so true. ...