Reach Out to the LORD First

When I read Psalm 107 on April 18, 2015, these words resonated over and over: "Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress." This Psalm teaches us to FIRST reach out to the LORD. We are to turn fully and completely to Him; THEN, He responds by rescuing us. That rescue may not entail the avoidance of the problem or heartache, but the rescue may actually be the LORD's deliverance of us to and then through the anxiety, the concern, the discomfort, the affliction, the trial, the heartache, the grief, or the obstacle.

Verses 29-30 tell us, "He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven." These verses perfectly describe the concept of calmness. When a sea is calm, it is not rough, but is nearly still. When a day is calm, it is without wind or stormy conditions. When our souls and spirits are calm, they are tranquil and serene. The sea, the day, and our souls are free from havoc, agitation, and disturbance.

We are to cry out to the LORD in times of mild irritations or challenges, AND we are to cry out to Him when our troubles seem insurmountable. No matter the root cause of the distress, if we call out to Him, He will still our storm to a mere whisper. The tumultuous waters will be hushed.

Rejoice in advance, knowing that peaceful calmness is promised! Rejoice in gladness, knowing He is the perfect haven.

Dear LORD,
Thank you for revealing that calmness is not intrinsic to the circumstance, but it is ALL about abiding in You, trusting You, and waiting for You to bring us out of our distress! Thank You for rescuing us from any need to be anxious. Thank You for stilling ALL of our storms to mere whispers. You, and only You, are worthy of our praise and rejoicing! Amen!

The Tumultuous Sea Is Hushed

When I read Psalm 107 today, these words resonated over and over:  "Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress."  This Psalm teaches us to FIRST reach out to the LORD.  We are to turn fully and completely to Him; THEN, He responds by rescuing us.  That rescue may not entail the avoidance of the problem or heartache, but the rescue may actually be the LORD's deliverance of us to and then through the anxiety, the concern, the discomfort, the affliction, the trial, the heartache, the grief, or the obstacle. 

Verses 29-30 tell us, "He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.  They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven."  These verses perfectly describe the concept of calmness. 

When a sea is calm, it is not rough, but is nearly still.  When a day is calm, it is without wind or stormy conditions.  When our souls and spirits are calm, they are tranquil and serene.  The sea, the day, and our souls are free from havoc, agitation, and disturbance. 

We are to cry out to the LORD in times of mild irritations or challenges, AND we are to cry out to Him when our troubles seem insurmountable.  No matter the root cause of the distress, if we call out to Him, He will still our storm to a mere whisper.  The tumultuous waters will be hushed. 

Rejoice in advance, knowing that peaceful calmness is promised!  Rejoice in gladness, knowing He is the perfect haven.



 

Dear LORD,

Thank you for revealing that calmness is not intrinsic to the circumstance, but it is ALL about abiding in You, trusting You, and waiting for You to bring us out of our distress!  Thank You for rescuing us from any need to be anxious.  Thank You for stilling ALL of our storms to mere whispers.  You, and only You, are worthy of our praise and rejoicing!  Amen!



The Whys of Life

Sometimes life generates more questions than answers. 

Why did a parent die young?  Why was a young child hurt in a bizarre accident?  Why did a disease hit when life was getting especially busy and fun?  Why did one friend find her perfectly priced house quickly, yet another friend still waits for her home to sell?   Why was a less qualified candidate offered a dream job?  Why did a pay raise come exactly when it was needed the most?  Why didn't funds come through when they were vital to the budget? 

When the desires of our hearts seem beyond our reach and are not fulfilled, we ask questions, but no answers come.

When we think we are making the right decisions, and we think we are moving in the right direction, but the hoped-for results don't materialize, we ask questions, but no answers come.

When love is not reciprocated, we ask questions, but no answers come.

When we suddenly realize we have been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations, we ask questions, but no answers come.

When some marriages blossom and become a blessing to others, we ask questions, but no answers come.

When some children make good choices, walk faithfully with the Lord, and experience the fullness of life, yet others fail miserably in the same family, we ask questions; but no answers come.

Well-meaning friends and family try to help us make sense of life's whys.  Without hesitation they offer advice and conclusions.  However, when we try to make sense of countless whys, no answers come.  Internal and external discussions are discouraging and futile.

Instead of wasting precious time fretting over, even belaboring, the unanswerable, wouldn't our cherished moments be best spent elsewhere? 

Perhaps, our meditations and our time would be best spent with the One who has all of the answers.  Focusing on just being in God's presence brings peace and encouragement, even if He never divulges the answers to life's whys. 

Learning to trust God for who He is and for what He has already accomplished, rather than focusing on the troubling and baffling, is categorically the only way to live.  He is God, and we are not. 

 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV).

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5 NIV

Trusting in God with ALL our hearts means:

- believing He knows what is best for us, even when we do not understand the

   whys

- believing He loves us more than anyone

- believing that when He allows bad things to happen to us, our families, or  

   our friends that even though we do not understand, He is still worthy of our
   confidence

- believing He is the same powerful, wise, unchanging God that Abraham, 

  Moses, and John knew  

- believing He deserves our wholehearted affection and attention every

   moment of every day
 

Trusting in God does not mean:

 - having faith in Him only in the good times

- having confidence in Him only when we understand the whys

- doubting that He loves us unconditionally, always

- disobeying Him or turning away from Him when life is not treating us

  exactly how we expect or want

- rebelling when we do not understand God's ways or His path

Handling life's whys is ALL about trusting in THE ONE who is worthy. 

Handling life's whys is all about trusting WHO the Lord is.

We can ask Him our questions because He can handle all of them, but we ask knowing He may choose not to enlighten us. . . and that is okay.   His thoughts, reasons, and actions are beyond are human comprehension, but we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He will never leave us or forsake us.  HE is the answer to all of the questions that seem to have no answer. 

 Dear Heavenly Father,

Learning to trust You, Lord, especially when the whys outnumber the answers, is terribly difficult.  Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to encourage us and teach us how to live confidently.  You assure us that You always have our best interests at heart and that Your plan is always the best one to pursue.  Thank You for your instructions; thank You for your enabling, and most of all thank You for being trustworthy and faithful.  As we grow closer to You and as we know You more intimately, perhaps, the desire to have answers for life's whys will diminish.  I am certain You reveal all that we need to know on this earth.  I am convinced that You will bless us with more answers when we see You face-to-face.  Meanwhile, please help us face all circumstances and all moments with peace, determination, and fortitude.  Such boldness and fearlessness only comes in You and through You.  Thank You for continuing to mature us.  Amen.

Numbered Hairs

Have you ever had a Phyllis Diller hair day?  Younger readers may not know of Ms. Diller, but she was an accomplished stand-up comedienne, who was best known for her eccentric stage presence, her voice, her wisecracks, her unique attire, and especially for her wild-looking hair.  Modern cartoonists might sketch her with her finger in an electrical socket with her hair every which way.  Every hair seemed to be sticking up and out in all directions.

I am an under-the covers sleeper, so I encounter this laughable look almost every morning in my mirror.  The times I had permed hair and was unexpectedly caught in a rain storm or was caught outside in our Indiana humidity without gel or hairspray, my hair looked even more preposterous.   Ugh!

What if I told you that our dear heavenly Father knows every single wild hair on our ridiculous-looking heads?  He has numbered them!!  The Bible tells us this truth.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  Matthew 10:29-31

If He knows, or perhaps I should say, if He cares about the number of hairs on our heads, how much more must He care about every aspect of our beings and our lives.  Our weariness is His concern.  Our burdens trouble Him because they often overwhelm us.  Our joys are His delight.  Nothing we encounter on this earth, in this life, is insignificant to Him.  Let me repeat that - nothing we encounter is insignificant to Him.   He intentionally concerns Himself, not only with the number of hairs we have, but He deeply cares about us.  Every single detail of our lives matters to Him.

In the ragged, hair-askew moments and days, pause and take time to consider that our heavenly Father wants us to bring every aspect of our lives into our conversations with Him.  Nothing comes into our lives that has not passed through His loving, capable hands.  Tell Him directly about each hair-raising problem, concern, or challenge.  He knows our anxieties, our thoughts, and our words before they are even formed or spoken.  He knows the past, the present, and the future.  Trust Him to lay down those frazzled frizzies in His time.

Lord, when life frazzles me and turns my tresses into frizzies, remind me to bring every puny, trivial-seeming detail directly to You.  May I take a huge deep breath and ponder You.  In the midst of what I consider unbearable chaos, remind me to depend upon You because You are trustworthy.  May I just quietly sit in Your presence listening and waiting for Your presence to lead me and comfort me.  You lovingly and tenderly watch after the sparrows You created; how much more will You watch after and over me!!  Fill my heart with Your assurance, so I may move forward, unafraid.  Amen.

Prayers Like Wafting Balloons

Impress

 



 

What does it mean to impress someone or something? 

Random House Dictionary defines "impress" as:  "to affect deeply or strongly in mind or feelings; influence in opinion; to fix deeply or firmly on the mind or memory, as ideas or facts; to urge, as something to be remembered or done; to impose a particular characteristic or quality upon something; to produce a mark by pressure; stamp; imprint; to apply with pressure, so as to leave a mark; to draw attention to oneself, particularly to create favorable attention; to impart a distinctive character."¹

When I used to seal envelopes with wax, I applied pressure to my lettered gold seal on the melted wax, to imprint my initials on the reverse side of my envelope.  Exerted pressure sealed the envelope closed, as the perfect pressure affixed a lovely imprint of the letter's sender, me!

 When our daughter was growing up, I tried to teach her solid morals and character traits because when she left home, I wanted those strong positive values embedded into her mind, so she would be prepared to make good decisions.  If I am completely honest, I also think I wanted her behavior to persuade others that I was truly a good parent because I had taught her life lessons so well.  I wanted her to be favorably received and noticed, and I probably also wanted her to positively reflect me in her solid upbringing.

I hoped to impress or imprint myself into my daughter's heart, so when I am gone, she will remember me with great affection, love, and appreciation, just as my own mother resides in my heart always.

More importantly, Deuteronomy 6 abounds with Biblical teachings of why we must impress God's Word, His commands, and decrees into the very center of our hearts, minds, and souls, and in the core beings of our children and our children's children.  To be able to love Him and share who He is, we must know Him.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2; 4-9; 13-18; 20-25:

6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

¹³ Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. ¹⁶ Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors,

²⁰ In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” ²¹ tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. ²³ But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. ²⁵ And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

We are to teach God's commands diligently.  We are to be sharpened or incisively taught with and by these words, as if we were sharply pierced by them.  This command is not made lightly.

We are to talk of them when we sit, when we walk, when we lie down, and when we rise.  They are to be foremost in our focus.  To impress God's teachings upon our children, we are to repeat them again and again.  As we teach them, we, too, are having them implanted into our hearts. 

God has directed us to teach and observe His Godly and loving commands.  He wants us to impress them on ourselves and our children, even if that precept requires a bit of pressure.  Being established firmly in His Word reflects His love through us, urges others with whom we have contact to desire similar lives, and clearly illuminates our love for our precious, almighty, righteous God.

He and His ways become so engrained into our beings that our hearts overflow with His love.   God's perfect and living Word has been revealed, and we are to teach it to masses of people who wish to understand it, and we are especially directed to teach our children and our children's children.

Dear Heavenly Righteous LORD,

Thank you for this blessing today of reading your special and specific commands in Deuteronomy.  Help my every waking moment be tuned into and tuned toward you.  Help me be the follower and teacher you intend me to be.  Help me reflect your righteousness and love.  Thank you especially for the blessing of a daughter.  I pray that some of your teachings have been firmly and fully implanted and impressed upon her heart, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, as well as my own.  Amen.

 



Uncancellable Reservation

 

Every time we plan a vacation, and I am bustling about researching where we are going to stay, I get excited. I carefully seek out the perfectly located accommodations. I look for the most luxurious furniture, linens, and amenities we can afford based upon our preset housing budget. Then, when we actually commit, and the reservation is made, I joyfully anticipate what is to come. Yes, I can be a drama queen.

Coupled with that bliss; however, lurks an underlying anxiety, a niggling apprehension that something unforeseen will happen to cause our marvelous trip to be cancelled. When we travel to the Outer Banks, hurricanes can come into play. As we age, serious unexpected sickness can prevent travel. An inefficient property manager might have overbooked our desired rental. Any one of those events could prompt a cancellation. Consequently, I teeter between ecstasy and foreboding until the appointed departure time.

Unlike such earthly cancellable reservations, God's plan is NEVER thwarted. His reservations are uncancellable!!

Scripture tells us, "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be," Psalm 139:16 (NIV). God, in His infinite wisdom and Sovereignty has a number of days set for each of us. They were planned, even before we came into existence.

"My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John 14:1-3 (NIV). God's accommodations for us, our rooms, are being prepared in advance for us. In fact, God's Son, Jesus, is going there in advance to prepare a perfect place for each of His children.

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand," John 10:27-29 (NIV). We, God's sheep, are His, and we listen to His voice. He knows each of us personally, and we know Him. We follow Him to our especially prepared rooms, at the appointed time. We absolutely do not have to fear that our rooms are taken by others because God has given us eternal life through His Son, Jesus. We will NOT perish (die) and stay in the ground. God guarantees our rooms. He guarantees that we will not and cannot be snatched out of Jesus' hand. We were gifted to Him, and NO ONE and NO unforeseen situation can cancel this reservation!
God has made our reservations; He has prepared our perfect accommodations, and no one and nothing can keep us from our appointed time!!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB.

Holy Father, I pray that I might fully understand and accept such words as "can never perish, spoil or fade"; "incorruptible, undefiled, and that not fadeth away", "imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away". May I know without question that you are protecting and guaranteeing my reservation in heaven, my inheritance that you have granted out of your abundant mercy, and because of these absolutes, may I live every day in joy that could only come from you. Amen.