Month: July 2024

“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Psalm 115:3 NIV

When I first read this verse, I was confused. I wasn’t sure what the author was trying to say with this statement. After doing some research, I found that there are few different interpretations of this verse. This is one of the verses that is not a ‘stand alone’ verse because it could be taken out of context and made to look like it means something that it does not mean. However, when it is read in the context of the rest of the passage, it makes sense, at least to me, what the author was saying.

The one interpretation that sticks with me is the one that says that God is able to do what He wills where as the other gods of the time, the idols created by humans, were not able to do anything. Obviously that is because they were just pieces of metal or wood and were not the Living God, they were not our God.

Once I let that take root, the account of the creation of the world took on an even greater significance for me. It was by His will, His desire that the heavens and the earth were formed on the first day as it is recorded in Genesis 1:1. Without His approval this would not have happened. Without His approval or will, we would not have been created in His image as it is recorded in Genesis 1:26-27.

I can only imagine that if God had not decided to create the heavens and the earth or the animals and us at the time that He did, that we may not be the people we are today. It is hard to imagine because if He had not created the heavens and earth and us, we wouldn’t be here to even think about this. If He had decided to wait and do it at another time, the situations that occurred in the garden may have been different, Eve may have said no to the serpent.

None of that matters though because God chose to make the heavens, the earth, the animals and us when He did. He can make those choices because He is the real Living God. The psalm that this verse is a part of is only one of the Egyptian Hallel psalms, psalms 113-118, that were sung during the Passover celebrations after Jesus had ascended. Normally Jesus and His disciples would have sung a certain part and since they were no longer there, this collection was used in their place.

Psalms 113-118 talks about how God is the Living God and can do what He pleases because He is real. Since He is real and not a piece of wood or metal, He has choices and can exercise them. In Genesis 6:9-22, God made a choice to save one family when He destroyed all the living creatures on the earth. He didn’t have to save that one family, He very easily could have started over and created everything again just like He did the first time, but that did not please Him. He wanted that one family to remain and so they did.

No idol or other made up god that we could possibly choose to worship can do that, only our real, Living Lord and Savior can do that.

Heavenly Father, Thank You very much for desiring to create the heavens and the earth. Thank You for wanting to have a personal relationship with us even after all that we have thought, said and done that is not in Your will for our lives. You are so patient with us and we do not deserve that. I am in awe of Your magnificent love for us. Thank You for being willing to be our Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:1-5 NIV

I wrote recently that I am comforted by knowing that God is everywhere and that I cannot hide from God. That He can see and knows what I am doing and thinking. This verse speaks about the idea of God knowing not only what I am going to say but what I am thinking a little more in depth. In my post “Nearby or far away”, I wrote about Jeremiah 23 and how God knows where we are and what we are thinking, saying and doing. I wrote that I take comfort in that because there are times when temptation feels too strong and knowing that God is everywhere encourages me to draw on Him for strength to resist the temptation.

Just as Jeremiah was writing about the mistaken belief of the false prophets, that they could hide from God, David is also writing about the idea of not being able to hide from God. David expresses to God that he knows that God is omniscient and omnipresent. He knows that God is aware of not only what he has said and done but what he is thinking even before he says it. This means that God knows David’s heart and God knows each one of our hearts, as believers.

As true believers, I pray that our hearts are wanting to please God and not sin, but we are human and know that we are not perfect. We are all going to make mistakes and going to sin. Thankfully we serve a God who knows our hearts and knows that we want to please Him. He knows what has happened, what is happening and what will happen, and He is choosing to love us anyway. That is amazing to me.

The last part of this passage is also comforting. David states that God hems us in from all directions as well as lays His hand on us. When we think of a hedge or bush, we think of a barrier between one thing and another. A bush or hedge at the end of a yard is a barrier between that yard and the next, for example. That bush or hedge can also serve as an object of protection, which is how David is referring to it in this passage. God hems us in, He protects us from all sides.

David stated that God lays His hand upon him and you can feel that David does not mean that God is doing this in a way of controlling David but in a way that means God is showing him grace. So God knows what we are thinking, before we do, He knows what we are going to say, before we do, He knows what we are going to do, before we do, but most importantly He knows our hearts. God then chooses to lay His hand upon us in acts of grace and protect us because we are His children and our hearts long to please Him.

Heavenly Father, I pray that as you continue to know all about each one of us, believer or not, that You continue to love us. Thank You for that, Lord. Thank You for knowing us intimately, knowing our hearts and while knowing all that we do, that You still want to give us grace and protect us. We are so underserving of Your grace, but You love us so much that You give us Your grace anyway. I am humbled by that, Lord. I pray that everyone who reads this today, has chosen You as their Lord and Savior or is led to choose You as their Lord and Savior. I pray all of this in Your Son’s most precious name, Jesus. Amen.

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Psalms 8:9 NIV

When I read this verse my heart fills with joy. I try to imagine what David must have been feeling as he wrote such beautiful words to our Lord and Savior.

Lord, our Lord.

The idea that we can call God, our Lord, is amazing to me. The absolute love that David is showing God at this moment is genuine. God created all the earth and His name is celebrated by His children throughout the earth. This being who has done all this, wants to have a relationship with you and me, so humbling.

God created everything, the heavens and earth, which is amazing. Then He placed us, humans, in charge of everything here on earth. He trusts us with His creation. This entire psalm is a song of praise to God and all that He has done for David and us, His children.

I can almost see David lifting his arms up in adoration of God as he shouts out “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name.” That must have been a beautiful site. When I am worshipping God, I try to put all of my mind, heart and soul into it. God doesn’t deserve anything less. He doesn’t deserve to have only part of me worshipping Him. I want to react to hearing music devoted to Him, being in His presence and reading His word with that kind of outpouring. I want my worship to be coming from the very depths of my soul. I want to show God how much He means to me, how majestic I believe He is.

David knew what God was capable of, He knew the level of forgiveness God was willing to give His children. David had committed several sins, one right after another, in a short period of time and if anyone could have felt like God was not going to forgive them, it could have been David. However, David humbled himself and approached God with true sorrow in his heart and God forgave him.

Sometimes the most heart felt worship comes from the moments when we are at the lowest points and are feeling not worthy of any forgiveness. David experienced those moments, so he knew that to have God in his life was an honor and privilege. David was absolutely right when he proclaimed that our God’s name is majestic.

What comes to your mind when you hear this verse? I hope it moves you emotionally.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

When I read this verse, I think of my mom. My mom’s life was not an easy life. She faced many challenges, but the one thing she knew was that as she faced those challenges she was not alone. No matter what she was facing, she knew that God was with her. She knew He would not leave her nor forsake her.

At the end of her life, she was both strong and courageous as she faced her last days on this earth. She knew where she was going and that God would be there with her just as He has always been here with her.

It is hard to not be afraid at times as we face the challenges of this life, but as believers we have to remember that we never face them alone. We always have God with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When we face those moments of uncertainty and the devil wants to stop us in our tracks with fear, it is then that we can recite this verse and remember Who is on our side. The situation or challenge may not end the way we want or as soon as we want, but God will be there with us the entire time.

Heavenly Father, please be with each one of us as we face life on this earth. Please comfort us, reminding us that You will never leave nor forsake us. I pray this in Jesus’s precious and holy name. Amen

“In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!” Psalms 31:1 ESV

How often do you take refuge in God? I know I do not do it as often as I should. I begin to believe that I am all I need as I face whatever situation I am encountering. However, it doesn’t take long for me to realize that I am not enough, not strong enough, not brave enough, not wise enough, to face what is to come next.

Unfortunately, most of the time, I have to get to the point of realizing that I am not enough before I turn and surrender to God. That is when I take my refuge in Him. I want to live my life taking refuge in Him from the very beginning of each and every day, not once I figure out I can’t do something. This is a behavior that I am trying to practice. I practice it by being in His word, listening to music that glorifies Him and communicating with Him.

I have come to realize that this behavior and thought pattern of believing that I am enough has to do with pride. Pride in being able to do whatever it is by myself, take care of myself and not have to need anyone. However, that kind of thinking does not line up with how God made us to live. We are made to need to need others and most importantly we are made to need God. Living a life without having God in it ns not fulfilling, it is empty.

Are you living a life with God and taking refuge in Him daily or are you living life depending on yourself as you face each day?

“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?
Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:23-24 NIV

In the verses for today, Jeremiah records some questions from God. There were false prophets in Jeremiah’s time and they were preaching that Israel’s God was a god that was only present at certain times and otherwise was absent. That He was only in certain places and not others. These false prophets were doing their best to help people believe that there were things that they could do and say that God would not know about.

The false prophets wanted the Israelites to change how they behaved, believed, spoke so they would follow them and not God. The false prophets were not accepting that God was seeing and knew what they were doing and continued to believe that they could do anything in secret and would be fine. God was aware of what they were doing and He was going to deal with them, just as He does with us when we sin and refuse to repent.

Being human, I have always thought that I had the ability to do things in secret. That only I would know what I was thinking or only the people involved with what I was doing would know what I had done. And while this may be true that as humans being we are limited and are not able to know what others are thinking because we cannot read their minds, it is not true for God. God is not human and He does not have the limitations that we have. He is able to see everything because He is everywhere.

So the idea that no matter were I go or what I do, God is always there and knows, used to scared me. I was afraid of making a mistake and getting in trouble because if I made enough mistakes, I believed that God would be done forgiving me and just walk away. In my life, I have done, said, and thought things that I am not proud of. I have tried my best to remember all of them so I can ask for forgiveness for those things from God.

Here is the wonderful news. Even though I have done those things, said those things, thought those things and felt those things, God has not walked away. I have come to Him with true sorrow in my heart, asking for forgiveness and He has forgiven me. He knew about them before I ever brought them to Him and He still wanted to listen to me and forgive me. That is a relief that my God is understanding, wants to be in a relationship with me and is willing to forgive me, because I am human and make mistakes.

The longer that I have been a believer, the more I have matured in my faith, I have come to realize that I have changed my feelings about God being everywhere. Now, I view the idea of not being able to hide, as a comfort. No matter what I think, feel, say or do, I know that God knows about it. So I try to not sin but when I do, because I am going to, I ask for forgiveness. I know that I don’t have this secret I am hiding from God because He already knows, and He is willing to forgive me. I am thankful for that.

I also view the fact that He is everywhere as an aide at times. Knowing He is everywhere helps me to resist temptations at times when I feel less than strong enough to do it on my own. It took me a while to think of His presence in that way and not as a threat and I feel comfort now knowing He is everywhere with me.

My question for you today is………Does His presence everywhere bring you comfort or dread? I pray that it is comfort but if it is not, I hope you would be willing to look at changing how you think about God being everywhere with you because He is.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

Paul has written to Timothy encouraging him to understand the importance of keeping the teaching he has received from Paul about Jesus always in his mind. Paul has warned Timothy about what people are capable of based on what they have already seen people do. As the time draws closer to the return of Jesus, Paul believes that the manipulation from the enemy will become stronger.

The people who will be acting in ungodly ways, in the end times, will be the people who most of the members of society are modeling themselves after. They will be influential people who are able to sway others to think the way they are thinking. As this happens, those who are not strong in their faith may be easily convinced that the way they have been living, for Jesus, is not worth continuing or that it was wrong all along.

So Paul is encouraging Timothy to continue to live according to the scriptures, to adhere to them. Timothy’s life will be an example to others about how to live, he may have to talk with others about their behaviors, using scripture as the example, in a loving manner to guide them back onto the correct path. This was going to be a large task for Timothy to accomplish without his mentor Paul. Paul was approaching the end of his life and in this letter was explaining that he wanted Timothy to be as prepared to carry on as possible.

The scriptures are from God and are a manual for Timothy and for us on how to live. We, just like Timothy, can find teaching about how God wants us to behave, we can find conviction when we sin and then we can find the way to ask for forgiveness from God as we acknowledge and correct our behaviors.

Have you ever asked yourself how equipped you are to do God’s work? I find that when I ask that question of myself, I do not feel very equipped. The wonderful news is that I don’t have to rely only on myself in order to be equipped because God lives in me and as long as I am willing, He is able to work through me to do the work that needs done.

I pray that I am and you are always willing to follow the scriptures, to listen to sound teaching from the scriptures and continue to be willing to allow God to work through me and through you. There is a lot of recruitment of other believers that needs done and others will watch how we behave sometimes more than what we say. I encourage each of us to read scripture, study scripture and live according to the God-breathed scripture we have been given.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul is writing to Timothy about how people may act as time goes on. He wants Timothy to remember the teaching he has received from Paul about Jesus is from scripture. Scripture is from God. He told each person who wrote the different verses, chapters and books of the Bible, what to write.

He gave them the inspiration to write, the words to write, the ability to remember what happened at times in their lives so it could be recorded. As the disciples, prophets and followers of Jesus wrote what God instructed them to write, it became part of them. Writing was not a simple task in the first century and before. There was parchment paper that had to be acquired, a quill was used that had to be dipped back in a bottle of ink very often. There were no stacks of paper, pencils, pens or computers to make recording what happened easy.

We are not privileged to be living in a time when we are seeing events first hand that are then recorded and become part of scripture. However, the recording of the scriptures from Moses’s time up through Paul’s time preserves what God wants us to know. This allows us to utilize the scripture as a manual or a road map of how God wants us to live.

The only way that we are able to know what is in the Bible, all the wonderful information that is in the scriptures, is to read the Bible. Even though it was not an easy undertaking to write down all the events during that time in history, it is easy for us to read it. We have not only the physical copies of the Bible, but we have electronic verses, we have the Bible on our phones. There is no reason that we can give to say that we don’t have access to the Bible.

What does your routine of reading the Bible look like? Are you in God’s word daily, weekly or sporadically?

It is important to be grounding ourselves in God’s word since that is where the information is about how we are to live. The scriptures also contain information about God so we are able to learn more about Him. As we live life, we usually have an idea of where we would like to end up, how we want our lives to go. As a Christian that idea hopefully is wanting to live life according to God’s will. If you are not in God’s word, His road map for us, then it is difficult to know where you are going. It is difficult to know what God wants you to do or the path He wants you to take.

I encourage you to spend time in God’s word, He had it written just for you, for me and for all of His children so we could stay connected to Him and learn from Him.

“God is within her, she will not fall, God will help her at break of day.” Psalms 46:5 NIV

When you read this verse, what do you think that it is about? I used to think this was literally talking about a particular woman within a story or at least women in general. However, after doing some research, I was surprised to find out what this verse is actually referring to.

It is important that as we study the Bible, that we don’t take verses and stand them alone. Taking a verse and pulling it out as a stand alone verse to prove a point can be dangerous because the verses are in a passage for a reason, God had them placed in the order and grouping that they are in on purpose.

As we study God’s word, we will find verses that when read in the passage they are in have different meanings than if they were read as a single verse. We will also find verses that read exactly the same whether they are in a passage or by themselves. The challenge is remembering that we are not the ones who wrote the verses, we were not the ones inspired by God to place them in the order they are in and therefore we don’t know without having read the whole passage if this verse or that verse is meant to be looked at individually or not.

My mother would always say that you have to read at least the verse before and the verse after a particular verse to gain perspective. Individuals who go door to door and try to persuade people to think the way they think based on single verses are the people who taught her that. She would invite them in and talk with them about that single verse they were trying to persuade her meant one thing when she knew after having read the entire chapter that it meant something else.

This is a perfect example of how we can take a single verse and believe it to mean one thing when it actually means more than what we think. As I said, I thought this verse was about women or at least one particular woman, but it is not, it is about all believers. As I looked at other translations, which is one way to help understand scripture, I found in the New Living Translation that the verse goes like this. “God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.” Combining that translation and the reading of the entire psalm helped me to understand that this verse has a totally different meaning than what it sounds like when it is read individually.

This verse is not about women in general or a particular woman, it is about Jerusalem. This Psalm is believed to have been written by the Sons of Korah, who were a group of Levites musicians in the Old Testament.  The Psalm is written as a song that is to be sung by a group of women and it tells of how Jerusalem, while under attack, is able to trust in the Lord’s protection. They believe that because God resides with them, ‘within her – within the city walls’ – that they will be protected.

The idea of the break of day is that it is the darkest right before dawn and that is when the enemy usually attacks. The psalm is talking about how God will be there for them at that pivotal moment and will deliver them.

As believers, we can all take comfort in this entire psalm, comfort that when everything looks to be the darkest it can be, that God is right there with us. We can think of this verse and entire psalm not only when we are facing our enemy personally and spiritually but also when we are facing others publicly who are against God.

Take comfort that God lives inside you, will protect you and deliver you when it is the perfect time. I hope you have a peaceful day resting in that assurance.

“Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matthew 23:26 NIV

In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is talking about listening to the pharisees and religious leaders of the day. We are to follow authority but we are not follow the example of hypocrisy. Throughout the chapter at different times, Jesus talks about listening to the people in authority and telling the crowd and His disciples to do what they are told to do but to be careful not to do what they see the people in authority doing. The pharisees and the religious leaders of the day were very good at telling the Jewish people what they had to do to fulfill the law both secularly and spiritually. However, the pharisees and religious leaders were not very good at following the law and fulfilling it themselves.

Throughout the 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus warns against hypocrisy and how that hypocrisy was going to affect not only the person being the hypocrite but those around them. People believe that when they say to do one thing to others and then do the opposite themselves, that it is ok. For example as a parent, the thinking is that “I told my children not to smoke, so they shouldn’t smoke. But I am the parent and I can do it if I choose to. Or I don’t want my children to do it, but I have been doing it for so long, I can’t stop.” is a perfectly acceptable way to show your children how to live. I believe we all can see the flaw in that thinking.

Hypocrisy can be done in public or secret. When the pharisees were telling the Jewish people to fulfill the law and then not fulfilling it themselves in such a way that everyone knew it, they were destroying their own creditability with the Jewish people. It is hard to follow someone who tells you to do one thing and then does the opposite themselves. Some of the religious leaders were making sure that in public everyone saw that they were in the synagogue and were giving their tithing regularly, but privately they were breaking other laws such as judging others and talking about others. When people practice hypocrisy in secret, they believe that they are getting away with it and that no one knows what they are doing. Again, when it is brought into the public that the leader was only following the law publicly, their credibility was destroyed.

Even if no other person knew what the pharisees and religious leaders were doing in private, Jesus knew. God knew. We are never able to do anything in true privacy because God always knows. You cannot change only on the outside, you have to change on the inside as well. Jesus, in the verse for today, is trying to get the pharisees and religious leaders to understand this idea by using household items, a cup and a dish. The Jewish people were very concerned with cleanliness and made sure that what they had was clean, not only their items but themselves as well. So they would have understood this analogy.

Jesus tells them that if you are only going to wash the outside of a cup and the side of a dish that shows then you truly have not cleaned the entire cup and dish. The inside of the cup and the underside of the dish are still dirty and cannot be used because they are not clean. He was explaining that it doesn’t matter if you are following the laws only in public because when you are in private if you are not following the laws, then you are sinning.

By making sure that you clean the inside of the dish and cup first, you are ensuring that it will be able to be used whereas the cup and dish that are only clean on the outside are not able to be used to eat and drink out of. When we only change our outward behaviors, we really are not changing anything. We are pretending to change and the ‘pretend change’ will not last. If we want to truly change our behavior, our belief or our way of thinking, we need to change on the inside – we need to change our heart.

If you are trying to grow in your relationship with Jesus and mature in your faith, are you changing what others see only or are you changing what God sees as well? We are all going to make mistakes, and sin. The difference between truly changing and doing it all for show is what we do once we have made the mistake or have sinned. Are we ignoring it, hoping it goes away or pretending like it didn’t happen or are we addressing it, trying to make amends and let God change us? That is the true determinizing factor in change, what are you doing about it once you have messed up?

I pray that each one of us is going to God and allowing Him to change us so that we are able to be more like Jesus each and every day. As you go through your day, I encourage you to think about how you are behaving both publicly and privately. Have a wonderful day.