Monthly Archives: October 2010

An Old Friend

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To me, the book of Psalms are like an old friend.  No matter what I read in the mornings, I try to read a few Psalms. They, as much as any book of Scripture, really get to the heart of what it means to worship God, to be obedient, and to pour our hearts out to God in an honest way.

Today, one of the Psalms was one of my favorites, one of the ones that means the most to me, Psalm 121.

And, honestly, I’ve ready this Psalm so many times, I know the words completely by heart.

And when that is the case, you have to make yourself slow down. Read slowly.  Listen closely.

When you know a passage so well, you can become too familiar with it, and miss what God is trying to say to you in it.

Today as I was reading, this part of the Psalm stood out to me:

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

What stood out to me, is that there never a time when God is not there with us.

The Lord neither slumbers not sleeps.  The sun, nor the moon, it shall not harm us.

The Lord is our shade.

Today, there is not a single moment, no matter how busy you may be.  No matter how long it may have been since you last talked to Him. No matter what is going on in your life.

There is not a single moment when you can’t turn to God and find Him there.  He is the shade at your right hand.  He is your sure help.

He is there for you all the time.  He is there for me, all the time.  He is there.

Let us remember.  Let us slow down.  Let us turn to Him.  Not just now as we read this text.  But, throughout all our days.  He is there, all day long.

May we remember. And may we turn to Him.

The Kingdom is Like. . . .

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One of the things that Jesus does in Scripture is compares things that we don’t understand to things that we do understand.

So, you know, we’ll understand them.

He takes a concept that no of us can really wrap our minds around, the Kingdom of God, and does this – He shows us its complete worth.

He says the Kingdom of God is of so much value, we should be willing to give everything for it. We see Jesus describe it in Matthew’s Gospel this way:

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45’Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47’Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.

It should, and must be our main priority.

It must come first.

God must come first.

It is a pearl of great worth, that everything else fails to compare to.

Yesterday in worship at Asbury Church, I asked my people this question – “Does God define you?”  Is God, and your worship of God, does it define every moment of your life?  Is that worship of God, that relationship with God, is it the main component of your life?

Or is it something you do when you have time?

Does God define you?

Is He, for you, that pearl of great price, that you would sale everything for?

Is He your everything?

If not, you will find all else lacking.

Does He define you?  Is He your life?  No where else, no where, will you find life, other than Jesus.

He must be our pearl of great price.  He must be our life.