SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 71:1.    In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
 
Oh Friends, it’s Friday, and I can hear your enthusiasm ringing out with lots of ‘TGIFs!’ and ‘Thank God is Fridays!’ but my spirit is not as enthusiastic because I’m praying that the rain will hold of so I can get some work done on my leaking basement today. I sure don’t want to have to baby-sit it all weekend. Anyhow, we all need to get our minds and souls in the proper perspective for the weekend, so let’s chant our Friday Chant, which will enable us to do that. As one, in a confident voice: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ And here’s our Bit, the first verse of a prayer for help in old age. ‘In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion (shame). Now that, in conjunction with our Friday Chant, ought to put us on the right road today; have us walking, talking and behaving as Jesus desires. The ole fella who penned the psalm was obviously surrounded by enemies, (vs.9-10) but he was confident that the Lord would look after him in the rough times that seemed ahead. And where did this assurance come from? ‘For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb (upheld from birth): thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels (womb): my praise shall be continually of thee.’ (Ps.71:5-6) Yes mih people, the old guy’s trusted the Lord from his youth, so he knows whereof he speaks. Some of us old fogeys have also trusted the Lord from young, while others didn’t get so trusting till later in life. But whatever time one begins to seriously trust in the Lord God Jehovah, it’s the right time, though the earlier in life the better it is. And when we talk of trust in the Lord, there’s none better than Bruh David, who portrayed it throughout his entire life. Listen to him on the subject in Psalm 25, a prayer for guidance and protection: ‘O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait (in faith) on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress (deal treacherously) without cause.’ (Ps.25:2-3) Oh my brethren, in any relationship whatsoever, trust is a necessary ingredient for it to grow and prosper. That goes even more for our relationship with God, because unless we fully trust Him, fully surrender our very lives and souls to Him, we’ll never have the right relationship that He desires, and that will benefit us the most. Hear Bruh David again proclaiming God’s trustworthiness: ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles…O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.’ (Ps.34:6,8) And Bruh David is speaking from personal experience people, so we ought to pay close attention to his words. My Friends, talk is cheap, and we all talk a good talk, but it’s only when the heifer dust hits the fan that we can truly see whether we’re walking our talk or not, re total trust in and surrender to Almighty God. We can fool each other, and even ourselves, with our talk, but not God, for He knows exactly who’s serious about trusting Him, and not merely making a mockery of His Word. So if we truly believe that the Lord’s our Creator, Protector and Provider, in fact our Everything, why then are we so reluctant to lay our lives out before Him eh? The answer’s simple Friends: we don’t truly trust Him as much as we say or think, the lust of the flesh and the desire to go our own way, to make our own decisions are still strong within us. But thankfully we’re still alive today, so we still have some time to rectify the situation. So let’s hunker down nuh, let’s seriously search our hearts and souls for any reluctance that resides there to totally trust Him, then let’s prayerfully acknowledge it, and gratefully let it all hang out before Him. That’s wisdom and trust at its best. Much LOVE!…trust is a two way street…that must be acted upon…not merely spoken…