Psalm 4:7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn (grain) and their wine increased.
Well it’s another brand new day in the life my friends and fellow believers. And yes, like always, it’s filled with all the new mercies and compassions that our Lord God has promised! What a divine blessing and incomparable benefit! But we have to joyfully accept them and then productively use them, for them to be of any real benefit to us. So let’s hope, like the manna the Lord fed the Israelites with so long ago in the wilderness, we have gathered up our mercies and compassions for this day and have put them to work to the benefit of His holy name and will. For that’s the main purpose of our lives on this planet Earth; doing His Will while obeying His Word.
And that’s all I have to say this morning! (smile) But our friend Ruth Harms Calkin has something wonderful to share with us; it’s a poem called ‘Beautiful Things Happen,’ and it’s taken from our One Year Book of Bible Promises. So please pray with me: ‘O God such beautiful things happen when I meet You day by day In quietness and confidence. There is a deep inner wholeness And the assurance of Your guidance.
I am not so easily disturbed By changing circumstances. I am less dependent on others And more dependent on You. My eyes may be full of tears But my heart is full of joy. In discovering Your hidden treasures I learn how deeply I am treasured by You. When day by day I am responsive To Your whispered secrets You do more for me in one day Than I could do for myself in a lifetime.’
Now isn’t that the gospel truth my brethren! The Lord does more for us in one single, solitary day than we could ever do for ourselves in a whole lifetime! But all those things don’t just come automatically; we have to seek Him and meet and greet and reverence and worship and enjoy His friendship,LOVE, grace and mercy that He gives so freely to those who ask for and receive it. Remember friends, in God’s economy, asking and receiving are very important. Remember these crucial words of Jesus: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’ (Matt. 7:7)
And his brother James follows that up with these immortal words: ‘Ye lust, and have not: ye kill (murder), and desire to have (covet), and cannot obtain: ye fight and war (battle), yet ye have not, because ye ask not.’ (James 4:2) Yes friends, we try to do all those things in our own strength, but the true answer to life is going to our heavenly Father and asking Him for whatever we desire. And James spells out the problem even further: ‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (pleasures).’ (James 4:3)
And isn’t that the indisputable truth? It certainly is, because when we do ask, we too often ask for unimportant things, lustful things of the world, things that don’t pair up with God’s will for us. And we have this interesting explanation on the subject from the website www.ibelieve.com/faith: ‘Tragedy and shock often prompt us to panic, when it should prompt us to pray. The most powerful weapon we’ve been given to wield often gets shelved for worry, manipulation, and comparison.’ And that’s another indisputable truth! In times of trouble, instead of turning to God with the most powerful tool in the universe, prayer, we unwisely try to manipulate and work things out on our own.
So the long and short of the story is that we must not only ask, but ask for the right things. And I’m chuckling here because I went off on a tangent there. It wasn’t my intention to talk about all that asking stuff, but it just seemed right and important to mention at this time.
Anyway, getting back to our poem: ‘Beautiful Things Happen.’ Beautiful things do happen when we surrender our all to God and come humbly and confidently to Him each and every day to renew our fellowship with Him. And though our circumstances might be somewhat rough and difficult, like they are right now, when we encounter Christ, right where we are, though the tears may be flowing like a river from our eyes, because of those unfortunate circumstances, our hearts will be overflowing with joy because we know that our great and wonderful God is ALWAYS near and will ALWAYS look after us once we place our lives in His mighty and oh so compassionate hands.
Yes friends, our God deeply LOVES and treasures each of His creation. He made NOTHING that He doesn’t LOVE! Remember the remarkable words the Good Book says about the creation? ‘And God saw that it was good…’ (Gen. 1:25) And yes, our sins have disappointed Him greatly, but He still LOVES us so much that He sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us so that we could be saved from hell fire and eternal damnation! But we need to come to Him! I can’t declare (yeahhh!) how important that is my people. The onus is now on us to accept God’s grace and mercy!
Now listen to these most reassuring words of Bruh David from Psalm 4 – An evening prayer of trust in God, which are the Bible Promises for our Poem and also our Bit. ‘There may be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn (grain) and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.’ (Ps. 4:6-8)
Mama Mia! Oh mih people, yuh read them marvellous words of Bruh David! Brother! What could be better than that eh? NOTHING really! When you fellowship and commune with the Lord during the day, you can sleep like a baby at nights, without any worries or real concerns, because He makes those who trust and sincerely believe in Him to sleep in peace! Glory Be!
Yes, the ole fella’s excited! And if you aren’t excited after reading all that we’ve said today, then ah sorry for yuh yes! And then yuh wonder why life treating yuh so rough and tough. Chuh! It’s simply because yuh not putting enough trust and faith in the Lord God Almighty and living the way He desires you to. And He knows you won’t be perfect, because He’s never made any perfect human beings. But He does require us to come to Him and commune with Him on a regular basis, so that He can give us the desires of our hearts. And not the lustful, ungodly desires, but the true and godly ones! (smile)
Ah mih people, there’s so much more useful scripture I wanted to quote, but time and space have run out. Maybe tomorrow we can continue, God willing. But now let’s go home declaring (awright!) our Wednesday Wail, letting the whole world know of our most wonderful position in Christ Jesus!
All together now in strong voice with sincere hearts: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’
And we need to remember, that if we do endure until the end, our future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine! Give our wonderful God some much deserved praise my people!Much LOVE!
…to know, know, know Him…is to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Him…
SCRIP-BITS 