Lamentations 3:31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
Well a good Wednesday morning to all you beautiful images of the ONE TRUE GOD, out there on planet earth!
How goes it mih lovelies? Good, I hope. It’s not too bad with me, though I’m tired, because I didn’t get to bed until after one, reading an interesting British set novel. Yuh know when the story gets juicy, (smile) then you see you’re almost at the end, so you decide to finish it. But for some reason, it always takes longer than you expected. Well that was my dilemma this morning.
But our most wonderful God, in His everlasting mercy and LOVING-kindness, looked down on me with favour and guided me to this poem I had sitting amongst some other papers. I don’t think I’ve shared it before, but if I have, it’s good enough to be heard one more time, especially in the middle of the work week when we’re generally in a state of flux; in no man’s land, neither here nor there, not fully acclimatized to it, but not yet desperately looking forward to Friday.
But let’s listen to this and allow it to raise our spirits and give us a boost to keep on living for Jesus, doing His bidding, and causing others to come to Him and LOVE Him as we do. There’s no official title, but I’ll call it, ‘The Promises and non Promises of God.’
‘God hath not promised skies ever blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, swift, easy travel needing no guide; God hath not promised we shall not bear many a burden, many a care. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest amid labour, light for the way; grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying LOVE.’
Now all of that is certainly undeniable truth Friends! And I do hope it lifts our spirits and gives us strength, courage and faith to keep on keeping on, because patience, perseverance and constant plodding in the face of all adversity are the hallmarks of the pilgrim. And pilgrims we all are, on this earthly journey to our heavenly home.
And though we encounter much difficulty on the journey, there is one thing we can be absolutely sure of, as our Bit tells us. ‘For the Lord will not cast off for ever.’ And that’s truly, truly gospel my people!
As the Good Book continues: ‘But though he causes grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly (with delight), nor grieve the children of men.’ (Lam.3:32-33)
Yes Friends, our God does not go out of His way to make life hard for us, or to unfairly punish us, but disciplinary measures (smile) are sometimes necessary to bring us into line with His divine will, or keep us on the right path, the straight and narrow one that leads to heaven, though we take rebellious delight in speeding down the wide highway that leads to death and destruction and the evil company of Lucifer.
But listen to the wisdom of the psalmist on the subject. ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity (futile). Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest (instructeth), O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest (relief) from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off (abandon) his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgement shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.’ (Ps.94:11-15)
So my fellow believers, there’s no need to fear. Our God will never leave us or forsake us, neither will He afflict us unnecessarily. And if He does decide that chastening is called for, then we can take pleasure from it, (smile) for we know that He’s only disciplining us for our own good. That’s because He LOVES us with such passion and doesn’t want us to go astray. It’s just like when we discipline our children because we LOVE them, not because we want to hurt them.
And we’ll close with some more reassuring words from the Good Book on God’s discipline: ‘My son, despise not thou the chastening (discipline) of the Lord, nor faint (be discouraged) when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? …Now no chastening (discipline) for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised (trained) thereby.’ (Heb.12:5b-7, 11)
That says it all Friends! Our God treats us like His children, and though our natural nature doesn’t like discipline, sometimes it is indeed necessary. And the sad part of it all, is that if God doesn’t discipline us occasionally, then we’re not His children. And I’m sure none of us want to hear that.
So let’s go out today nuh, walking in the power, faithfulness and trust of our omnipotent and LOVING God, knowing that he is looking over and looking out for each one of us, who’ve placed our faith in Him, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. When we do that, NOTHING on this earth can touch us. Much LOVE!
…when one walks confidently with God…the powers of darkness flee in fear… from the blinding light that’s Jesus…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 July 2013 Psalm 90:14
11 Jul 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a friend in Jesus, a-whoring, anger, believe in Jesus, benefits, bless the Lord, blessings, busyness, disasters, disbelief, do God's will, everything to God in prayer, evil ways, faith, faithful promise, fear, forgiveness, gladness, God's LOVING-kindness, hard times, healing, human failings, maturity, mental and emotional radar, needless pain, negative stuff, new blessings, obey God, Old Testament, one true God, petition God, petty differences, positive stuff, praise, pride, privilege to carry, prosperity, rejoice and be glad, salvation, satisfy us with mercy, sins and griefs to bear, something for nothing, souls of humans, summer, thanksgiving, the Good Book, true believer, truth, turn away from God, unified body of Christ, walk in God's ways, wisdom, worship
Psalm 90:14. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Aye Friends, how are we this summer Thursday morning in July eh?
Hn! Summer! Steups! Believe me it feels more like spring or fall in my neck of the woods. And I can say that because around 4 a.m I went for a walk to clear my mind – and I sure got it cleared in a hurry by the brisk wind and rather cool temperature. I even had to shorten my intended walk, because it must have been in the mid teens.
But none of that really matters nuh Friends, when we’re all being chased down and pursued this morning by numerous new blessings and God’s LOVING-kindness, as so faithfully promised by the Good Book!
And I surely hope that they will soon catch up to us and overwhelm us with positive stuff. So much so that the negative stuff won’t even show up on the screens of our mental and emotional radar.
Oh I know it seems a lot to hope for, but that’s where out faith and level of maturity in Jesus come in. The Lord’s promised those things to those who believe on His Son, so it’s up to us receive them by faith now, if we truly believe.
And I want to share the first verse of an old but still popular hymn that will help us to do just that. ‘What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer! O, what peace we often forfeit. O, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.’
Now my people, that’s one of our major failings today. For one reason or another, we don’t take our problems to God in prayer, although He begs us to do so. I don’t know if it’s pride, the stupid and false kind, fear, busyness, disbelief, or some combination of them all, but that’s definitely not a wise move on our part.
I’m therefore imploring us, starting today, RIGHT NOW, to take EVERYTHING to the Lord in prayer – and BEFORE you take it anywhere else too, because that’s the wisdom of a true believer in Christ!
And now that I’ve said my piece, (smile) let’s turn to out Bit: ‘O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.’
And doesn’t our Bit jibe ever so well with what we were saying before – turning to God in prayer?
Moses, the author of Psalm 90, knew that only the Lord God Jehovah could grant true mercy and bring gladness to the souls of humans. But before we can get that gladness and mercy, we have to do our part, that’s walk in His ways and do His will.
Though our God is merciful and bounteous, there’s no getting some thing for nothing, although that’s the prevalent approach in our current society. Getting much more of whatever the world offers, than we’re willing to give, is a motto that too many of us live by.
Unfortunately though Friends, our God doesn’t operate like that. We have to walk in faith, with praise, worship and thanksgiving, otherwise our blessings will dry up. And you can see that already happening from the sad state that our world’s currently in. Blessings are indeed drying up, but disasters are multiplying, because of our turning away from God.
And as we said yesterday, Moses wasn’t the only one who recognized our human failings and petitioned God for mercy. In Psalm 85, God has removed his anger from Israel, the sons of Korah say it thus: ‘Turn (restore) us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to cease.
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out (prolong) thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people will rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.’ (Ps.85:4-7)
Yes my brethren, we need to come to God with petitions like that, but we also have to change our evil ways, if we expect the Lord to hear us and grant our petitions. Until we do that, all the petitions in the world won’t make any difference.
You’ll notice throughout the Old Testament that whenever Israel obeyed God, they prospered, but whenever they went a-whoring after other gods, they fell on extremely hard times. Well that’s exactly what’s happening to us today Friends, and we’ll only return to prosperity when we return to truly worshipping the ONE TRUE GOD, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
And here are some appropriate ending words from Bruh David on the subject, taken from Psalm 103, Thanksgiving for God’s mercy. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVING-kindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s… Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers (servants) of his, that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.’ (Ps.103:2-5, 21-22)
Oh my fellow believers, those are words of absolute and eternal truth! But we need to get ourselves together as one, unified body in Christ to make them come true. Fighting each other over petty differences and being more interested in the things of the world more than those of heaven will get us absolutely nowhere.
And we can only get together by truly pursuing LOVE for God and LOVE for each other as Jesus told us to do. So do we really want mercy and gladness all our days?
Well then, let’s do the things that will bring them to pass nuh! Let’s truly live for Jesus, do what He desires of us! Otherwise we’ll just keep on falling, going downhill, until we end up in Hades. And I’m sure we don’t want that. Much LOVE!
…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…for the price of disobedience…is awfully high…
SCRIP-BITS 