1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning—
6 though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
10 The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
14Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
17May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O Lord, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.”
“Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.”
Luke 1:78 & 79 (MSG)
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV):
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
This verse in context is in reference to the the Lord’s promise to return. It serves as a reminder to me that God is faithful and my little brain cannot comprehend His timing. As verse 8 says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be the sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
“ Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.
Psalms 68:5-6
“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”
Galatians 6:7-10, The Message
God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him. When I got my act together, He gave me a fresh start. Now I’m alert to God’s ways; I don’t take God for granted. Every day I review the ways He works; I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I’m watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.
(Psalm 18:20-24, The Message)
“ How can I repay the Lord for all His acts of kindness to me? I will celebrate my deliverance, and call on the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:12,13 NET
I’ve been reading a book called At His Feet by Chris Tiegreen that’s more of a daily devotional than a chaptered book. Something I read yesterday, based on John 21:15-17, stuck with me:
“What about us? Who among us has kept the great commandment [to love God] for even a few minutes? We may not consider ourselves grossly sinful. Yet the one thing we were created for—a deep, abiding, consuming love for God—eludes us while we busy ourselves with avoiding greed, pride, lust, anger, impatience, and a host of other sinful traits. We mistakenly think that the battle is fought on these fronts, so we spend our energy fighting symptoms when the ultimate source of our sickness is a loveless heart toward God, the most grievous sin of all. True discipleship is an outgrowth of love for Him. After years of trying to follow in Jesus’ steps, we may discover, like Peter, that Jesus values our affections even more than our works, for only out of the former do the latter flow. We find that to fail at this point is to experience ultimate failure, but to have our love for Him revived is to experience ultimate joy. Does Jesus’ piercing question [‘Do you love me?’-John 21:17] hit home? Ask Him to kindle in your heart an abiding love for Him.”
This passage hit me pretty hard. It’s true—we busy ourselves with the “process” of our faith by avoiding things that we forget the source of our strength. The One who saves is our only chance for winning the battles of greed, pride, lust, anger, impatience, etc. What is said here resounds. A refocusing is needed. The greatest commandment is to first love God and then, secondarily, people (Matthew 22:37-39). I like the way that Tiegreen puts it: “Jesus values our affections even more than our works, for only out of the former do the latter flow.” It’s a simple concept, but one that I find myself often neglecting. It’s way too easy to forget God’s relentless love for us and even easier to forget that we are commanded to love Him first, even when we’re attempting to clean up our own filth. He’s always there to save us and to truly win our battles, we must first love Him and receive His rescue.
It’s safe to say I need to refocus a lot of things, especially entering a semester that could be one of my busiest yet. May love and praise for the one true God be in every breath. Praise is not only a habit, but what we were created for.
(Source: department85)
