Year: 2020

So often we fret and we stew over daily events, all the while our joy becomes lost in the hustle and bustle. We go through the motion of greeting each day in the same routine frame of mind with little expectation that today will be any different than the one before.

At night we close our eyes with little thought to how it might have all been anything more if only we had turned it over to the Lord. Each today becomes another yesterday and tomorrow becomes today in the same rhythm of time and motion with no sense of question to the fact there just might be so much more. We seem oblivious to the fact that somewhere along the way our joy disappeared.

“The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.” Lamentations 5:15

In the back of our mind sits the ever present notion that somehow tomorrow will be different, yet the cycle continues in a forward motion with no consideration of the power available to us that would make it all so different.

“These things have I spoken unto you,that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11

Even in the midst of the crazy schedules and never ending to-do lists of life, in Him we have the promise of joy. Our lives become so much more when we turn it over to Him and start our day in His presence maintaining that closeness throughout the day. We will find that each day becomes more in rhythm with what He intended for our lives. He guides us through each step, showing us the path for our day that is so much smoother than the crazy zigzag we often take for ourselves.

“Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11

He promises us joy, not just to have “joy”, but to be “full of joy”.

“Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.” Acts 2:28

“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24

As I reflect on a new Monday morning I contemplate how one day seems to spill over into the next with only the moments of sleep to signify the ending of one and the beginning of another.

Full steam ahead I maneuver my way through the tasks ahead, seemingly oblivious to those I pass along the way. At any given moment if I were to pause to reflect upon those I passed in any given moment I might see them in black and white slow motion picture completely featureless and insignificant drifting along just beyond the boundaries of my vision; a sharp contrast to the imagery I see in full color that is centered around me.

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Matthew 9:36

Jesus saw the people before Him in full color with ever aspect of who they were in vivid detail. He looked upon them with eyes that saw their weariness and their uncertainty; He saw their hurt and their pain. In each moment of time He responded with a heart of compassion toward them without regard for what may or may not have been going on in His own life that day. Jesus saw beyond Himself.

“I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away; and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Ezekiel 34:16a

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

Today I pray that I might see beyond me . . .

Some weeks leave me completely zapped and the end of the week can not seem to come soon enough. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m over that visualized “hill” of 50, but it seems life is happening at breakneck speeds never moving outside of the HOV lane. I look out my window and everyone seems to be focused full speed ahead, but never satisfied with their journey.

“To whom He said, This is the rest where with ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.” Isaiah 28:12

As the rain is coming down, the temptation for a lazy morning with an extra cup of coffee reminds me that as a believer in Jesus Christ I have a source of rest.

“For we which have believed do enter into rest” Hebrews 4:3

So for this morning, I’m going to sit here and soak in the sounds of the rain, drinking each little drop of my coffee, while God brings about rest in my soul.

“Take my yoke upon your, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29

“There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9

In times of unrest and uncertainty my heart becomes afraid. With all of the turmoil going on in the world around me I find myself troubled with questions for which I do not have answers. It seems that the voices of the wicked are growing louder and louder; everywhere I turn there is violence. Each day the battle seems to draw nearer and nearer. Then I pause to remember that I may not have the answer, I may not know what to do; but, I serve a God who sees the beginning and the end.

“I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth” Isaiah 51:12-13a

“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:8

When I focus on my God, knowing full well the might of His power, my fears seem to fade away. He brings perspective as I am reminded that regardless of the forces about me, He is the final authority completely in control of all situations affecting my life. He seems tomorrow when today has just begun, as today He maneuvers me into the exact location of preparedness to face whatever tomorrow will bring.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2

So as the noise increases around me I will continue to trust in the God of my salvation, the source of my strength and my song. When I am afraid, I will continue to trust in Him.

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Psalm 56:3-4

In prayer I knelt with broken heart before a God who saves. Seeing my own sinful flesh in need of mercy, love, and grace. His Son He sent that I might live, He died in my place; giving me the hope of light through His redemptive Grace. With contrite heart I came to Him, in Love He lifted me up. He saved me and He sealed me, as only He could do.

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm 34:18

I came to Him with nothing, nothing in myself. I bowed before Him in my brokenness, with just my contrite heart.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17

He heard me, lifting me out of the depth of my shame. Giving me a purpose, a hope for all eternity.

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15

In the midst of who He is in a world created by His power, He saw me on my bended knee and stopped to rescue me.

“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord : but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Isaiah 66:2

And so again I come to Him with just my contrite heart.

In the aftermath of the storm we removed the limb that had been twisted and torn during the storm. We pruned the still overhanging branches that threatened to spilt the tree in half. Over time there were scars where similar efforts had been done in an effort to preserve the tree. As all Bradford pear trees tend to do it had grown way too fast to maintain the strength it needed to remain foundation-ally sound enough to support all of its outreaching branches.

I was reminded of my own life, the storms that have come, some which have left me with scars of remembrance. Scars that remind me of my dependence upon the source of my strength, the only one who can provide the rooted stability that I need to face the storms of life that come my way. The only source of strength from which my life can reach outward to those who need to see Christ in me.

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” Ephesians 3: 16-18

In Him I am rooted and grounded, in Him I find the strength my inner being needs to develop and grow; growth that will enable me to branch outward. Outward growth that will enable me to demonstrate to others the work that He is doing within me.

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” Colossians 1:10-11

Rooted in Him I find strength whereby I might be fruitful. I grow in the knowledge of who He is, bringing honor and glory unto Him.