Sing, Make Music, Don't Be A Fool......

In my devotion time, I read the first six verses of Psalm 92 wanting to break apart these verses and glean truths for my own everyday living.  I'm not a Bible scholar by any means, but I depend on the Holy Spirit to enlighten these verses to my simple intellect.  This is my journal entry:  

Psalm 92:1  "It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name, O Most High....

What two actions are good for me to do? To praise the Lord and make music. To whom?  To the most favored one, the one who sits in highest authority over my life - God.

Psalm 92:2 "Proclaiming Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night."

What does it mean to "proclaim?"  Announce officially, declare something important with emphasis.  What should I be proclaiming in my praise and my music?  How his love is with me when I rise in the morning and his faithfulness has watched over me all day and into the evening.  Proclaim the evidence of it being seen.

Psalm 92:3 "...to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp."

Instruments are involved in my proclamation of love and faithfulness. I'm so glad about that.  I love sitting at my piano and making music to my God.

Psalm 92:4 "For you make me glad by Your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what Your hands have done."

By the very actions that God performs, the works that He does make me glad.  When I see what God has done with my own eyes, I want to shout, celebrate, dance about.  The writer says he wants to sing for joy.....me too!!  It's His hands that did it!  He performed some great works!

Psalm 92:5  "How great are Your works, Lord; how profound Your thoughts"....

Look at what happens after the writer has praised God for his love, faithfulness and works; he begins to expound on His greatness.  Great works.  Vast depth of thoughts.  This is what happens when we have spent time singing and making music to God and Him only.  Our view changes.  We are lifted into another realm - no longer seeing things in the natural or at a ground level.  This should be my song when I rise and at the end of the day.

God's thoughts cannot be measured, showing great knowledge and insight, great depth.  As Charles Spurgeon wrote:

"In the eternal God, the conception (the idea) and the execution (carrying out or putting into effect) go together."

Psalm 92:6 "senseless people do not know, fools do not understand."

The psalmist now begins to make comparisons.  Senseless people cannot comprehend the works of God, even though it's all around them.  They chose not to know, not to take the initiative to comprehend.  The word "stupid" is used here.  To me a stupid person, or a fool, is arrogant, overly self-confident or parades his/her intellect and yet refuses to see the evidence clearly revealed.

So......
Praise. Make music. Proclaim His love and faithfulness.  Sing for joy. Spend time in worship and see your "view" change. Most of all.....don't be a fool.

My Aunt Archa's Thought for the Day

I'm sharing a post written by my aunt Archa with her permission.  

My thought for the day:
The story of Lot's wife has always fascinated me. I remember, as a child, leafing through the family bible and looking at the pictures that depicted the agony of the Cross, the parting of the Red Sea, the baptism of Christ and many others. One picture, in particular, always caught my rapt attention. It showed a man and woman and their two daughters being pulled away from a burning city by two angels who instructed all of them not to look back as they left. The man and his daughters are walking with determination, with their eyes straight ahead, but the mother has turned to look at the burning city. Her face reflects disbelief as she watches the fire and brimstone fall from heaven. Her city, Sodom, is being destroyed.

The picture always disturbed me because I wanted them all to escape and flee to the mountains, and I wondered why she chose to disobey the angel's instructions to not look back. The woman's name is not mentioned in Scripture. She is simply known as "Lot's wife." Other women in the Bible who became symbols of something are remembered by name. Sarah, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Mary, and the list can go on and on. But, this woman is nameless.

We don't know why she hesitated to leave her city which was about to be destroyed because of its sinful behavior.. Perhaps she had learned to love the well watered plains or treasured the friendship of the women whom she met daily at the city well to draw water. Whatever the reasons for her glance backward, she paid a dear price for it. Once the judgement of God fell upon her she became a woman who belonged nowhere. She could not return to her city and she could not proceed with her husband and daughters. She could not retreat to the past or move into the future. She was changed into a pillar of salt and became a symbol...of disobedience.

Our times today are no different than those of Sodom. People are marrying, building, planting and planning their lives. Many do not include God in their plans. They don't take time to seek God and refuse to accept the salvation that Jesus offers. How about you? Do you live your life to be pleasing to God,or do you live it haphazardly, thinking that there are no values, no morals, no obligation or responsibilities...no God. Life is short. Don't be careless. Don't be foolish. If you have not thought about the destruction that will come upon this world one day because of sin, it is time to think about it now. God has provided a way of escape if you will simply believe upon His son, Jesus Christ, as your personal Savior. 

Verse To Remember
John 3:16, says, "God sent his only begotten Son into the world,so that whosoever believes upon Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Are You Anxious? Try this.....

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7

Since I'm the type of personality that tends towards anxiety and worry, I've printed out scriptures regarding this and taped them into my journal.  This particular verse stood out to me today.  Right after I read this verse, I sent a text to my daughter about making her requests known to God and He would watch over her heart and mind.  She sent me a text saying she had to stay home with her 18-month-old daughter today from work because she was running a fever.

Oh great! Anxious thoughts start to kick in:  "she's losing money today that she needs as a single mom. She needs someone she can call when this happens so she's not missing work.  Why all these fevers all of a sudden?"

Immediately, I had to speak this verse out loud again and break it all apart to get the understanding I needed today, to lessen my anxious thoughts and to grab God's peace. 

These are the phrases/words that stood out to me today I want to share with you:

Do Not Be Anxious
This sounds like a pretty hard command doesn't it? It's written by Paul who, at the time, was imprisoned in Rome.  You could say, he knew exactly what he was talking about regarding anxiety.  What are we not to be anxious about?  Anything and Everything. We are not to be anxious about all that exists in a situation or circumstance. Look at the verse previous, though (vs 5), that says "the Lord is at hand."  This will help us to know that the Lord is near, even in our anxious state.  He is never a passive bystander.

What are you facing today that you're anxious about?  My anxiety is mostly directed towards my girls.  I need to let it go.  Put your name in the first part of that verse: "do not be anxious ________ (your name) about all that exists in this situation, in this circumstance."

Prayer, Supplication, Thanksgiving
These words are the "how to" script to move us towards not being anxious. When my daughter sent the text to me, my imagination began to take over; anxious thoughts swirled into my mind.  How sad that this was my first response, my default way of thinking.  I had just read and spoken out the Philippians verse. I thought, "come on Sharon, you need to apply this not just now, but get it inside of you for every day."

What can I do when these anxious thoughts swirl around mixed with worry and fear? Paul gives us the ingredients: pray, ask earnestly and then mix in thanksgiving.  We are to vocalize our requests, make them known to God.  Yes, He does know them already, but He wants us to ask.  Get that request out there in the atmosphere.  God will grab hold of it and do something about it. 

Ask earnestly
Ask with a purposeful and sincere intent
Ask passionately

Let thanksgiving accompany your praying and asking.  It says "with thanksgiving".  This preposition means "in the company of, accompanying, next to, alongside of".  Just be full of thanks that God has heard and will answer.

Peace Of God
There are two types of peace mentioned in the Bible: peace with God and the peace of God.  Because of our faith in Christ, we now have peace with God. At one time, we were enemies of God, but through salvation we now have peace with God.

The verse we are looking at says and the peace of God.....

God is peace, and so He extends this peace to us.  He gives us His peace in the midst of our not-so-peaceful state. What a reassurance that I'm not in this alone.  God will hand me His peace, which is a part of who He is.  Because of my relationship with Him, I have all the resources of Heaven extended to me:  peace is one of them.

It Surpasses My Understanding
Just wrap your mind around that phrase.  I won't be able to even comprehend the peace He will give.  His peace will surpass anything I could imagine.  It will surpass my human understanding because it is God-powered and Spirit-connected.

Surpass - "to become better, greater or stronger; go beyond; transcend the reach, capacity or power."

Will Guard My Heart and My Mind
His peace will be like a garrison around my heart and my mind. This is how I visualize this phrase:  

If you lived back in the days of frontier towns, being harassed by raiding parties or enemies, a military troop would be dispatched to live beside your town.  They would be "garrisoned" to your town. Their presence would provide protection during an attack and hopefully dissuade any enemy from launching anymore attacks against your town.

For us, the peace of God is garrisoned to our hearts and minds.  It provides an ever present protection from within.  It mingles and indwells our heart and mind, so that these anxious thoughts cannot invade us permanently and settle in to make themselves at home. 

In Christ Jesus
There is no other way for this peace to guard us but by being enclosed, surrounded and tucked away in Christ Jesus.

Your Turn
Is fear and anxiety your default?  Meditate on this verse today. Allow yourself the privilege of being enclosed, surrounded and tucked away in the peace of Christ Jesus.

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." - Psalm 94:19