July 21, 2016

Posted on July 23, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 119:1-3 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.

Psalm 119 has something of a bad rap. It’s the longest chapter in the whole Bible, and that doesn’t sit well with today’s “sound bite” culture. On top of that, it is an acrostic poem, with every verse in each successive stanza starting with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which makes it seem dully mechanical, at least in theory. The problem with those objections is that they don’t hold water at all. The writer was someone who deeply loved God and His Word, and this Psalm is an expression of that. As such it has a great deal to teach us about practical faith in the face of all the pitfalls of life. These first three verses set that tone. The casual reader today might dismiss them because of the superlatives: “blameless” and “nothing wrong.” They would insist that no one lives that way! However, the key to that is in verse 2: “seek Him with all their heart.” It is true that none of us does things perfectly, but we will get it right to the degree we seek God with our whole heart. Honest self-examination tells us that we live most of the time with a divided heart, perhaps seeking God but seeking other things as well. Too often, God isn’t even in the top few in our priorities, much less the focus of our lives. Verse 11 is one of the most famous in this Psalm, and it gives a practical key to keeping it all straight: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” There is no better way to maintain our focus on God than to fill our hearts with His Word. This isn’t the same thing as memorization, though that isn’t bad. Rather, this is meditating on, thinking about, what God has said so that it becomes part of us, guiding our thoughts and helping us stand against the constant barrage to lies that come at us. That is the way to walk in the good path that God has laid out for us, recognizing and receiving the abundant blessings He has prepared for us.

My life is a good case in point. Raised in a missionary family, the Bible was a given in my life, always there and hardly ever questioned. However, my seeking God was sporadic, and whereas I learned quite a few Scriptures, I didn’t take them in to make them part of me; they were simply intellectual property. I was doing what James warns against, deceiving myself. (James 1:22) It was only when God got through to me to show me my twisted heart that I repented and fell in love with His Word. In the years since, by the grace of God I have become addicted to the Bible, and I think I have that in common with the writer of Psalm 119. One of the high points of my life was when one of our church members, a recovered alcoholic, said in a Bible study we were having that I was addicted to the Bible, because he knew addiction first-hand. I can’t say I never lapse, any more than Paul could, (Philippians 3:12) but I do know that the course of my life is set, and that gives me great peace, joy, and satisfaction.

Father, thank You for the Bible. Thank You that it is so readily available, and that it was so present in my home as a child. Help me be an effective interpreter of Your Word to others, communicating Your truth in love so that more and more may be set free from the traps of the enemy to walk in Your glorious light, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 20, 2016

Posted on July 21, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 116:1-2 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

Nothing draws forth prayer like experiencing answers to prayer. However, an amazing number of people either never pray at all, or only pray rote prayers that are so generalized that it’s almost impossible to determine if something happens as an answer to them. Some of that comes from failing to recognize answers they do receive, which of course reinforces the tendency not to pray in the first place. Then again there are James’ famous words on the subject. “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3) God isn’t going to answer prayer for infidelity to go undetected, if anyone were so foolish as to pray that in the first place! The other side of that coin is perceived unanswered prayer. Some people abandon faith because specific prayers aren’t answered. That’s when we especially need to follow Jesus’ example in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed so earnestly that he sweat blood (which is a real medical condition), but He also did that in full submission to the Father. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) He was completely past the point of “I’ll pray if you’ll grant my requests.” Prayer springs from two things: recognizing our own inability to meet needs, either for ourselves or for someone else, and a simple desire for fellowship with God. Too many people pray to get things, with no real desire for fellowship. It is when we are in closest fellowship with Him that our prayers are most likely to be answered affirmatively! Jesus called that “remaining in Him.” We quote John 15:7 with no real idea of what Jesus was talking about. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” If we want our prayers to be answered, we need to get close to the One who can answer them.

As I am frequently reminded, I was raised in a home where prayer was as natural as breathing. That was because my parents talked with God on the basis of their relationship with Him. As a pastor I am sometimes distraught over how believers won’t develop a consistent prayer life, but that stems from their lack of fellowship with the Father in the first place. I try to teach prayer as one facet, though a very important one, of an intimate relationship with the God who loves us enough to die for us. (The other facets are taking in His Word to learn to listen to Him, and a commitment to obedience to whatever we hear Him say to us.) Tragically, many people just can’t be bothered with developing such a relationship, even though they claim saving faith. I am not to give up on anyone, because God didn’t give up on me. I am to speak the truth in love, as often and for as long as necessary, letting that truth cut through the lies of the enemy to set people free for the intimacy with God for which they were created, for their infinite blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me package this truth as You intend so that it will be received by my hearers. There are many applicable Scriptures; help me use only the ones You want me to, so that people won’t be overloaded. May all who hear me gain both a hunger for real intimacy with You and a Hope that by Your grace it is possible, so that together we may become all that You want us to be, causing Your name to be acknowledged as holy and Your kingdom to come as Your will is done in and through us, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 19, 2016

Posted on July 21, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

It is very interesting that this Psalm of praise and exhortation to praise starts off with this one-verse prayer. It is actually very helpful, because unless we are firmly focused on Whom we praise, we have the strange tendency to make praise to God be self-congratulatory, and end up praising ourselves for having the right religion. That is particularly a risk when we point out, as this Psalm does, the futility of other religions. This verse asks that glory go to God because of His love (the Japanese says grace) and faithfulness. There is recognition that all the good things that come to us, even those for which we might be praised, are because of God’s character. If He weren’t the loving, gracious, faithful God that He is, good things wouldn’t happen. When the world is as it is today, with bad news daily, it is perhaps easy to lose sight of who God is and what He is like. God has given mankind free will, and that too is a reflection of His character, no matter how horrible the results of human choice might be in the short run. When things seem dark, that’s the time to expect God’s light to burst forth. Frankly, current events have quite a Last Days feel to them, but that timing is in God’s hands. Our job is to let our faithfulness be a reflection of His, applying ourselves to the tasks He sets for us, so that the glory may indeed go to Him as His power and character are manifested in and through us.

This is of course fully applicable to me personally. I am at times tempted to go find a hole to hide in, but that benefits no one and nothing. I am to keep firm hold of the hope that I have in Christ, and when people are surprised by that, tell them why. (1 Peter 3:15-16) I am to remember that my task is faithful, trusting obedience; the fruit is God’s business. (John 14:5-8) God has been incredibly gracious to me, and I am to apply myself to the glory going to Him.

Father, thank You for who You are. That includes so much I couldn’t possibly express it all. Thank You for the people to whom You have allowed me to speak the past several days. With some, You have allowed me to speak in some depth about matters of life, death, and faith. I pray that Your words through me would indeed bear rich fruit in each heart and life, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 18, 2016

Posted on July 19, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 108:6 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.

This goes against my grain, but right now the turn of phrase in the NIV strikes me as a prayer to be enabled to help others. That is quite out of context and is almost certainly not what David wrote, but it is a valid prayer nonetheless. However much we love people, we must remember that God created them and He loves them more than we ever could. We also need to remember that however much we want to help people, true salvation comes only from the Lord. He often uses people, and He may even use us, but the salvation, the power, are His. I am reminded of the parable someone told of a person who had been trapped in their house by a flood, but each time someone came by to rescue them they declined, saying, “God will rescue me.” Finally, after they had been swept off of their roof and drowned, they accused God for not having rescued them. His response was, “What do you mean? I sent person A and person B and person C didn’t I?” It is a privilege to be an instrument of God’s right hand, but we must be available and not presumptive. Countless situations have been made worse by well-meaning people who have tried to do God’s job for Him. Actually, any time we pray for any sort of situation we need to offer ourselves as instruments for God to use in answering our prayers. The phrase, “You’re an answer to prayer,” is far more than a cliché. But again, we must remember that the power, the wisdom, the salvation itself, come from God alone, and so give Him all the glory.

I could literally sit here all day listing situations about which I am concerned. Ones far away are relatively easy to yield to God because that’s all I can do. However, ones close to home are more complicated. That’s when I have to keep reminding myself that God loves that person more than I do. In all probability, God is far more patient with that person than I am! Material concerns are one thing, because though they may be pressing, they are ultimately temporal and thus temporary. However, people are what Jesus came and died for, and there it gets more complicated. We are on this earth to have opportunity to know God, to choose to commit ourselves to Him in faith so that we may live with Him throughout eternity. Everything else is secondary: most specifically, creature comforts. Just as God delights to bless His children but knows better than to spoil them, we need to meet needs but also give God space and time to work in people’s hearts through their circumstances. I have demonstrated many times that I don’t have the wisdom to make that call accurately on my own, so I’ve got to stay on my face before the Lord, figuratively and at times literally, to hear and thus do what He would direct. Only then will His salvation be manifested as He intends.

Father, thank You for this clear, unexpected Word. You know who is on my heart particularly right now, but again, there are many. Help me be so in step with Your Spirit that I don’t get in Your way, but rather am useful to You in however You want to manifest Your salvation, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 17, 2016

Posted on July 19, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 101:2-3 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.

This Psalm is a statement of intent, and as such is beautifully in line with the message I will be preaching this morning. None of us is perfect, but we must not be content with our imperfection. Rather, we are always to be pressing forward toward the goal God has set before us, just as Paul did. (Philippians 3:12-14) This Psalm claims to be by David, and would be in line with what we know of him. As is well known, David made some drastic mistakes, but his intent was to walk in purity and obedience at all times. The longer I live, the more I am convinced that all we really can offer God is our free will, our choices. I preached not long ago on Praise and Worship, and one of the points, based on Psalm 22:25, was that even our praise to God comes from Him; all we give Him, as such, is the choice to do so. In the same way, we don’t have the strength, wisdom, power, ability, what have you, to do anything apart from God. Jesus Himself was quite blunt about that. (John 15:5) However, that is not at all to say that we are to be passive. The Bible speaks many times of God desiring our hearts. That is nothing more than the fact that He wants us to choose Him. I am convinced that human free will is the most valuable thing in the universe, because if we were not free, we would not be responsible for our actions, which would mean sin would be meaningless. It is only because sin is real that God had to send His Son to die as an atonement for human sin. Thus we come to the conclusion that our free will is worth the life of the Son of God. That is mind boggling indeed, and shows why our choices, on a day-to-day basis, are the most important things we do.

Having said all that, I realize that there are people who are paralyzed by an inability to make choices. There have been times when I have agonized over choices myself. However, such indecision is actually secondary. Our primary choice is extremely simple: God or other. It is when we understand that is our choice that everything falls into place. I’ve got to remember, and teach others to remember, that whatever it might look like, our choices all boil down to whether we will seek God and place Him first in our hearts and lives. There are indeed relatively inconsequential choices, such as what shirt to wear on a given day, but even those are relatively inconsequential. As a case in point, what we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat don’t seem terribly spiritual to most of us, but they are directly related to our stewardship of our bodies. If our focus is truly on God, then our intent will be to treat our bodies as His temple, (1 Corinthians 6:19) and so we will maintain them properly. I am painfully aware of my own imperfection in every area, but by God’s grace I choose Him, to allow Him to work in and through me what He desires, and nothing else.

Father, thank You for this strong Word. Since it relates to what You have given me for this morning I am tempted to try to incorporate it, but that would certainly produce overload in most if not all of my hearers. Guide in when and how I am to share this truth so that it will penetrate and be applied. May we all choose to be Yours, even though we don’t yet know all that means, so that Your Name may be acknowledged as holy and Your kingdom come as Your will is done in and through us, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 16, 2016

Posted on July 18, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 97:11-12 Light is shed upon the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.

I have the feeling I’ve written on this before, because the Japanese for verse 11 is so striking. Rather than just saying “shed,” like the NIV, the Japanese says “sown like seed.” Seeds are not static; they are alive and grow. Light and joy grow for those who are right with God. As Jesus made very clear in His parable, (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23) the soil has a huge influence on the success of seeds. Just as with the Word of God, which Jesus was talking about, how we receive God’s light and joy greatly affects their influence on us. If we are constantly comparing the light/revelation we have received with that of others, that light isn’t going to penetrate very far into our hearts and lives. No one person, or even part of the Body of Christ, has the whole revelation of God, and feeling that our revelation is “better” than that of someone else is a sure way to walk in darkness rather than light. (1 John 2:9-11) The same sort of thing can be said about God’s joy. If we let jealousy or feelings of entitlement spring up, they will quickly choke out the joy of the Lord, and we and all around us will be much the poorer for it. When we realize how God’s grace operates toward us, the appropriate response is gratitude and praise, as it says in verse 12. That’s the way to keep the soil of our hearts plowed and moist, ready to receive God’s seeds.

I don’t recall connecting this passage to Jesus’ parable before. That is traditionally called “The Parable of the Sower,” but it would seem to be more accurately called, “The Parable of the Soils.” After all, there is no difference in the quality of the seed sown. As a pastor, I am in many ways a gardener. I don’t create the seed by any means, but I can plow and plant and water, and God will give the increase. Since my primary gifting is Teacher, I am very focused on planting the Word of God, but if I ignore the crust that has formed on the surface of the soil, that Word isn’t going to penetrate. Such crusts can form from pressure, such as being stepped on or driven over. The people to whom I minister suffer from all sorts of pressures in their lives. If I ignore those, I won’t be very effective in planting the seed. Such crusts can also form from minerals within the soil coming to the surface and hardening. I’ve got to let the Holy Spirit peel back and remove such layers. Sometimes it takes a major impact to break through such a layer. I must never try to apply such treatment myself, but I must be watchful to go in and minister God’s grace and love when it happens. I may be a gardener, but God is the Source of Life, and I must never forget that. My role is one of great privilege and high honor, but pride will totally destroy my effectiveness.

Father, thank You for this clear Word, expressed in ways I hadn’t thought of before. Thank You that You indeed keep growing Your light and joy in me. Help me never hold back, but always be eagerly receptive of all that You pour out, allowing it to flow through me to others, unhindered and uncontaminated, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 15, 2016

Posted on July 17, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 94:8-9 Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools, when will you become wise?
Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?

Logic works only when you accept the basic premise, or more fundamentally, when the basic premise is correct. The biggest reason people stubbornly maintain atheism is that the moment they accept that they are created beings, they are faced with the logic of this passage. They don’t like to accept that God hears and sees everything about them, and that they are accountable to Him. Actually, the average person doesn’t think so deeply about it, but simply ignores God. That is foolish too! If we are created beings, then it follows that we were created with purpose and intent, and the wisest course is to try to find out what that purpose is. Paul put it very succinctly in Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In other words, we are created as God’s agents to accomplish His purposes. Since He is a good God, love to His very essence, (1 John 4:8) then it follows that the purposes He wants to accomplish through us are good and loving. The problem, from our standpoint, in saying that is that we often don’t understand love. Hebrews 12 goes on at some length about how discipline is love. In other words, love is not all candy and flowers. With our finite understanding we fail to see what God is doing, so this is where faith and trust come in. We need to be convinced that God indeed knows what is going on, that He is not passive, and that He is going to work everything out in the end. If we have that conviction, then we will keep ourselves available to God for whenever and however He wants to use us, and we will have joyful anticipation of His plans being fulfilled.

I will never forget the time I was lying in bed, not consciously praying but thinking, “There are so many things I wish were different.” God totally surprised me by speaking directly to my spirit, so clearly that it might as well have been out loud: “How do you think I feel?” Such a revelation might seem extra-Biblical to some, but it is right in line with Hebrews 2:8. “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.” This is the age of human free will, and in some ways the results are horrific. What I think God was telling me was never to think that God is satisfied with the current state of things; He is continuing to work toward the perfection that He planned from the beginning. My job is to rest, relax, and rejoice, listening obediently to Him and allowing His power to operate through me, for the blessing of many and for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Courtesy of modern media, we are constantly bombarded with information exposing how less-than-ideal the world is at the moment. Help me indeed be anxious about nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present my requests to You, so that Your peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) Thank You. Praise God!

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July 14, 2016

Posted on July 17, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 93:5 Your statutes stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days, O Lord.

There is real blessing to reading the Bible in two languages, even if neither one is the original, because there will always be differences in nuance. Here, where the NIV says, “holiness adorns Your house,” the Japanese says, “holy things are appropriate for Your house.” Lots of Scriptures talk about being close to God or living in His house. This one gives a strong clue as to how to do that. God Himself has told us, “Be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44 and several more) Peter quoted that in 1 Peter 1:16, so it is by no means “a legalistic requirement that we can ignore because of the cross.” It is very true that we can’t be holy by our own strength, but what God is asking of us is the will, the choice, to be holy. If we give Him that, He will come through and enable us to live holy lives. Many people shy away from the term, saint, because it presents an image to which they know they don’t measure up. (Calling specific people in Church history, “Saint So-and-so,” certainly doesn’t help.) Reading the New Testament, it is clear that the term, saint, refers to all believers. The thing is, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Because of what God did through Jesus on the cross, all who believe are holy, so we just need to live like what we are! We are back to the question of will. Too often, for one reason or another, we choose unholiness. Sex is an excellent example. In the marital context it is marvelously holy, drawing the husband and wife together as God intended, but outside of that context it is unholy, drawing us away from God. The problem is, our flesh doesn’t know the difference! That’s why Paul talked so much about the flesh in Romans and elsewhere. (The NIV says “sinful nature,” to keep us from hating our bodies, but that misses part of the point.) If our hearts, our wills, are committed to Christ in faith, then our bodies will follow suit, and we will indeed be holy, appropriate for God’s house and fellowship with Him.

This is a major issue for me, as it is for every believer. The world, with the strong encouragement of the devil, does all it can to make us unholy, and all of us have episodes of that in our past. If we dwell on what we have done, we will lose sight of what God has made us to be in Christ. It was a major release from a besetting sin when I really grasped what Peter was talking about. “But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” (2 Peter 1:9) We need to grasp that God’s forgiveness really does cleanse us, as though we had never sinned in the first place. That’s what 1 John 1:9 is talking about. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I knew that verse as words, but until it sank into my soul and spirit I was far more vulnerable than I had any need to be. Having experienced this myself, it is my joy and privilege to teach it to others, but I certainly can’t do that in my own wisdom and strength. However, the Holy Spirit can use me to that end, so that must be my focus, to draw as many as possible into the life that God intends for us, for our blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for this clear Word. I had wondered what I was to speak on Sunday! Help me put this into Your outline, using the Scriptures You know will penetrate, so that Your Word will accomplish all for which You send it, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 13, 2015

Posted on July 15, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 92:14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green.

This is certainly an encouraging Scripture for any senior citizen! However, the previous two verses set the conditions for this condition: being righteous, planted in the house of the Lord. There are many who grow old and bitter. Any fruit they bear isn’t worth having! There are also those who grow increasingly self-centered with age. They don’t bear much good fruit either. It is indeed when we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) that we enjoy all the benefits of being God’s children. Someone who is righteous by God’s definition will indeed be “planted” in His presence. Active participation in a local congregation is extremely likely, but this certainly isn’t limited to that. This is talking about abiding in Him continuously, drawing nourishment from His Word, that Living Water that provides the very best nutrients (as in hydroponic farming). Such a person will indeed bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in abundance, along with the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15) and other fruit as well. Our bodies age, yes, but our spirits can and should continue to grow.

Currently in a battle with my kidneys, I am very aware of physical age and limitations. That said, my focus is not only on my body but on my Lord. My body can yell pretty loudly at times, but it’s not my first priority, nor my master. I am to focus on staying planted in my Lord, in His Word, so that His righteousness may be manifested in and through me. I can’t do that in my own strength, but He has demonstrated time and time again that His grace is sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:9) It is interesting that God pointed that out to Paul in the context of a physical problem. Few things cause us to focus inward more than pain, but God says, quite rightly, that even in such situations we need to abide in Him. I am in such a training time, and I need to give Him thanks and praise for this opportunity to draw closer to Him, rearranging my priorities in line with His, so that His will may be done in and through me on His schedule for His glory.

Father, thank You for what You are allowing me to go through. Thank You that what the devil intends for evil, You will use for great good. I have a lot on my schedule the next three days. Help me recognize what is of You and what is not, and rest, relax, and rejoice in You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 12, 2016

Posted on July 14, 2016 by jgarrott

Psalm 89:1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

At first glance this Psalm seems out of place in a series on the theme of prayer, but the last part of it, from verse 38 on, is something of an accusation of desertion and a request that God come through on His promises. That said, the praise and worship of the first part of the Psalm are justly well known and loved. This first verse has been set to music a number of times and is a very admirable faith declaration, especially for times when circumstances seem less than ideal. It is when things don’t look good around us that our words and our music become a “sacrifice” of praise. (Hebrews 13:15) It’s easy to sing praise songs and get happy when things are going the way we would like, but not nearly so easy when they aren’t! That’s why it’s significant that this verse speaks of God’s love and faithfulness. (The Japanese says “grace/blessings and faithfulness.) Those are God’s unchanging qualities, and we must never forget that, especially when things around us seem to be in a whirlwind of change. It is interestingly true that when our faith wavers, declaring our faith out loud is one of the most effective ways of strengthening it. Paul said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) That is true even we are the ones speaking out what we are hearing! That’s why it’s so important to acknowledge circumstances but still declare that God is greater than those circumstances.

I just had a somewhat intense practicum in this very point. After taking my wife to see her cardiologist for a regular appointment, I started feeling stranger and stranger in my abdomen and decided I needed to go see my urologist. On the way there I had a sudden taste of salty saliva, which is often a precursor to nausea, and I was thankful his office wasn’t far. As he was doing a sonogram of my bladder, etc., I suddenly had to call for a basin, and over the course of the visit it became very clear exactly what I had eaten for breakfast. The trigger was the intensity of my pain, because the tests confirmed that I had a uretral calculus (kidney stone). After an injection and with other medications in hand I drove home, (which wasn’t the wisest course, but the Lord got me home safely) canceled all my appointments for the day, and went to bed. I won’t go into further details, but I am extremely relieved that I don’t have symptoms this morning! The thing is, while I was lying in bed hoping for the pain meds to kick in, I was letting praise songs run through my mind. “O Lord, You have been good; You have been faithful to all generations.” The pain I was experiencing didn’t cancel God’s faithfulness. This is something I have been learning to do more and more over the years, and it is certainly the best way I know to get through anything. All we experience on this earth is essentially momentary, however long and drawn out it might feel to us in the middle of it. God’s love and faithfulness are absolute and eternal, and we need to remember that.

Father thank You for the past 24 hours, though they weren’t fun at the time. Help me not take others’ difficulties lightly, but still point them to You and remind them of Who and what You are, so that they may not wallow in their pain but receive the blessings You intend for them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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