Be not still

O God, do not keep silent; 

be not quiet, O God, be not still.                Psalm 83.1

The psalmist is crying out to God, he is entreating God to be active. God’s precious and cherished people are being threatened. The nations have conspired against God’s people.

“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.”(v4) 

The psalmist sees the nations conspiring against Israel as with one mind. He exhorts God to act, and to act against them:

Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, 

like chaff before the wind. 

As fire consumes the forest 

or a flame sets the mountains ablaze, 

so pursue them with your tempest 

and terrify them with your storm.    (vv 13,14)

I see direct parallels in the world today. It is as if the nations are conspiring against Israel, God’s chosen people. The world does not seem to be aware that it is challenging Almighty God. And the deceits of many human initiatives would appear to be growing and gaining power. Have people’s minds – sane, intelligent folk of the western world – been deceived? It would seem so! Yet God is greater. The psalmist entreated Him all those years ago for the situation of his day. I entreat the same faithful, unwavering God in the troubled times I live in.

Lord God, Mighty Redeemer,

My concern is similar to that of the psalmist. Your chosen land of Israel is under attack, seemingly by most of the world. And, the majority would appear to be deeply deceived. I cry out to You, Lord God, to expose the deception and bring a true awareness to world leaders who are acting so foolishly at this present time. All over the world the actions of society seem to be getting more out of hand. I entreat You to act and be not still, and I ask this in Jesus’ name.      Amen.                                                                               

Passionate love

O God, you are my God, 

earnestly I seek you; 

my soul thirsts for you, 

in a dry and weary land 

where there is no water.                             Psalm 63.1

Again I find myself echoing the words of the psalmist. I cry out for God. I am hungry and thirsty for Him. He alone is the way for me. The land in which I am living seems to be getting spiritually drier and more weary. The living water is being ignored and rejected in these days of Mammon.

I cry out for God – for myself and for this nation. And even beyond. The world needs saving. The Saviour has come. The light came into the world and was not received by the world.

God’s will is not dependent upon the world’s reception. God’s will is clear throughout His Holy Scriptures. He passionately loves mankind. He is sure to save. I rejoice in this. I cry out to my great God in my own behalf and for the whole of humanity.

Lord God,

You are my God. I rejoice in knowing that I am Yours and that You are there for me.

I earnestly seek You. You are my daily bread and the water of my life. I cannot exist without You. Hear my prayer and be with me today.

I pray also for the rest of humanity. Many know You, but many do not.

Dear Lord, please do not delay. Wrap Your arms around this world, and bring rescue, forgiveness, salvation and safety. The world needs You but does not know it. I cry out on behalf of the world. Hear my cry. Answer my prayer. 

Great God, lead me forward into this day. Direct my steps. Let all I do be pleasing to You, in Jesus’ name I ask.            Amen.

Broken and contrite

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; 

a broken and contrite heart, 

O God, you will not despise.                      Psalm 51.17

NIV Study Bible notes: What pleases God more than sacrifices is a humble heart that looks to him when troubles crush and penitently pleads for mercy when sin has been committed.

This beautiful psalm is David’s humble prayer for forgiveness and cleansing. David had committed the gross sin of adultery with Bathsheba, following which he had arranged the murder of Uriah. (2 Sam. 12) He had sinned greatly against God: Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” His penitence is genuine. In despair of his own foolish action, he offers God a broken spirit and contrite heart.  

Lord God,

I thank You for the amazing person of David. He did many foolish things, committing grievous sin against You. He also did many fine, valiant and honourable deeds. He was truly a mixture in character. But You loved him. He is called a man after Your own heart. Dear Lord, what a wonderful way to be seen. To be close to Your heart suggests to me that David was “of the right heart.” He himself commends a broken and contrite heart as being true to You. His words indicate that he is so.

Lord, may I always offer You a contrite spirit. May my heart always be open to You, broken and contrite in manner, yielding and ready to be taken by you and moulded to Your way.

I offer You my heart. This is me, Lord. The most of me I can give You is my heart, for the rest of me comes with it.

Take me, I’m Yours.                Amen.

The Living God

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?                                                                         Psalm 42.2

I join the psalmist and cry out with him in the first half of this verse. My soul indeed cries out, I thirst for God, for the living God. My God is not an inanimate object. He is alive. He is life. He gives life. I thirst for the life that only God can give me. Yes, I feel alive in Him, but I want more. I am eager for more, wonderful, miracle-working life power from God to flow into, and out from, my life. I am totally caught up in Him. He is the way, the only way for me. And I want to go His way one hundred percent.

The second part of this verse suggests that the psalmist is presently prevented from being at the temple to meet with God. I rejoice that the temple is not a distant place for me, a place where I might sometimes find difficulty attending. No, this does not apply to me. For the temple, now, is within me. Through the precious sacrifice of Jesus, the veil of the temple was torn and the way opened up for me to enter God’s presence directly. The temple, where I might enter the presence of my almighty and wonderful God is not a fixed building, but is the sweetness of my heart. Jesus allows me to become the temple of the Holy Spirit. I can meet God anytime, within my own being.

This is not something to be abused, but rather treasured and honoured. The God od all creation, God of gods and Lord of lords meets with me in the intimacy of my own heart. I need no intermediary. O, praise God, that I can live in such wonderful relationship with Him.

Lord God,

I thank You for this wonderful reminder of your closeness to me. I am able to meet You at any time. Indeed, I am with You at this very moment. Right now, the neighbours are chatting just an arm’s length away, but they are not intruding. I am with You. Dear, sweet Lord this is the third experience I have had of this nature in just over a week. Are You drawing me closer to You? I hope so. Something is happening in our relationship. I pray – I ask You for a more constant awareness of Your presence, a growing knowing in me that I live with You each second of each day.

Precious, precious Lord. Holy One of all. Take me. Lead me. Fill me, and fulfil me, in Jesus’ name I ask.             Amen.

Patient

I waited patiently for the Lord; 

he turned to me and heard my cry.             Psalm 40.1

Have there been times when I have been impatient with God? I’m sure there have!

Are there times when I wait for Him and He seems not to be there? Perhaps, but I’m feeling more and more strongly that the fault is with me and not with Him.

These words bring re-assurance to me. I will wait. But if I wait with patience, with forbearance, He will turn to me and hear my cry. I don’t see this as God playing silly games. I do see it as a growing of me, a growing in me. I am prepared to wait. I do so in the assurance that He will come. The waiting takes me into the stillness and the rest of God. God’s rest is so important. I will enter into it by being still before Him. As I am still, and as I enter His rest, so I will meet with Him, I will see Him as He turns to me and I will know that He hears all that I say to Him. Praise God!

Lord God,

I thank You that You’re with me right now. In this present stillness I feel Your rest. I am in that rest with You. This is a most wonderful place to be. Certainly, life is going on all around me, but I am at rest, at peace, with You. 

I am reminded of last week when You met with me in the shopping centre.

Lord God, I rejoice. I feel as if I am moving closer to You. I praise You. I thank You.

I will wait patiently for You. I shall practice the waiting. I shall practice being still, and entering Your rest. I will look for, and see, You turn, and I will know that You hear me.

Thank You, dear Lord.

Lead me through this day. I surrender to You.

         Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

                  Precious Lord.               Amen.

Upheld

If the Lord delights in a man’s way, 

he makes his steps firm; 

though he stumble, he will not fall, 

for the Lord upholds him with his hand.                      Psalm 37.23,24

Psalm 37 is a wonderful song of encouragement. It’s theme of contrast between the wicked and the righteous gives much insight and hope to those who struggle to do good in the Lord. Godly wisdom pervades the whole of the psalm. It exhorts us not to fret or be envious of evil men and their apparent success, for it will not last.

I have seen a wicked and ruthless man 

flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, 

but he soon passed away and was no more; 

though I looked for him, he could not be found. (vv 35,36)

More than this, there is great encouragement for the righteous – for all of us who aspire to be good and Godly in the Lord.

Trust in the Lord and do good; 

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.(v3)

Trust in the Lord is Godly fear in right outworking. God is good and anyone trusting in Him will know and experience the goodness that is God. 

The phrase dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture encourages me to receive what comes to me from the good (and Godly) provision in life. I am not to shun the benefits that might come my way, but accept them and enjoy them.

Lord God,

I love you. I desire the closest relationship with You, and the fullest measure of You in me. I yearn to show this to others, to share it with them and to bring them into real, deep and sweet relationship with You.

I determine not to be swayed by what I see of the world around me, nor to be influenced by its ways and apparent successes.

I wait upon You. I will be still, my gracious Lord, and wait upon You.

I trust You, Lord. I surrender completely to You. Have Your way in me, in Jesus’ name I ask.             Amen.

Unique

My whole being will exclaim, 

“Who is like you, O LORD? 

You rescue the poor from those 

too strong for them, 

the poor and needy from those 

who rob them.”                                       Psalm 35.10

There is no one like my God. He is the Father to the fatherless. He is the husband of widows. He is strength to the weak, and riches to the poor. He is all these things. He rescues, He strengthens, He upholds, He sustains. And this is wonderful. I rejoice. I call out in riotous exclamations of joy and wonder.

But I love Him for who He is. All that He does is most wonderful, but it is who He is that captivates me. He is my Father, Friend and Lover. I rejoice in this. I love Him.

Father God,

I thank You for all the wonderful things that You do. I rejoice that You are there at all times for those who need You. I am inspired by the wonder and majesty of Your Creation.

But, most of all, I love You. I see depth, promise and a great appreciation in Your love. I thank You that You love me, and also that You enable me to love.
Lord, please grant that I might love, more and more, as You do. Please touch my heart with Your heart. Fill me with insight to see people as You see them. Show me how You would have me connect with them.

I love You. Dear, gracious, sweet Lord I love You, but I do not want to contain this love to myself. I want to share it freely, outrageously.

Allow me, Lord. Give me opportunities. Open doors for me. Let me share Your love, in Jesus’ name I ask.             Amen.