A close God

Image courtesy Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 10-13;  Psalm 16

TO CHEW ON: "I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved." Psalm 16:8

Though David calls for help at the beginning of this psalm, most of it is a flag plant of faith. It's as if in his trouble he is reminding himself of some core truths about God and his relationship with God:

• He has cast in his lot with the LORD (Yahweh) and His people (Psalm 16:2,3).

• God has been there for him in the past (Psalm 16:5,6).

• God is with him now, even at night (Psalm 16:7).

Psalm 16:8, our focus verse, illustrates two sides of this relationship.

David does something: "I have set the LORD always before me; …"

It's as if he sees himself as living always in God's presence. It's a presence with whom he aligns his life (an ancient "WWJD" or "What would Yahweh approve?").

God does something: "Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved."

He's there—a constant and reassuring presence. This awareness of God's presence not only keeps David on the straight and narrow but is his protection.

Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe says that God at David's right hand suggests God as his advocate and defender. Wiersbe sums up his commentary on this passage:

"With the Lord as his guide and guard, he has nothing to fear; he would not be moved. The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord" - Warren Wiersbe, BE Bible Study Series (accessed through Biblegateway.com - emphasis added).

Perhaps we could benefit from using David's method of reassurance.

1. Set God before us.
Though we know He's everywhere present, it helps to specifically invite Him into our circumstances, to "... set the Lord always before me..."

• when we're brokenhearted - Psalm 34:18.

• when He feels silent and absent - Psalm 35:22; 38:7.

• when we need His help - Psalm 145:18.

• when we already sense His activity in creation and the course of our lives - Psalm 75:1.

2. Live assured that He is there.
We can know that He is there to guide, defend, protect, and carry us through whatever circumstance we face: "Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being not some distant, disinterested deity but a close God who is with us through all the ups and downs of life. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 16

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

You are with me

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Psalm 23:1-6

TO CHEW ON: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me…” Psalm 23:4


“The key to provision is the presence of God,” the writer of my Bible’s study notes reminds us  (K. R. Iverson, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 703).

Indeed, we want God with us in the most extreme hour of life—“the valley of the shadow of death.” But thank God, He is with us in so many other less trying situations as well:

1. He is with us wherever we go—as He promised to be with Jacob and Joshua - Genesis 28:15; 31:3; Joshua 1:9.

2. He is with us all the time - Psalm 139:18.

3. He is with us when we’re given a big assignment, as Moses and Joshua discovered - Exodus 3:12; Joshua 1:5-9.

4. He reveals the road ahead to us - Psalm 16:11.

5. He is with us through the hard times - Isaiah 43:2; Psalm 23:4 (our focus verse).

6. His presence allows us to relax - Exodus 33:14.

7. He is with us through His word - Joshua 1:8,9.

8. He lives among His people. He lived among the Israelites (Exodus 29:45) and gives the prophetic promise:

“‘…behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst’ says the Lord” - Zechariah 2:10.

9. His indwelling Spirit within us equips us with power and everything we need to fulfill our purpose here on earth - Acts 1:8.

Reminding ourselves of God’s presence all the time, everywhere, and in every situation, practicing it, as in talking to Him throughout the day (prayer), singing songs (worship and praise), keeping short accounts (repentance—“Sorry Lord, I blew it there!”), catching and responding to His signals (fulfilling our purpose as witnesses) is key. It is what we can do now to be in His presence when times are good. We don’t have to save the reassurance and comfort of His presence for the “valley of the shadow of death.”

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for Your presence in my life in these many ways. Help me to acknowledge You in the good times and not wait for a desperate time to turn to You. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God in unlikely places

Jacob's Dream - Gustave Doré, 1832-1883

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 28:6-22

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.'" Genesis 28:16

Jacob's thoughts on waking from his wonderful dream are a testimony to how God-forsaken he felt. His feeling of being alienated from God was no doubt largely his own fault. He had recently participated in his mother's plot to deceive his father into giving him the blessing reserved for first-born Esau. Now Esau was living, eating, and sleeping revenge: "Just wait till Dad dies; I'll kill Jacob!"

Mother Rebekah got word of this and had Isaac send Jacob away on the pretext of getting a wife from her people. It is into the first lonely night of the journey that God came to Jacob in this dream of a ladder, angels, and God, who spoke a generational promise over him, the weasel kid. His first thought was: "God is here. I had no clue!"

I think of other unlikely times and places God showed up.

• In the words of an enemy soldier - Judges 7:13-15.

• In the life of a young boy who was surrounded by evilly religious men - 1 Samuel 3:19.

• In the sea depths - Jonah 1:17.

• In the middle of a Babylonian furnace - Daniel 3:25.

• In a den of lions - Daniel 6:21-22.

• In the presence and words of a young relative - Luke 1:41.

• On an island of exile - Revelation 1:9-10.

These examples recall the words of David in Psalm 139:

"Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea
Even there Your hand shall lead me
And Your right hand shall hold me...." - Psalm 139:6-12.

Wherever we are today, no matter how God-forsaken we feel, let's cling to this truth: God is here, with us, whether we feel Him or not.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the truth of Your everywhere presence. Help me to recognize You in my everyday world. Amen.

MORE: Not one hidden moment

"I can hide my heart and my past and my future plans from men but I cannot hide anything from God. I can talk in a way that deceives my fellow-creatures as to what I really am, but nothing I say or do can deceive God. He sees through all my reserve and pretence; He knows me as I really am, better, indeed, than I know myself. A God whose presence and scrutiny I could evade would be a small and trivial deity. But the true God is great and terrible, just because He is always with me and His eye is always upon me. Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient Creator" - J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 1973 edition, p. 91 (emphasis mine).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

You are a string around God's finger

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 49:14-26

TO CHEW ON: "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:16a

In today's tender reading from Isaiah, God reminds Israel of His unending remembrance of them. "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands," He says. Notice, it's plural. Both hands. There's no way He'll forget!

"This alludes to the custom of those who tie a string upon their hands or fingers to put them in mind of things which they are afraid they shall forget, or to the wearing of signet or locket rings in remembrance of some dear friend," explains Matthew Henry's Commentary. "His setting them thus as a seal upon his arm denotes his setting them as a seal upon his heart, and his being ever mindful of them and their interests" - Matthew Henry's Commentary, p. 901.

As those who have been "grafted in" to inherit God's promises to Israel (Romans 11:1-36), we can hug this promise to ourselves, along with others that remind us of how precious and important we are to God:

1. He has found, encircled and instructed us (Deuteronomy 32:10).
2. We are His crown and royal diadem (Isaiah 62:3).
3. We are the apple of HIs eye (Zechariah 2:8).
4. We are lifted up as His banner (Zechariah 9:16).
5. We are spared as sons (Malachi 3:17)
6. Jesus, God the Son, loved us and gave His life for us (Ephesians 5:25).
7. We are purchased with His blood (Acts 29:28).

If you are feeling like God has forgotten you, He has not. You are a string around his finger. He watches, listens to, and thinks of you constantly (Psalm 139:3,4, 17-18).

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for these reminders of how intimately You know me. Today please remind my family and friends, who feel forsaken, of Your awareness of and tenderness toward them. Amen.

MORE: "Whisper His Name" by Jonathan Stockstill

What do you know?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 42:1-17

TO CHEW ON: " … I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."  Job 42:3

I wonder if most of us couldn't say the same thing Job did: "I have uttered what I did not understand"—in misjudging someone's actions or motives, in giving a solution to a problem, in predicting how something would turn out…

Our knowledge is limited in so many ways. The Bible writers remind us:

• We don't know what a day will bring - Proverbs 27:1.

• We don't know how long we will live - Ecclesiastes 9:12.

• We don't understand life's mysteries. Though man has made progress Ecclesiastes 11:5 is still true in that we're still a long way from knowing how to duplicate a wind storm or the gestation of a babe within a womb.

• And just like we don't know many things about the natural world, we don't know many things about the spiritual world. For example, Jesus speaks of how God's grace comes to a human soul as mysteriously as the coming and going of the wind - John 3:8.

But Job did know one thing. He told God: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."

Do we have the same knowing? If we do, our anxiety about all the things we don't know can be put to rest as we trust the One who spoke through Isaiah:

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts'" - Isaiah 55:8.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your omniscience and omnipotence. Help me to trust You when I don't understand. Amen.

MORE: Another Great Prayer of the Old Testament

Job's prayer here (Job 42:2-6) is considered another one of the Great Prayers of the Old Testament.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.