Psalm 37 ~ because they take refuge in Him

 

Psalm 37

Of David.

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

    be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass

    and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and 

He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in Him, and 

He will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

    and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in His  Way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off,

    but those who wait for the Lord 

shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

    though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

But the meek shall inherit the land

    and delight themselves in abundant peace.

The wicked plots against the righteous

    and gnashes his teeth at him,

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

    for He sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

    to bring down the poor and needy,

    to slay those whose way is upright;

their sword shall enter their own heart,

    and their bows shall be broken.

Better is the little that the righteous has

    than the abundance of many wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

    but the Lord upholds the righteous.

The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

    and their heritage will remain forever;

they are not put to shame in evil times;

    in the days of famine they have abundance.

But the wicked will perish;

    the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;

    they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

    but the righteous is generous and gives;

for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,

    but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

    when he delights in his way;

though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

    for the Lord upholds his hand.

I have been young, and now am old,

    yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

    or his children begging for bread.

He is ever lending generously,

    and his children become a blessing.

Turn away from evil and do good;

    so shall you dwell forever.

For the Lord loves justice;

    He will not forsake His saints.

They are preserved forever,

    but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

The righteous shall inherit the land

    and dwell upon it forever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

    and his tongue speaks justice.

The law of his God is in his heart;

    his steps do not slip.

The wicked watches for the righteous

    and seeks to put him to death.

The Lord will not abandon him to his power

    or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the Lord and keep His Way,

    and He will exalt you to inherit the land;

    you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

    spreading himself like a green laurel tree.

But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;

    though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

    for there is a future for the man of peace.

But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

    the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

    He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

The Lord helps them and delivers them;

    He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

    because they take refuge in Him.

Deep Water

We live in a time when most things can be seen to be strained. 

The newest statistics in the National Nightly News, 59% of people, Fox 26 Houston, would prefer not to be invited to a wedding or if they attend will not be gifting a wedding gift.  Try to find a Bridal Wedding Gift shop that is happy every day. 

And so we prefer Jane Austen, her time was easier, simpler. But in actuality, Jane Austen is known for literary realism.  And we can find our troubles in the last decades can compete with the outrageous behavior seen in her writing.

Sense and Sensibility contained the fictitious life events of the Dashwoods. Cheated by an elder brother, Lucy Steele attempts to ruin her romantic rival. Willoughby cares nothing for the women left in his wake. And a younger son makes implications to throw over his elder brother. Many are disliked for their monetary status and those with more are treated with more respect. 

I know a woman who gave 10 years of her life to be the charitable secretary of a fairly large Church. She worked for 2 senior Pastors, in succession, in their time at the Church. When she died, she was eulogized by the conservative Pastor, and all her years were put as parallels to the Pastor's master bathroom renovation. Her life was compared to the dangling overhead fan, the toilet and the ripped out bathtub sitting as space for many years. The Pastor was doing the work himself for years, more than 5 years, same amount of time because, like his secretary, they were underpaid. Church size, about 1,200 people.  The Pastor then quit to run a very un ordinary, bizarre seminary. 

Robert Ferrars marries the villain in Austen's novel. No one wins them all.

A cousin of mine, found his girlfriend was to have a baby. So they decided to marry and had a very well done wedding everyone in the family had worked on. At the ceremony and reception, the college friends took it upon themselves at the Reception to let everyone know, one by one, they thought the Christian couple were hypocrites to become impregnated.  Many friendships ended that day.

Northanger Abbey, is about Changing Fiancés and supposing the worst of your friends.

I was a bridesmaid in a wedding where she had rented over a thousand dollars, 35 years ago, in many candles and standing candelabras, in lieu of flowers, to decorate the entire church. And they chose the grandparents' beautiful church of over 200 years of beauty and family history, with many buried in the beautiful churchyard. 

Unfortunately, that July day, the air conditioner failed and the candles were actually shell wax shells with actual candles in the wax tubes held up by metal springs.  The result, the wedding march was being played, but the candles began to literally explode as missiles at the filled congregation. People seated had to run. And the bride said it would stop. 15 minutes of candles as missiles. The Bride had an emotional 30-minute meltdown, on the red aisle carpeted entrance to the Church Sanctuary.  Like a Marine Sergeant during boot camp. Within 30 minutes of incredible verbiage, the candles were all extinguished.  The Church was dark. The wedding had a spontaneous sermon about the language of the pure and unpure. No one had ever seen candles explode like that.  The marriage did not last 6 months.  It wasn't going to, really. 

When one of our many godmothers died, we got a phone call to travel to their tiny Texas hometown. But they used a Pastor from the Big City, who had been their mother's Pastor. He arrived and said this was a new congregation to him. And he told why he had enjoyed my godmother, who was genuinely interested in him and knew the names of his children. And gave many, many, many examples of parishioners he did not like and the things they had subjected him to weekly.  My godmother's sons were not enthusiastic about the eulogy. And in fact, the Pastor apologized to the people leaving the funeral in the foyer.  It was a strange day for all at the funeral. 

My step-grandfather was beloved and beloved of his congregations. And he decided to sell the Manse to benefit the Churches in 1971.  He asked the congregation to help him move.  And someone in the congregation moved some of his best belongings to their household.  He had been the Priest for 35 years.

It rains on the just and unjust.

2004. A relative of ours lost her husband, they had been married 51 years.  The reception was filled with about 400 people.  And at the reception, one of the children was asked to run off 2 different men, who wouldn't let go of the widow's hand. One was proposing marriage. And another child had to deal with the nurse of our late family member, who was having a temper tantrum. 

Persuasion, a family objects to a loving marriage and hasn't a care in the world if someone is lost. An ongoing verbal put down in the face of vanity.  Power and material gain. Using social place to placate and entrap less prestigious people.

One of our acquaintances, was sent for employment to a new city. They greeted their new neighborhood with creating parties and dinners. When the next block overheard of the new celebrations, the newbie was invited to the next block over.  Upon arrival, was told the next block had been there longer and the block of residence had actually created a theme for the party. What Fun! What was the theme of this party? We are sorry you are with such sorry neighbors, they are actually terrible people.  We know because we have all lived here for 12 years and they definitely have sorry personalities.  

Another family member of ours, a cousin, had lost his father to a longtime cancer. He was barely 30.  At the reception, a man came up to him and began an argument. He was jeering at the cousin because his father had remarried, and he would be left penniless.  Our cousin stood and took it. Until the man said he would carry on with the stepmother now. The stepmother, took his arm and politely informed him, she was the penniless one. The man decided to leave the funeral reception. 

A friend of ours was invited to a wedding celebration party by family. When the couple arrived, happy, they were less happy to be greeted with a cake with 40 life like penises on the cake. The new to be brother-in-law, said we are celebrating greeting another person who has entered into the family that we privately call, "Welcome To The Ongoing Problem."

Jimmy Kimmel did a week of reading and showing the famous their public tweets and how the language is not fan-based, but instead more like letters from hell.  

Rarely has anyone come through life without the outrageous bumps and bruises. 

Jesus Christ as the Father and Holy Spirit sees all of our moments and lived these moments with everyone experiencing them.

I saw a quote today and felt it would be something Jesus would enjoy. We have to wonder if Jesus sometimes feels like the Kimmel read public tweets in His Holy Spirit Presence in our lives. Or if He says to His Father, like Rodney Dangerfield,  "It's Rough out there."

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice includes George Wickham attempted child seduction of Georgiana Darcy and later repeating this Lydia Bennett. 

I have family, who had a father die, leaving 2 children. The distant cousin, sent out the family to buy better socks. A load of laundry had disappeared. And as the family left to find socks, the distant cousin took off her clothes and tried to seduce a child. The child found this to be exceedingly uncomfortable and left the room, to lock the other bedroom door. Later, when this was discussed, days after the family funeral, it began to be revealed this horror was a pattern of behavior. Decades passed when no visit or word was spoken. We learned this person had joined a Wiccan Church, but had left to pursuit an actual Witch Coven doing very bizarre behavior, especially on Easter.  No word was given for almost 3 decades, but other family heard.  The same cousin would return to the house decades later and refuse medical attention for someone, unconscious, and 83 years old. Creating an intensive care health crisis that would continue for a year and radically change the rest of their life.  

We know the statistics of 1/3 of the USA adults abuse substances. And we know 1/6 of America will face sexual harm.  But do we consider on the need for a policy regarding this harm.

Facebook offers social media support, saying let those who cause harm depart. Do not accept being harmed.  

But one phrase did seem to be something Jesus would enjoy. An adaption of Walt Whitman.

"Keep your face always towards the Son

 and the shadows 

will fall 

behind you."

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The reason we love Jane Austen, to believe in the pursuit of a higher good and find love. To overcome circumstances and press forward.  This is the belief in the Psalms, as David perseveres. Moses includes all types of trouble in the Pentateuch. Faith, Hope and Love. 

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Galatians 5:1 

For freedom Christ has set us free; 

stand firm therefore, 

and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:14-24

If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, 

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

gentleness, self-control; 

against such things there is no law. 

And those who belong to Christ Jesus

Abba, Father,

Forget not all His benefits -

Who forgives all your sins

and 

heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you 

with love and compassion

With Your Help, 

believing Jesus walks on water.

With Your Help

We will act justly

 and to love mercy

 and to walk humbly with You, our God.

Dwell in me,

Dwell in us,

Dwell in those we Love,

Help us to seek You first.

And we will finish well, in Jesus Christ. 

And the Nations of the world,

Your Good Creation,

Calling upon You.

Lord Jesus Christ,

Bless those working for

Post Pandemic Healing

and Care.

The healing and safety of Your people.

The safety of those

helping the earth 

to heal.

Let evil and practicing evil

depart far from us

and our children.

Worldwide Peace

Prosperity and

Peace.

Worldwide

Peace!

HEAL OUR NATION

We have 60 days

until 

our National Election.

Please Vote 

and Vote

 responsibly.

For Children in their Schools, all safety.

For those who protect and defend the USA,

protect us from arsonists.

Keep our food supply safe.

Support the Police.

For Worldwide Peace.

And the Peace of Israel. 

Those who protect

and defend

All The Word of God.

Freedom in our Churches.

Wholeness

Holy.

Goodness.

And in Jesus - this Hope, 

Faith and Love - we will rise up believing Jesus. 

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes The Lord Fulfills His Purpose

Thank You, Jesus

†