Psalm 73
Max McLean Audio Bible, English Standard Version
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them [the waters of a full cup are drained by them].
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength [rock] of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
We were speaking about unemployment the other day. A man laughed and asked if faith is sitting by the phone, watching TV and waiting for the phone to ring. And one of these random thoughts at the other spectrum was a story in my cousin Maxine's bathroom, she framed. It is about walking past a man sitting in a chair raking leaves, how he was so lazy and the observer was filled with contempt. As the walk took the observer past the raking man again, to find his crutches were leaning against the chair.
For the days Father God, when my life seems to be a jack hammer of thoughts. When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task.
Luther College Nordic Choir singing "O Lord God" in Leipzig, Germany. Wouldn't this be wonderful for Evening Prayer.
Evening Prayer, by Jean Francois Millet
We all have different crutches and different levels of faith. I love when our minister says to put your hands out and ask God for opportunity and blessing. It's in His time and within His plan. Let us make the most of our day, each day.
With God, we always have a great opportunity..... look UP!
Father God, how wonderful to be able to move past wearisome thoughts. To think of You, the Eternal. The Glory of God. Your storehouse of blessings does not run empty. Give us eyes of gratitude to see the blessings.
Psalm 84
Max McLean Audio Bible, English Standard Version
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
Father God, One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life. Realizing those who believe in You begin Eternity! By confessing we are sinners. Believing in our heart, You've given us Your Son, Jesus for our salvation. Eternity begins now, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand - to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek You in this life, in this body, where the Holy Spirit dwells.
Father God, I pray for the people of Japan, open Your storehouses of blessings. Father God, remember Jeremy, protect, guide and lift him. We pray for our military stationed in Japan. Amen.
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