Psalm 91
If we want to stand firm with God as our refuge and fortress, the first thing we do is
we believe the Truth.
And the writer is Moses who stood and saw the Glory of God.
Now Moses and Psalm 91 have a good deal in common. Endurance.
People always have a choice, either increase in gratitude for a life worth living - or you get to be bitter.
Now Moses could have been bitter. He was the Pharoah's son. This is going to be a life of luxury. And comfort. But he saw that the midwives were told to kill of human people. Without the grace of God, Moses would be dead. And something in him didn't rest for feeling he couldn't prosper seeing how hard the lives were for the Children of Israel. Moses felt that he was charged to do something. And killing the Egyptian was certainly not the best thing. The Pharoah's house was going to think he was not within a controllable range. And he fled to death. Instead, Moses found he could stand for days and watch the flocks.
Where was the bitterness? Instead, Moses had a wife, children, and interesting father in law. And a job caring for animals that need care. Moses chose to see - God was taking care of him.
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
15 What shall I say?
and he himself has done it.
I walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh restore me to health and make me live!
17 Behold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind Your back.
18 For Sheol does not thank you;
death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
Your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
and
all the days of our lives,
at the House of the Lord.
Isaiah 38:1-20
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
What Life requires is Faith. Sad times come - life changes as people age. And in volunteering, I found that people have the strength to do their lives.