Monthly Archives: June 2014

Jun 26 2014
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God’s “Nature”

A week of teaching about God’s nature to 3rd and 4th graders at Vacation Bible School (VBS) inspired the following lines that became my prayer for children of all ages.

Your Nature, O Lord
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
hovers over hearts
of children held near.

The Creator of Light
for the heavens and earth,
The Provider of Life
to sustain those in need.

The Protecting Presence
for the faithful who fear,
The Saving Grace
of those called by name.

The revelation of glory
to all who will worship,
Come, Lord Jesus come,
Come dear children come.

The wonder of it all
of God’s welcoming plan,
Come, Lord Jesus come,
Come dear children come.

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Jun 19 2014
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God-Centered

Whenever I fellowship with the saints of my church, I am blessed with laughter and new learnings. For instance, did you know that the verse at the center of the Bible is Psalm 118:8?

 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

 Taking refuge in the Lord entails fleeing to the center of God’s will where protection and hope can be found. It never fails that when I center my life on Christ I feel better, more cheerful and at ease.

The Psalms, in general, are a refuge for my heart as I pray. It is impossible to read the Psalms and not be convinced that God is at the center of every human emotion and can be trusted with what concerns us. C.S. Lewis said this about the Psalms:

 There…I find an experience fully God-centered, asking of God no gift more urgently than His presence, the gift of Himself, joyous to the highest degree, and unmistakably real.

 

May you and I find refuge in the center of God’s will for our lives.

 

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Jun 12 2014
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Spiritual Content

Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
~Psalm 71:6

Sometimes, I feel like I am in the grocery store forever. Usually, it is because I stop and examine so many product labels. I want to know the ingredients and content of what I am eating so that I can stay physically healthy.  Likewise, I want to know that I am spiritually healthy.

In his book The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential, N.T. Wright notes: The Psalms are the steady, sustained subcurrent of healthy Christian living. They shaped the praying and vocation even of Jesus himself. They can and will do the same for us (pg. 23).

This week I have been praying through Psalm 71 daily. As I read the first two lines of verse 6, I think of Jesus who modeled for us what it means to lean upon the Father in both life and death. And I am reminded to lean upon God while interceding for myself and for others who need to be sustained and supported by God’s presence.

More importantly, I am invited to stop and examine the content of my spiritual life. I wonder if people around me would label me as a person of continual praise of God. Are your prayers and mine continually filled with praise of God? The Psalms certainly help us make it so.

By grace alone, may the spiritual content of our lives be you, Lord…Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen and amen.

Jun 05 2014
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The Right Thing

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:8 (ESV)

Three years ago I was given a beautiful potted floral arrangement which included an orchid. Somehow I managed to keep it alive by watering and fertilizing it  occasionally. When I saw the “How to Care for Your Orchid” email from a local nursery, I realized I was being invited to go and learn what I had done right!

Early Saturday morning, I watched as the expert instructor took a distressed orchid out of the pot, cut off the dead flower spikes, cleaned the dirt off the roots leaving them exposed and removed the old leathery leaves. She then informed us that orchids don’t necessarily like to be in pots. In their natural tropic or subtropic environment they anchor themselves to trees and shrubs. Some species even grow on rocks or very rocky soil.

I drove away thinking about these fascinating flowers and this verse from Psalm 63. Just as God somehow upholds these flowers while they become firmly attached to a rock or a tree, God’s right hand upholds you and I while our souls cling to Him.

By God’s fascinating grace, we can do the right thing.  No matter what environment we find ourselves in, we can cling to the Lord, our spiritual Rock. May it be so in your life and mine…amen and amen!

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