EYES ON THE GOAL (Psalm 23-25)

Where am I going and how am I going to get there?

I've always been goal driven. Even in my present situation, I do my best work when scheduled and under deadline. So the verses that caught my attention today are ones that look back on life. They offer three different reasons to persevere, one from each chapter.

I was blown away by The Message's rendering of Psalm 23:6: Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.

Chased by love . . . chased by beauty. When I feel ill health and lack of success dog my steps, instead, God is chasing me with love and beauty. They will chase me to my last day, when they will welcome me into heaven.

Of course that begs the question, how do I see love and beauty? I would say in fresh flowers, the sound of rain falling, the fruity scents of shampoo and soap. In the kind actions and patience of aides. In the face of a woman who lost so much of her mind but holds onto God.

Psalm 24 offers a different promise: God is at their side; with God's help they make it. This, Jacob, is what happens to God-seekers, God-questers. (Psalm 24:5-6, MSG)

Note, it doesn't say they have it easy. Or that they will be rich and successful. But we will make it. God is their constant help. They can depend on Him. Whatever problems they face--they will make it.

Hmm, I changed from first person to third person in that paragraph. I should say, I will make it. I do say that all the time, especially in writing.

The promise is given to God-seekers and God-questers. If I seek God, make Him the object of my quest--I will certainly succeed. He longs for us to come to Him.

What does this look like? On our part, the traditional disciplines: prayer, Bible reading/study/meditation/memorization, church, worship. It also shows in our perseverance when the going gets tough, when our children rebel, when we face illness, when we lose our jobs.

We may sense God in the words of a friend, in a sermon, a song, a verse of scripture. Even from a TV show. From "circumstances." (When God really wants to get my attention, He repeats it three different ways.)

In fact, Psalm 25 says God confides in us. He is our Friend: God-friendship is for God-worshipers; They are the ones he confides in. (Psalm 25:14, MSG)

The promise from Psalm 25 is the most precious of all: Use all your skill to put me together; I wait to see your finished product. (Psalm 25:21, MSG)

It reminds me of one of my favorite verses: Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6, NIV)

I am in process of becoming, and I will only be completely "me" when I reach heaven. I am looking forward to that day.

Which ones of those promises touches your heart?


Today's verse: What are God-worshipers like? Your answer: Arrows aimed at God's bull's-eye. (Psalm 25:12, MSG)

RELATING TO GOD (Psalm 18)

Oh, my, how to choose? Psalm 18, which looks at character, or Psalm 19, which is the best Old Testament passage on God's revelation--by nature and by word, and has a marvelous poem describing the Law?

I will leave you to read Psalm 19 on your own. (Do take the time. It's well worth it!) Instead, I'll dive into a pair of verses that fascinate me:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. (Psalm 18:25-26, MSG)

This verse reminds me of one of my pet theories. Fact: All people are made in the image of God. That means a number of things, including our ability to create, but I think it has a corollary. Every human is unique, and each and everyone of us reflects something unique about God.

We understand God in terms of our makeup. Well, those positive qualities, like faithfulness, blamelessness,purity. He's not devious.

For instance, I a almost overbalance toward the mercy end of the mercy/justice continuum. God of course has a perfect balance, but He shows Himself to me in His love and mercy. If He dealt with me in the way that I deserve, with justice, I would cower in the corner and be too afraid to obey. I would try to be perfect, and fail, and give up trying. So while my mind agrees that God is a God of justice, and understand the equation of Calvary for the sin of the world, my heart feels the second-chance (and third and fourth and so on) God.

Let's look at the qualities David lists: Faithful, blameless.

Faithful implies loyalty, an unswerving allegiance.
Blameless: To me, this is more of a legalistic quality, a list of do's and don'ts, such attending church and not viewing x-rated movies.
Pure: 100% commitment, no contamination.

I'm not blameless, far from it. Loyal? Even in my darkest moments, I have never deserted the Christian faith, and more importantly, the God whom we worship. I haven't always been loyal to Christian institution. I went through a period of six months when I attend no church, after a deeply painful church experience. Pure? Probably not. There are areas of my life that I hold back. Unwilling to accept God's Lordship over them.

Devious? Departing from the correct path? No, I don't think so. Not as a pattern of life.

So how do I feel God shows himself to me? Well, I know that God is faitful and blameless (more than blameless, he is holy and righteous). But over the years I have come to experience God's purity, His devotion to me, no matter what. He is there. In the words of Corrie ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still." She learned it in a Nazi concentration camp. God didn't send me to such a terrible school, but divorce, incest, my daughter's suicide. . .I came to know God's love and devotion to me in the darkest times.

Love and mercy, as I said.

How do you relate to God? How do you experience Him relating to you?

Favorite verse: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. (Psalm 19:14, MSG)

SENSE OR NONSENSE (Psalm 16)

I say to God, "Be my Lord!" Without you, nothing makes sense. (Psalm 16:2, MSG)

I loved, loved, loved this psalm. Every verse reminded me of a passage in the New Testament. How about the good news of the gospel singing in his words, You canceled my ticket to hell! (v.10)

But I love the place where David starts. Without God, nothing makes sense. With God, even when we can't see the pattern, we trust the pattern-maker.

Sense is an interesting word to use about God. Because we talk about our five senses, and many people only believe something they can smell, touch, see, hear, taste. We don't come to know God that way. Even the closest contact we have to God-in-the-flesh, Jesus Christ, comes through written histories. There is sufficient historical proof of His life, death, and even his resurrection (Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison), but it's not the same as touching President Carter's hand or hearing Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon or seeing the planes crash into the Twin Towers.

The primary meaning for "sense" in the dictionary is "conveyed meaning." A generation later, David's son Solomon expressed the same sentiment in reverse: "Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes). And they both came to the same conclusion: go to God for meaning. David actively invited God to be his Lord. "Without you," nothing has any meaning.

Solomon took a very different approach, as I would expect.He wrote an entire book about the things of this world that lack meaning. He came to the same conclusion: In a world that doesn't offer any meaning, fear God and keep His commandments. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

For all that we can learn from in the physical world, man is made for something more. [God] has also set eternity in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV) Every person has a God-shaped hole in their hearts. Without Him, we lack the answer to life's central questions. The ones people have used in sharing the good news of salvation for generations, because the quest for answers hasn't changed: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?

The God who holds the answers deserves our allegiance, our loyalty, our love.

Today's favorite verse: My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I'm your choice! (Psalm 16:5, MSG)