I pray everyone who reads this is okay. I mean, I’m only assuming folks read what I have to share here because I see a couple of views here and there.
I don’t know if y’all are actually reading or if you just happened to click on this… but, wow, you guys have been clicking pretty consistent, and thanks, I guess.
Regardless of if you do read this chicken scratch or not, I really am thankful, and I pray for nothing but the best to continue to just unfold in your own lives.
Speaking of life, it’s been pretty challenging as of late, but I’m not complaining. I’m fully aware of the suck, but I’m not about to go ahead and give in to grief and anxiety.
Or, who am I kidding – if I AM feeling pretty bummed out, exhausted, listless, motionless, visionless, lost and so on – sure, you’ll see a lot of leakage here, but the truth is there’s infinitely better value to my time when I lift it all to the Lord…
…which I HAVE been doing, don’t get me wrong. Oh, man, I’ve been praying a whole lot lately. Like, crazy praying. Whenever things come into mind that threaten to throw me off balance and/or lose my focus, I’m just imagining myself like – who’s that protagonist NPC in Phantom Liberty? Oh, right – Songbird, projecting a holographic version of myself in the same room where I am just screaming everything out to the Lord. I’ve even gone to the point of being a good Pentecostal, praying in tongues (as in glossolalia) but eventually allowing words out as they come forth…
…and when they DO come out, they come in the form of rejoicing always and/or giving thanks for who God is, what He does, what He gives, what He did, and or what He gave, etc.
Things have escalated quickly, and I’m moving more (seriously pushing for 80k steps in 6 days each week, for the third week now), I’m praying more, and I’m writing more.
Lord knows I should be setting up my local workshop more, rearranging stuff around the home office more, optimizing my systems more – I mean, all of that is stuff I know I SHOULD be doing, but for SOME insane reason I’m sticking to basic reading, writing, moving, proper eating, fellowships, driving my Mom around, and/or Stronghold Crusader.
Somehow something’s very wrong here, but I can’t seem to get myself moving towards the ‘better’ things, the things I’m thinking are definitely going to be earning me some money.
I’m sorry, I’m rambling, I’m exposing too much of my weakness here, but, well, if you’re being entertained by it, God bless you.
This isn’t where it ends. It’s not where it peaks.
Things are getting better, I swear it.
It’s still March 12, isn’t it? Let’s go.
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 40
My Help and My Deliverer
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
Considering everything that’s happening right now, I can definitely say that what David says here about our Lord is true.
So far, through this year, we’ve spoken out about how as we wait on the Lord, we would renew our strength, as many a song goes, and as Scripture surely mentions, particularly in the Psalms, the Proverbs, and most notably in Isaiah 40:31. But here we have more cause to seek Him, and to give thanks to Him – because as David waited for Him, He listened favorably upon him, rescued him, and set him on a secure rock, a firm foundation.
We wait on the Lord, and we renew our strength. We wait on the Lord, and in His good timing, and within the vast scope of His infinite power and eternal wisdom, He hears us, responds to us, delivers us, keeps us and secures us.
He is all that because He really does all that. And I believe we naturally respond with worship, overflow with new songs of praise.
We would naturally testify, people would see, and oh, God willing, they would also come to believe in His saving grace.
I mean, I’m here saying it like a broken record, huh – That God is with us no matter what is going on, that I’m giving praise to the Lord in spite of all that’s happening; And, sure, that’s all nice, but if I’m being honest with y’all, now that I’m thinking about it, things have been getting better. God has been responding. I mean, it’s not in what my senses would say are miracles and breakthroughs in cataclysmic and apocalyptic proportions, but it’s in what I believe God is prioritizing – not so much outside, but inside of me.
My mind is being renewed. My priorities are being reprogrammed. I’m seeing more and more into what it means that Christ is not only Author but now FINISHER of my Faith – in that He renews more and more of my mind and soul and spirit, and as this renewal takes place, I am being literally transformed, as it has been written (Romans 12:1-2, to be precise).
And that may sound like a cop-out, but, sure, not really going into much detail here, but we’re seeing small glimpses of progression in a case of credit card fraud that we’ve unfortunately found ourselves in, just as I believe I’m also seeing some actual, concrete progress in a business we’ve been waiting almost 4 years now to finally start.
We’re also seeing some solid progress in the hearts and minds of the council in our church, as we’ve finally come together as a family to agree upon critical documents. There are more systems to establish, but what’s important is we’ve started somewhere.
Yes, sir, things ARE happening… and, okay, I’m telling myself this just as much I’m telling the few folks who click on this, much less read it.
4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Two things here – God has multiplies His thoughts toward us, and He has given us an open ear.
Here I am, telling one and all that if we’re to be overthinking about anything, we should be overthinking about God – good starting points would be the grace of the Father, the finished work of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
I’ve also emphasized countless times that we should be placing our full trust in the Lord, meaning we should be casting all our thoughts, concerns, ideas, burdens, anxieties, etc. onto Him – But here, look, we have a reversal of roles: God has multiplied HIS thoughts toward us. Meaning while we’re too fixated on dumping prayers and complaints and thanksgiving and concerns on Him, He not only persists, but increases His songs of deliverance and salvation surrounding us, perhaps allowing His Spirit to pronounce His conviction and increase His ministering to every aspect of our being.
I imagine I’m too fixated on lifting all my concerns and all that I’m feeling up to Him when He’s literally airdropping crate after crate after crate of new and fresh mercy each and every morning.
And with that in mind, I AM reminded of the emphasis of all this being not a religion at all, that it IS, cliche as it sounds, a relationship – and in relationships, there’s an EXCHANGE of deeds and thoughts.
It’s not a singular one way affection, but a cycle of intimacy.
With that said, we appreciate that He gives us an open ear. And I’m reminded of how we’re given two ears, and only one mouth.
Indeed, I’m humbly proposing that in our prayers, we should also ask our Father to enable us to hear Him two times more than we speak to Him.
I’m all for prayer – but it’s not as much us speaking than us hearing Him. Not merely in the 1980’s Jesus who supposedly only speaks to us in a still, small voice – and I should probably be specifying it’s more SENSING His wisdom; Hearing His words is only one aspect of that.
After all, His glory is SEEN in all creation – He continues to sharpen our discernment, He continues to impart His wisdom, He continues to multiply His wondrous deed and thoughts toward us; And He has given us ALL our senses to take all of it in, and to appreciate.
Not much our offerings and sacrifices, more than the open ear to HIS deeds and thoughts toward us.
What a beautiful insight.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
Indeed, the more we realize it’s REALLY about our resting in Him and taking in His deeds and thoughts toward us, with the open ear and the array of senses He gave us – the more we find it but natural to move in obedience to His will.
We find more cause to truly live, move, and have our being in Him, when we realize that on top of His multiplying His wondrous deeds and thoughts to us…
‘in the scroll of the book it is written of me‘
Now, as I was going through this in BibleHub, looking through all the other translations to sort of pinpoint what that actually means, I saw that this same set of Scriptures was actually quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7, and referred to these words being written as mentioned by Christ Himself, who did the will of God, and therefore removed the requirement of burnt offerings and sin offerings – that by Christ’s offering we have been sanctified once for all. Amen.
I sincerely thought that here’s where I could say He also blesses us with His Word in our hearts, and, see in verse 7, our heart in His words.
I’ll leave it at that for now… although I’m inclined to just run with it because, well, we see here that’s how much He loves us – that He has what’s best for us in His words. Right?
But, okay. I’m not going to focus so much on that, more than I see in the rest of this set of verses – that out of the goodness of God we have been renewed, and blessed beyond measure, much so that we simply couldn’t help but testify of the blood of Christ – the pinnacle of His faithfulness, and the backbone to our salvation. We simply couldn’t help but testify of God’s endless love.
Gosh, it’s almost 12. I don’t know if I’ve made ANY sense here but it just felt good to empty my mind even further by dwelling on His word. I pray that this has also been a great ride for you, dear reader.
I’ll just let David end all this, here.
What a great and glorious Father we have.
What a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus, fully willing and absolutely able to help.
What a blessing we have in the Holy Spirit, our constant reminded of God’s wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us.
11 As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!
14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
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