Protected From Liars

Psalm 120: ¹ I call on the Lord in my distress,
    and he answers me.
² Save me, Lord,
    from lying lips
    and from deceitful tongues.

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“That will be about $1500” the dentist said as I looked dismayed. “Would you like me to take care of that now?” she asked. Something didn’t feel right about what she was saying. In fact my whole being felt alarms go off. “No, not right now” was my reply. I took my, so called, cracked tooth to another dentist and they did not find any problem. The new dentist cleaned my teeth and any pain I felt went away. “Your insurance will cover that” he said.

• There are times where I have lied.
• There are times when I felt I had to protect myself at all costs.
• There are times in which I have not stated the truth in order to get my way.

“Lying lips” are something GOD does not like. HE cannot stand when I lie to someone, especially to get my way. Lying is the ultimate form of manipulation. Even lying to myself causes problems between me and GOD. HE can see through any delusion I put up about someone or some situation. HE drills down to the core when it comes to lying.

• GOD wants me to tell the truth to others and to myself so I can worship HIM in spirit and TRUTH.
• GOD wants me to believe HE will protect me from those who lie about me or slander me or try to get the best of me.
• GOD wants me to know HE will protect me from liars and HE does not want me to be included in the lying.

“Put off your childish ways” is what GOD says to me. When I was a child, I would tell my parents “I don’t know” when I fully knew what I did, yet got caught. BUT GOD wanted me to grow up and to face my mistakes. HE wants me to be able to confess my wrongs, knowing HIS grace is on the other side of admittance. GOD not only protects me from lies, HE pursues those who attack me. I do not want to be pursued by GOD for lying. GOD answers my prayers of protection.

• Are you being deceived?
• Are you deceiving someone?
• Can you ask GOD for forgiveness of your deceit, even the deceit you have about yourself?
• Will you ask GOD to protect you from liars and to heal you from lying?

A Nice Prayer to Start the Day

Psalm 119: ¹⁶⁹ May my cry come before you, Lord;
    give me understanding according to your word.
¹⁷⁰ May my supplication come before you;
    deliver me according to your promise.
¹⁷¹ May my lips overflow with praise,
    for you teach me your decrees.
¹⁷² May my tongue sing of your word,
    for all your commands are righteous.
¹⁷³ May your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
¹⁷⁴ I long for your salvation, Lord,
    and your law gives me delight.
¹⁷⁵ Let me live that I may praise you,
    and may your laws sustain me.
¹⁷⁶ I have strayed like a lost sheep.
    Seek your servant,
    for I have not forgotten your commands.

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What I noticed about this prayer is the person asks for help following GOD. Sometimes people tell me “follow GOD” but it is not always that easy. My sinful heart prevents the easiest tasks listed by GOD and soon I find myself not praising HIM or lifting a finger to grow HIS kingdom. BUT GOD wants me to act differently.

• GOD wants me to ask HIM for understanding of HIS word so I can apply it only to me.
• GOD wants me to ask HIM to accept my prayer for it is arrogant to demand anything of HIM.
• GOD wants me to ask HIM to teach me HIS decrees so I can praise HIM when I get the knowledge.
• GOD wants me to ask HIM to change my stony heart to enable it to accept “all” of GOD’s word.
• GOD wants me to ask HIM for help when I start following HIS path.
• GOD wants me to ask HIM for the abundant life HE promises me so that I can praise HIM.
• GOD wants me to confess to HIM that I go astray daily and I need HIM to seek me for I would not seek HIM.

This is a marvelous prayer and I am glad GOD inspired Taw to write it. 

The Other Side of a Whooping

Psalm 118: ¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory

    resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
¹⁶     The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
¹⁷ I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
¹⁸ The Lord has chastened me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
¹⁹ Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

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Driving to my apartment I realized I was on my own. No more parents to answer to, no more professors to get graded by. I was free to do what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted. I can join the crowd and fit in! When I did, it seemed like stuff would happen to me and no one else. I mean when I would do what everyone else was doing, something “bad” would happen to me and it seemed like everyone else would get away with whatever they were doing!

• My sins have consequences on earth.
• My sins have consequences that harm me.
• My sins have consequences that spring up in “crops” of seeds I’ve sown.

The old saying “what goes around comes around” is based on a Psalm that says “Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them…” In other words, it seems like I can’t do what other people can “get away with.” GOD has a different standard for me.

• GOD holds me to a higher standard because I am HIS child.
• GOD treats me different because I am supposed to represent HIS holiness.
• GOD chastens me to a point, not because HE hates me, but because HE loves me and wants me to stay on HIS path.

GOD’s whooping is not a fun whooping and doesn’t always seem one for one. I mean sometimes the sin may be “small” but GOD sees something bigger in me and will not stand for it. Yes HE has grace, but HE also has wrath. HE demands my attention and desires that I follow HIM, HIS way. This is not arrogant since HE did so much for me.

The great thing about GOD is, HIS wrath for me is never eternal. HE pulls back and picks me up and says, “I love you.” HE opens the gate foe me to HIS house and I will praise HIM!

• Are you being chastened by GOD?
• Does it seem pretty harsh?
• Can you understand that GOD loves you and will not destroy you, but make you stronger?

Short and to the Point

Psalm 117: ¹ Praise the Lord, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples.
² For great is his love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

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Shocked at the brevity of this chapter the words stand out that much more.

• GOD wants me to praise HIM on a daily basis for this reduces complaints.
• GOD wants me to extol HIM for this helps me recognize HIS great love towards me and to see HIS endless faithfulness towards supporting me.
• GOD wants me to praise HIM to remove the thing that makes me not want to praise HIM.

Something blocks me from praising GOD sometimes. Whether it is a circumstance that I’m pouting at or a sin that I have just committed, there are times I just don’t feel like praising GOD. BUT GOD understands. HE is not arrogant or needy. HE knows that when I can wake up and praise HIM, my stony heart will melt to see HIM as HE is, full of love for me. Praise GOD for HIS mercy!

• Are you feeling lost?
• Do you feel like you cannot praise GOD because of your circumstance?
• Do you know HE understands and does not have pressured expectations of you?
• Will you flow like a river today and allow GOD to do HIS thing?
• Will you open your mouth today and praise GOD with audible words?

Daily Excitement

Psalm 116: ¹ I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live.

³ The cords of death entangled me,
    the anguish of the grave came over me;
    I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “Lord, save me!”

⁵ The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The Lord protects the unwary;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
    for the Lord has been good to you.

⁸ For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the Lord
    in the land of the living.

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Clouds overhead made it glum and it seemed like that was the beginning of my mood. “Why is it raining?” I asked in futility. I asked to borrow a car instead of taking the bus and my brother relented. The car was old and each time I shut the engine off I would have to open the hood and hotwire it to start it. No, it wasn’t stolen, the ignition just didn’t work well. “Why?”, was my question all day as things fell apart one by one.

• Sometimes I allow the weather to guide my mood.
• Sometimes I ask “why” on things I cannot control.
• Sometimes I let my mood be affected by my surroundings.

I met someone who absolutely loved storms. This person loved the rain and its purpose. That fascinated me and soon I looked at the rain differently. I saw purpose in the rain and GOD’s hand on the storm. I saw HIS power in what looked like destruction and might in what seemed to be devastation. GOD wanted me to see a different view.

• GOD wants me to be excited every day so I must change my mind when I think something is glum.
• GOD wants me to see HIS power during a storm rather than complaining about the storm.
• GOD wants me to call on HIM rather than complaining to HIM, this shows I trust in HIS way, HIS time and HIS power.

When I started seeing GOD in everything, I noticed I could handle the day a little better. Knowing GOD is at work makes me understand HE has compassion, HE is gracious and righteous. GOD saved me and my soul can rest instead of waiting for the perfect circumstance.

• Are you waiting?
• Do you want out of your circumstance?
• Can you recognize GOD’s wonderful might through the storm?

Earthly Needs are Met Too

Psalm: ¹² The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
    He will bless his people Israel,
    he will bless the house of Aaron,
¹³ he will bless those who fear the Lord—
    small and great alike.

¹⁴ May the Lord cause you to flourish,
    both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

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Bored, my mind began to drift. “When will this be over?” I said with the thought of excruciating pain. I mean it’s bad enough that I have to be here in church, but do I have to listen to this “old” person drone on and on? I have important things to think about and whatever these people are talking about doesn’t seem to help “my” situation! They don’t know what “I’m” going through, I said as I was about to enter high school.

• Sometimes I think GOD only cares about heaven.
• Sometimes I think JESUS only cares about salvation.
• Sometimes I think the HOLY SPIRIT was placed in me to watch me like “big brother” and catch me in my sins.

What a dismal view of GOD, the ultimate blamer and the ultimate punisher. I saw GOD how I saw life at that time. I felt alone and directionless with no guide to pave my path. BUT GOD had a plan that I was unaware of.

• GOD saw me lying in the dust and picked me up.
• JESUS numbered the hairs on my head and walked “with” me though troubled times.
• The HOLY SPIRIT lived through every sin I ever did and begged for forgiveness on my behalf

FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT are ONE GOD, not separate entities as I write about each. GOD cares about my day to day activities just as much as HE cares about my eternal health. HE wants me to live a sinless life but understands when I can’t. HE is full of grace, full of love and full of mercy. JESUS said “It is finished!” GOD said “MY grace is sufficient ‘for you’.” GOD made me to flourish in heaven and earth.

• Do you think GOD has left you?
• Do you think GOD is not listening to you because HE is punishing you or because you are wrong?
• Can you focus on GOD’s grace?
• Will you allow GOD to heal your heart by accepting the fact that HE loves you? 

Odd Path to Praise

Psalm 113: ¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, you his servants;
    praise the name of the Lord.
² Let the name of the Lord be praised,
    both now and forevermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised.

⁴ The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
    his glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the Lord our God,
    the One who sits enthroned on high,
⁶ who stoops down to look
    on the heavens and the earth?

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
⁸ he seats them with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
⁹ He settles the childless woman in her home
    as a happy mother of children.

Praise the Lord.

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As I watched the plane takeoff I felt like I was going to lose my job as the partner of the company sat with an empty seat next to him that was supposed to be mine. As I watched my finger being stitched I felt the pain racing through my body due to me touching the end of my hedge trimmers. As I picked up the pieces of my totaled car I wondered how I was going to get to work that day or any day for that matter.

• There are times where I am shocked by life.
• There are times where it seems like things go wrong in my life.
• There are times when I look out and see nothing but the immediate calamity.

Problems can sometimes seem very hard and harsh. My mind starts racing and I quickly try to figure out a solution but sometimes I can’t think of one. When the problem hits I have two choices, blame GOD or praise HIM.

• GOD wants me to have a relationship with HIM where there is no blaming HIM for the way HE loves me.
• GOD wants me to understand that “blame” is one of the problems HE would like to fix within me so HE can replace it with grace.
• GOD wants me to know without a shadow of a doubt that HE always has my best interest in mind and HE does not need to be manipulated.

GOD knew every situation HE has taken me through and looking back I am very glad I went through each. My blinded eye on that I placed on the job with the partner would have left me at a place that no longer exists. My fingers are still wiggling even though they could have been cut off and the totaled car was a death trap and my roommate and I walked away without a scratch.

I have a lot to praise GOD for and I have learned over the years that the sooner I can praise HIM the better. GOD deserves my praise no matter what because HE is guiding me to a better place!

• Are you blaming GOD or praising HIM?
• Are you looking at your situation or looking at GOD?
• Are you ready to grow or has the last situation taken you down?
• Can you praise GOD today in the middle of your storm, knowing HE has an awesome plan for you?