Psalm 107

Psalm 107
1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.


4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.


41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Let Us Run

Hebrews 12: 1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

I recently happened to see a video of a college student running some race. Towards the end for some reason, her legs caved in with great pain and she literally crossed the finish line crawling. Her determination was fascinating. Her goal was not to come first or second, at that moment of time, her goal was to finish the race. Her face shone with much pride and great happiness while she was being lauded for her amazing perseverance in finishing the race.

Towards the finishing line it was interesting to watch her coach cheering her on to complete the race but all the while he was looking at her closely for any further signs of physical failure.

In this race of life, sin will weigh us down. Most times sin is comforting, beautiful, and attractive to the point that we can lose sight of our goal, Jesus Christ. That is actually the main aim of the devil. The moment we lose sight of our Author we will miss the complete story.

Our goal is not heaven but our goal is Jesus Christ. He has saved us by His precious blood and keeping that in view we got to reach the finish line.

Many a time we can blame someone else for our sin or our habitual sins. I love the way God asks us to remove what weighs us down. He is going to be there like the coach encouraging us to finish the line. He is though a gentleman and will not force us to abandon our sin.He will convict, admonish and let us know that it is not good for us, but He will never force us to abandon our sin. He has bestowed us with free will and given us the guideline. The choice is ours.

Perseverance is the key to our spiritual race. People's opinions, ideologies, daily trials and tribulations will all test our perseverance.

Our goal is to prayerfully look at Jesus and keep going. Hebrews 12:2b states,"For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Consider not all that surrounds you today but consider Him...who endured the cross on our behalf. Consider Him, consider the cross and keep running!

The Shepherd

Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

There is a story of an old man and a young man on the same platform before an audience. A special part of the program was being presented. Each of the men was to repeat the Twenty-Third Psalm.

The young man, trained in speech and drama, gave in oratory, the Psalm. When finished the audience clapped for more so that they could hear his beautiful, modulated voice once more.

Then the old man, leaning on his cane, stepped to the front of the platform and in a feeble, shaking voice, repeated the same words. But when he was seated no sound came from the listeners.

Folks wiped tears as they seemed to pray. In the ensuing silence, the young man again stepped forward and made the following statement:

"Friends, I wish to make an explanation. You asked me to repeat the Psalm with your applause, but you remained silent when my friend was finished.

The difference? I shall tell you. I know the Psalm, but he knows the Shepherd of the Psalm."
(Credited to:The Shepherd's Psalm by Robert Strand from Especially For the Hurting Heart)

Do we know the Psalm or the Shepherd?

With Me

Exodus 33:15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Even after all the miraculous signs that were performed including the parting of the Red Sea the Israelites still remained a stiff necked people. Moses was tired and yet God directs him to lead the people into a land of milk and honey.

Moses could have been presumptuous and said, "Well...God since you have been with me this far...I know you will be with me in the future". Moses knew that without God he was totally useless. He had learnt that lesson good and proper. He knew that He was an instrument in God's hand for His glory.

It is very encouraging to read that Moses did not ask for wondrous signs and miracles. He asked for God's presence. He had learnt that with God all things are possible. He relied on His God and not on an arm of flesh. He had learnt that favor with God is the best thing to happen to man.

We can go out dressed in all our finery, latest designer clothes and the best shoes but if God's presence is not with us we are little more useful than cardboard cut-outs of us. We might as well be the mighty Michelin man blowing in the wind, huge but of no real use either to man or God.

Let us seek His presence, that is one thing He will not deny.

Waiting?

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

Every now and then I remember my first day in kindergarten. School was done by four and in the good ol' days in India they just held up every kid and the parent would come and pick their child up. I waited and waited and every so often the teacher would pick me up and my mother was not there. Of course, by the time 49 kids were picked up I was a mess. My eyes were swollen with weeping, snort running done my little nose, I was hysterical and I thought I would never see my family again. Finally an hour later my mother arrived. She thought the school was going to be done at 5.30.

My mother picked me up, hugged me and all was well. It wasn't really a broken promise just a misunderstanding. But it is so common for people to forget or break their word. The plumber is suppose to turn up at 2 o'clock instead comes the next day. How about someone promising you to do something and then just ignoring you? All but common.

Why is it like a breath of fresh air when someone keeps his or her promise? The reason I think is really simple. So often, we are disappointed by people who do not keep their promises or keep their word.

We have become a people that are most skeptical of the spoken word then in any other generation, I think. Cell phones turned off, landlines unhooked, someone being stood up for dinner...all very common in today's jet set age. Vows broken, contracts not honored.

But there is one whose Word never fails. Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

God promised that He would make Abraham into a great nation even when Abraham was old and did not have a son. God fulfilled His promised through Isaac. God promised Joseph in a dream that he would be above his brothers. Years later after being sold into slavery, being imprisoned and being forgotten, Joseph was promoted to being second to Pharaoh. David was just a young shepherd when Samuel had anointed David to be King after Saul. Saul He tried many times to kill David or have him killed; David had to live as a fugitive. But God saw him through every adversity and set him King over Israel.

What is the promise that God has made to you? Stay the course, press in and believe that He will show up. He has never known to fail those who wait for Him.

I will end with this amazing scripture from John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He always was, is and will always be. The Word cannot fail because He always exists.

First Love

Revelation 2:3-5 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

We all do remember that moment in time, when the love of God first flooded our hearts and minds. The moment of time when we said, "Yes, Lord!" Everything from then on for a few weeks, or for a few months, seemed so extraordinarily filled with the love of God. We could worship Him spontaneously, we could praise our God for silly reasons, quiet time with Him was a priority...then over the years everything about that freshness, that passion began to fade. We kind of settled in.

Earthly marriages often go this way of “settling in”. The first few years for some are filled with the wonderful memories of the wedding itself, the sweetness of the honeymoon and all the little romantic things that are done in the name of love. Then slowly we start taking our spouse for granted. Spontaneous kisses are gone, laughing together and doing nothing but just being in each other’s company becomes a chore. Then life is suddenly filled with other more important things or habits. And love whimpers in the corner and finally dies.

The difference in being in love with God and keeping Him as our first love is that He has never changed and never will. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. He loves us with the same passion He did from the beginning of time. He would die for us all over again if need be. He watches over us tenderly every second of the day. He longs to talk with us and spend time with us. He loves to walk with us in the cool of day and stay beside us in the night watches. He never changed but we did.

We got busy with our "works" for Him. We now labor with all our might for His Kingdom. Our heart seems to be on the right course, but is it really?

Let us today prayerfully remember how we felt in our sinful estate before He met us.
Let us remember how we were without hope and without God. Let us remember that we were destined for an eternity without eternal love. Let us remember the One that loved us and gave His life for us. Let us remember how we first loved Him and let us pray that our love would be rekindled and be brighter, stronger and better that when we first knew Him.

As the world prepares to celebrate Christmas with Christmas trees, presents and the revelry let us prepare our hearts to be a place for the King to dwell in.

Let us hurry to be beside our Beloved!

Aroma

Ephesians2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

As my eyes fell on this scripture this morning, I remembered. I remembered how hopeless and meaningless my life was without Christ. I remembered I often wondered where I would go after I die. I often wondered how my sins were going to be dealt with. My greatest pain was not knowing the God that created me.

I am thankful that someone took the time to share the love of God with me.

Let's look around real hard as we begin our day and ask God to give us insights into those around us that are without hope and without God.

They don't need our long prayers, our sermons, or our well written gospel tracts. All they need is the love of God displayed to them in human form. Let us today remove anything that so hinders or obstructs our sharing the love of God with those around us.

Let us remember how we once were in that place without God and without hope. Let us determine today to share the greatest love of all with those that God would lead us to today. Let us share the aroma of Christ or better still let us be the aroma of Christ. As we interact with people may they not just take in our cologne of the day or a body spray but let them breathe in the pure fragrance of Christ.

Come, let us demonstrate today hope and God! Let us demonstrate a love that would be hard to deny.