Starting every day by reading the Bible is a sound investment. Nearly every other thing we spend our time and effort on will wither and fade, but not the Word. It will stand for eternity. Read the Bible! It pays dividends today and will change your tomorrow.
Survivors often don’t know how to really thrive. They are paranoid about doing more than maintain, thinking that trouble will come again soon. God gave Isaiah this word for the survivors in Jerusalem: you will not only escape, you will put down roots, grow and flourish. You will thrive! Is it time for you to thrive?
Receiving Christ we are freed from slavery to sin and from the condemnation of the law. Why would we waste this freedom to go back to living as slaves? No, we are free now to willingly follow Christ our Redeemer and to love God and others as He directs. Beware of flaunting this freedom with permissiveness or losing it to legalism. You have been set free to follow Christ.
No wonder God described David as a man after His own heart. Perhaps Augustine was meditating on this verse when he said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Does your heart cry out for God like David’s did? Does your soul thirst for the living Lord?
Receiving Jesus we are prompted to call God by the name His Son uses, “Abba, Father.” Abba (Aramaic for “daddy.” Two simple syllables easily spoken by the youngest child- “Ab-ba.” Found in Ab-raham’s name – “Father of Nations). In this verse we see the Trinity revealed: God sending, the Son providing, the Spirit prompting… all so that we who are distant from God may be brought near. And so, we can pray “Our Father, which art in heaven…”
“Perfect” peace. Not partial or mixed, but whole, complete peace. The Hebrews called this shalom. For God to keep us in this state we must “take every thought captive” to bring our thinking into focus on Him. Pulling our thoughts from self-talking worry to talking to God in prayer. Emptying ourselves of any thought that isn’t surrendered to Christ until only thoughts of Him remain. Christ is our peace.
If we are saved through faith, we must live and walk by faith. Self-effort neither saves nor sanctifies. We must learn to lean, being filled with the Spirit, we lean on Him for power and progress. More prayer, less planning. More leaning, less effort.
It is hard work, but the appropriate spankings you give between 2 and 12 will make the years from 13-18 much easier. Physical discipline is non verbal reinforcement that aids in the training of your child’s own self-discipline. When you correct, aim past behavior change to heart change. You correct not to punish, but to discipline. In teaching your child to obey you, you are preparing your child’s heart to be receptive to obeying to God.
The apostle Paul sought only the approval of Christ. He was not a people-pleaser. Whose approval do you seek? Be careful not to water-down your faith in order to gain popular acceptance. Better to be rejected by man and be received into the Kingdom with “Well done!” by Christ Himself.
David wrote this psalm while hiding in a cave from King Saul. He was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel, but Saul had other plans for him. There’s always a tension between our calling and our circumstances. We know that God has a purpose for us, yet it’s hard to see the next step while hiding in a dark cave. At times like these we “cry out” to God asking Him to “fulfill his purpose” in us. May He who called us bring to completion that which He desires in/for us!