God Examines Humankind

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

God's Divine Glory Returns

Psalm 11 The Message

A David Psalm

11 ^1-3 I’ve already run for dear life
    straight to the arms of God.
So why would I run away now
    when you say,

“Run to the mountains; the evil
    bows are bent, the wicked arrows
Aimed to shoot under cover of darkness
    at every heart open to God.
The bottom’s dropped out of the country;
    good people don’t have a chance”?

^4-6 But God hasn’t moved to the mountains;
    his holy address hasn’t changed.
He’s in charge, as always, his eyes
    taking everything in, his eyelids
Unblinking, examining Adam’s unruly brood
    inside and out, not missing a thing.
He tests the good and the bad alike;
    if anyone cheats, God’s outraged.
Fail the test and you’re out,
    out in a hail of firestones,
Drinking from a canteen
    filled with hot desert wind.

⁷ God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye.

 
For Reflection

You are changing, constantly in a state of transformation.  Your acceptance of God is helping you put things right.

As David reminds us, it is, at times, not an easy thing.  When surrounded by godlessness, and pressured to conform, life in Christ gets challenging.  Peter, the disciple, was constantly challenged by life.  He didn't always take the righteous road.  In his errant ways, Peter grew in grace, overcame his doubts, and found the courage to be faithful.

Peter, as David, did not find a strong path to righteousness alone.  God guided them.  Each made his decision to be faithful.  When the going gets tough, the faithful find God, busy putting things right.  It is the hope that sustains righteous living.  God's divine Glory will shine in and through you.

Pray
prayers of thanksgiving to the living God who never abandons humankind.  Pray for the Glory of the unseen God to shine light on the path to righteousness and the realization of the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

Worshiping in Awe

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

God's Divine Glory Returns

Psalm 5   The Message

A David Psalm

5 ^1-3 Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend.

^4-6 You don’t socialize with Wicked,
    or invite Evil over as your houseguest.
Hot-Air-Boaster collapses in front of you;
    you shake your head over Mischief-Maker.
God destroys Lie-Speaker;
    Blood-Thirsty and Truth-Bender disgust you.

^7-8 And here I am, your invited guest—
    it’s incredible!
I enter your house; here I am,
    prostrate in your inner sanctum,
Waiting for directions
    to get me safely through enemy lines.

^9-10 Every word they speak is a land mine;
    their lungs breathe out poison gas.
Their throats are gaping graves,
    their tongues slick as mudslides.
Pile on the guilt, God!
    Let their so-called wisdom wreck them.
Kick them out! They’ve had their chance.

^11-12 But you’ll welcome us with open arms
    when we run for cover to you.
Let the party last all night!
    Stand guard over our celebration.
You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers,
    for decking us out in delight.

For Reflection

Listen to David's words,  Hear the expressed devotion.  Understand David's assessment of his own fears in dealing with his world. Visualize his act of worship.

Sometimes, I think we have lost site of what it means to worship.  In this era of diminishing religiosity and church attendance we are pressured into finding ways to attract believers.  We ask questions as though the faithful were customers in order to bend our faith to fit their perceptions (however accurate) of what they think abiding in the faith means.  "What can the church do to attract you?"  What do you get out of Sunday Worship Service?

This is marketing religion not cultivating the faith.  How often do we discuss our faith and how it manifests in our action?  How often do we, the church, discuss how we pursue justice, compassion and peace?  What opportunities do we offer to practice the Way?  How does the church practice the Way?  Is the church just another social self-help group?  Or is the church a collective of Christians who meet to worship God in devotion and practice?

Pray
for the church as David has prayed for help.  Praise God for whispered words of wisdom and comfort.  Pray that you never forget what it means to be a God seeker.  Pray that you seek to worship God in word and deed.  Pray to make God worship your first priority.

God's Holy Place

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

God's Divine Glory Returns

Psalm 24  The Message

A David Psalm

24 ^1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
    God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
    laid it out on River girders.

^3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
    Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
    only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
    women who won’t seduce.

^5-6 God is at their side;
    with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
    to God-seekers, God-questers.

⁷ Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
    King-Glory is ready to enter.

⁸ Who is this King-Glory?
    God, armed
    and battle-ready.

⁹ Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
    King-Glory is ready to enter.

¹⁰ Who is this King-Glory?
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
    he is King-Glory.

 
For Reflection

The King of Glory, the unseen and unseeable God.

In a land filled with images of all sorts of Gods, songs as this one fly in the face of those who worship other gods.  Multiple gods of the harvest and gods of fertility, gods of war and many others were worshiped.  Each god was thought to bring some special privilege to those who prayed.  The gods explained the inexplicable and justified human behavior.

But the God of Israel is not god of self-justification.  The God of Israel is is a God of redemption, salvation and transformation.  God is the God of all things.  God can not be seen directly.  God is seen indirectly in all of God's creation.  Only the God of Israel has the power to transform the world.  God is seen in God seekers.

Pray
to seek God.  Pray that the glory which surrounds God seekers will reveal the paths to peace, justice and compassion.

Standing on Holy Ground

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

God's Divine Glory Returns

Exodus 3:1-6  The Message

3 ^1-2 Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.

³ Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”
⁴ God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”
⁵ God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”
⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

 
For Reflection
"Mine eyes have seen the coming of the Lord," is the first line of Julia Ward Howe's familiar hymn, The Battle Hymn of  the Republic.  Another familiar hymn to an 8th century Irish tune reads:

     Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
     Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
    Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
    Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Moses was in the presence of a vision of grandeur, incredulous and mysterious and transformational.  It was a vision of the coming of God's transformational power, a power codified in the commandments, a set of laws intended to give hope to a desperate people.

To give hope in desperate times is our sacred vision as well. We live and work for the restoration of the world in the image of the Kingdom of God.

Pray
that you will never lose your vision of God's intention for human kind.  Pray that you will work for righteousness.  Pray for those who embrace the vision of the Holy Spirit.  Pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

God's Exalted Name

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

God's Divine Glory Returns

Deuteronomy 5:23-29  The Message

^23-24 As it turned out, when you heard the Voice out of that dark cloud and saw the mountain on fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, and said,
^24-26 “Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness. We’ve heard him speak from the fire today! We’ve seen that God can speak to humans and they can still live. But why risk it further? This huge fire will devour us if we stay around any longer. If we hear God’s voice anymore, we’ll die for sure. Has anyone ever known of anyone who has heard the Voice of God the way we have and lived to tell the story?
²⁷ “From now on, you go and listen to what God, our God, says and then tell us what God tells you. We’ll listen and we’ll do it.”
^28-29 God heard what you said to me and told me, “I’ve heard what the people said to you. They’re right—good and true words. What I wouldn’t give if they’d always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children!

 
For Reflection
Where is your "holy place," your sacred ground to which you retreat to find restoration?  Where is the place that provides you a sanctuary from the pressures of your life?  Where do you go to find peace?  Where do you go to listen to God?
 
Pray
in your "holy place."  Meditate about God's intentions for your life in your "holy place."  Transform yourself, rejoice in the presence of God, in your "holy place."  Pray to keep your 'holy place' sacred.  Listen to God in your "holy place

You Are the Hope of All

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Satisfies

Psalm 86:1-10 The Message

A David Psalm

86 ^1-7 Bend an ear, God; answer me.
    I’m one miserable wretch!
Keep me safe—haven’t I lived a good life?
    Help your servant—I’m depending on you!
You’re my God; have mercy on me.
    I count on you from morning to night.
Give your servant a happy life;
    I put myself in your hands!
You’re well-known as good and forgiving,
    bighearted to all who ask for help.
Pay attention, God, to my prayer;
    bend down and listen to my cry for help.
Every time I’m in trouble I call on you,
    confident that you’ll answer.

^8-10 There’s no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord,
    and nothing to compare with your works.
All the nations you made are on their way,
    ready to give honor to you, O Lord,
Ready to put your beauty on display,
    parading your greatness,
And the great things you do—
    God, you’re the one, there’s no one but you!

 
For Reflection
Are you uncomfortable with prayer?  Pray anyway!  Pray about the big things.  Pray about the little things.  Pray so that God becomes the center of you life. Pray so that you will begin to listen to God whispered counsel.  In Prayer you will find hope in the great expectations in God's promised kingdom.

Pray
Pray about anything.  Pray about everything.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving.  Pray prayers of Praise. Pray prayers of intersession.  Pray for opportunities to serve God.

My Hope Is from God

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Satisfies

Psalm 62:1-8 The Message

A David Psalm

62 ^1-2 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

^3-4 How long will you gang up on me?
    How long will you run with the bullies?
There’s nothing to you, any of you—
    rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,
Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,
    far gone in make-believe.
You talk a good line,
    but every “blessing” breathes a curse.

^5-6 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

^7-8 My help and glory are in God
    —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
So trust him absolutely, people;
    lay your lives on the line for him.
    God is a safe place to be.

For Reflection
Live not for the after-life alone.  Live, also, for the here-and-now.  The after-life will follow.  God's hope and our hope lies in our living righteous lives; working for peace and justice, forgiving, showing compassion for all, and having an abiding confidence in the Lord's promise of eternal life.

Pray
for all who work for justice.  Pray for the courage to forgive and to be forgiven. Pray for opportunities to be compassionate and just. Pray for the realization of the Kingdom of God.

God Has Called You to Hope

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Satisfies

Ephesians 1:11-19  The Message

^11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
^13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
^15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

 
For Reflection
The eternal question;  "Who am I?"  In faith in God we find an answer.  All other responses sound empty.  Only in God do we find sustaining hope.  Hope that drives us to living a fulfilling, satisfying, life; a life lived in confident expectation of tomorrow.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving to the living God.  Pray for courage and faith in the present and future promise of God.  Pray for the fulfillment of the promise of the Kingdom of God.

Give Strength to Your Servant

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Satisfies

Psalm 86:11-17  The Message

^11-17 Train me, God, to walk straight;
    then I’ll follow your true path.
Put me together, one heart and mind;
    then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;
    I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to.
You’ve always been great toward me—what love!
    You snatched me from the brink of disaster!
God, these bullies have reared their heads!
    A gang of thugs is after me—
    and they don’t care a thing about you.
But you, O God, are both tender and kind,
    not easily angered, immense in love,
    and you never, never quit.
So look me in the eye and show kindness,
    give your servant the strength to go on,
    save your dear, dear child!
Make a show of how much you love me
    so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As you, God, gently and powerfully
    put me back on my feet.

 
For Reflection

You have been blessed with unexpected good times.  Remember those times.  Think on the despair that those times evoked.  Understand the unexpected blessing.

Pray

Use the passage as a prayer thanking God for God's compassion, love, and help.

I Wait for You, O Lord

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Satisfies

Psalm 38:9-16  The Message

^9-16 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight,
    my groans an old story to you.
My heart’s about to break;
    I’m a burned-out case.
Cataracts blind me to God and good;
    old friends avoid me like the plague.
My cousins never visit,
    my neighbors stab me in the back.
My competitors blacken my name,
    devoutly they pray for my ruin.
But I’m deaf and mute to it all,
    ears shut, mouth shut.
I don’t hear a word they say,
    don’t speak a word in response.
What I do, God, is wait for you,
    wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer!
I wait and pray so they won’t laugh me off,
    won’t smugly strut off when I stumble.

 
For Reflection

The last four lines of this passage express a profound hope.  Hope is not a wishful expectation.  Hope is not a last ditch, hail Mary, nothing to lose, bet on the end of troubled times.

Hope is a deep seated conviction that God will make all things right, that God will protect us, that God will never forsake us, that God has faith and hope in us.  Hope is the foundation of expecting good even when good takes its time to arrive.  Hope permits patience.

Pray

for sustaining hope.  Pray for the hopeless so that they may find hope.

I Call upon God

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Complains

Psalm 55:12-23  The Message

^12-14 This isn’t the neighborhood bully
    mocking me—I could take that.
This isn’t a foreign devil spitting
    invective—I could tune that out.
It’s you! We grew up together!
    You! My best friend!
Those long hours of leisure as we walked
    arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.

¹⁵ Haul my betrayers off alive to hell—let them
    experience the horror, let them
    feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

^16-19 I call to God;
    God will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
    deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
    in the middle of danger
Even while thousands
    are lined up against me.
God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench
    puts them in their place.
But, set in their ways, they won’t change;
    they pay him no mind.

^20-21 And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;
    his life betrayed his word.
All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,
    never dreaming he’d turn on me.
His words, which were music to my ears,
    turned to daggers in my heart.

^22-23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
    he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
    topple into ruin.
But you, God, will throw the others
    into a muddy bog,
Cut the lifespan of assassins
    and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

For Reflection

Upon whom do you call?  The lottery? Do you hope in your company to sustain you?  Your family? Friends?

They may help when called.  But none are as steadfast as God.  None are as sure.  None are as reliable.  Non are as trustworthy.  None have eternal insight.   None have the power as God to sustain you.

Pray

Praise God, your counselor.  Call upon God for help.  Confess to God you inability to solve problems by your self.  Pray to rely and trust in God.

Shelter from the Storm

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Complains

Psalm 55:1-8  The Message

A David Psalm

55 ^1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
    don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
    I really need you.
I shudder at the mean voice,
    quail before the evil eye,
As they pile on the guilt,
    stockpile angry slander.

^4-8 My insides are turned inside out;
    specters of death have me down.
I shake with fear,
    I shudder from head to foot.
“Who will give me wings,” I ask—
    “wings like a dove?”
Get me out of here on dove wings;
    I want some peace and quiet.
I want a walk in the country,
    I want a cabin in the woods.
I’m desperate for a change
    from rage and stormy weather.

 
For Reflection

Stop the world, God, I want to get off!  Discouraged?  So was David.  But, remember how God took care of Him.

Look to your stored memories of goodness.  Find hope and comfort in God's good deeds in your life.  look beyond the mean times and ask for God's loving, comforting hand.  God will find you and heal you.

 

Pray

for the healing hands of God to surround and comfort you and all who need God's healing hands.

Our Hope Is in God

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Complains

Jeremiah 14:14-22  The Message

¹⁴ Then God said, “These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don’t talk with them. The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.
^15-16 “So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, ‘War and famine will never come here’—these preachers will die in war and by starvation. And the people to whom they’ve been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied—no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I’ll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.

^17-18 “And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them:

“‘My eyes pour out tears.
    Day and night, the tears never quit.
My dear, dear people are battered and bruised,
    hopelessly and cruelly wounded.
I walk out into the fields,
    shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses.
I walk into the city,
    shocked by the sight of starving bodies.
And I watch the preachers and priests
    going about their business as if nothing’s happened!’”

^19-22 God, have you said your final No to Judah?
    Can you simply not stand Zion any longer?
If not, why have you treated us like this,
    beaten us nearly to death?
We hoped for peace—
    nothing good came from it;
We looked for healing—
    and got kicked in the stomach.
We admit, O God, how badly we’ve lived,
    and our ancestors, how bad they were.
We’ve sinned, they’ve sinned,
    we’ve all sinned against you!
Your reputation is at stake! Don’t quit on us!
    Don’t walk out and abandon your glorious Temple!
Remember your covenant.
    Don’t break faith with us!
Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain?
    Can the sky water the earth by itself?
You’re the one, O God, who does this.
    So you’re the one for whom we wait.
You made it all,
    you do it all.

 
For Reflection

There is still so much "whistling in the dark."  How do you differentiate the "whistlers from the trumpeters of truth?  Look for Justice.  Look for Compassion.  Look for Forgiveness.  Look for Love.  Look for the Eternal rejecting the temporal.

 

Pray

for those who whistle in the dark.  Pray for the wisdom to discern the false from the true preachers of the living God.

Why Is My Pain Unending

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Complains

Jeremiah 15:10-21  The Message

^10-11 Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son,
    given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country!
I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,
    and yet everyone is out to get me.
But, God knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them,
    prayed for them and against their enemies.
I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster.
    God knows how I’ve tried!

^12-14 “O Israel, O Judah, what are your chances
    against the iron juggernaut from the north?
In punishment for your sins, I’m giving away
    everything you’ve got, giving it away for nothing.
I’ll make you slaves to your enemies
    in a strange and far-off land.
My anger is blazing and fierce,
    burning in hot judgment against you.”

^15-18 You know where I am, God! Remember what I’m doing here!
    Take my side against my detractors.
Don’t stand back while they ruin me.
    Just look at the abuse I’m taking!
When your words showed up, I ate them—
    swallowed them whole. What a feast!
What delight I took in being yours,
    O God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I never joined the party crowd
    in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself.
    You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.
But why, why this chronic pain,
    this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?
You’re nothing, God, but a mirage,
    a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!

^19-21 This is how God answered me:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
    Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
    Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.
Let your words change them.
    Don’t change your words to suit them.
I’ll turn you into a steel wall,
    a thick steel wall, impregnable.
They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you
    because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.”
        God’s Decree.
“I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked.
    I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.”

For Reflection

When have you thought God was nothing?  How many people do you know that think God is nothing?
When times are tough and thoughts of doubt pry their way into your heart, remember Jeremiah's lament and how God answered and be comforted.

Pray

pray revealing your doubts to God.  Ask for forgiveness and repent.  Thank God for your deliverance.

Set A Time to Remember Me

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Hope Complains

Job 14:7-17  The Message

14 ^1-17 “We’re all adrift in the same boat:
    too few days, too many troubles.
We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt,
    transient as the shadow of a cloud.
Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps?
    Why even bother hauling me into court?
There’s nothing much to us to start with;
    how do you expect us to amount to anything?
Mortals have a limited life span.
    You’ve already decided how long we’ll live—
    you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
So why not give us a break? Ease up!
    Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
For a tree there is always hope.
    Chop it down and it still has a chance—
    its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
Even if its roots are old and gnarled,
    its stump long dormant,
At the first whiff of water it comes to life,
    buds and grows like a sapling.
But men and women? They die and stay dead.
    They breathe their last, and that’s it.
Like lakes and rivers that have dried up,
    parched reminders of what once was,
So mortals lie down and never get up,
    never wake up again—never.
Why don’t you just bury me alive,
    get me out of the way until your anger cools?
But don’t leave me there!
    Set a date when you’ll see me again.
If we humans die, will we live again? That’s my question.
    All through these difficult days I keep hoping,
    waiting for the final change—for resurrection!
Homesick with longing for the creature you made,
    you’ll call—and I’ll answer!
You’ll watch over every step I take,
    but you won’t keep track of my missteps.
My sins will be stuffed in a sack
    and thrown into the sea—sunk in deep ocean.

 
For Reflection

Job never gives up!  Even in his darkest hours, Job hopes.  Even in his lamentations, Job hopes.  Even when he is ridiculed Job lives hope.  How about you?

Pray

that you will never give up hope.  Pray that you will live your hope as Job lived his.

Love That Endures Forever

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Even So, My Redeemer Lives

1 Chronicles 16:28-36  The Message

^28-29 Shout Bravo! to God, families of the peoples,
    in awe of the Glory, in awe of the Strength: Bravo!
Shout Bravo! to his famous Name,
    lift high an offering and enter his presence!
Stand resplendent in his robes of holiness!

^30-33 God is serious business, take him seriously;
    he’s put the earth in place and it’s not moving.
So let Heaven rejoice, let Earth be jubilant,
    and pass the word among the nations, “God reigns!”
Let Ocean, all teeming with life, bellow,
    let Field and all its creatures shake the rafters;
Then the trees in the forest will add their applause
    to all who are pleased and present before God
    —he’s on his way to set things right!

^34-36 Give thanks to God—he is good
    and his love never quits.
Say, “Save us, Savior God,
    round us up and get us out of these godless places,
So we can give thanks to your holy Name,
    and bask in your life of praise.”
Blessed be God, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.

Then everybody said, “Yes! Amen!” and “Praise God!”

 
For Reflection

Your Redeemer LIVES!  Act like it.  Be fearless.  Be joyful.  Be humble. Walk with God in confidence.  Be jubilant. 

IN SHORT, "GET OVER YOURSELF, RELAX.  GOD'S IN CHARGE!"

Pray

SING PRAISES TO THE LIVING GOD!

My Heart Is Steadfast

Sustaining Hope
Dark Nights of the Soul

Even So, My Redeemer Lives

Psalm 57:7-11  The Message

^7-8 I’m ready, God, so ready,
    ready from head to toe,
Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:
    “Wake up, soul!
Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!
    Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!”

^9-10 I’m thanking you, God, out loud in the streets,
    singing your praises in town and country.
The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
    every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

¹¹ Soar high in the skies, O God!
    Cover the whole earth with your glory!

 
For Reflection

How real is your faith?  Are you ready to sing a wake-up tune?  Do you thank God every day for your blessings even when the days are not to your liking?  Are you ready to do your part to help God cover the world with compassion, justice and forgiveness?

How willing are you to sacrifice your self  for the glory of God?

Pray

prayers of confession to cleanse your soul.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for God's opportunities to become righteous.  Pray prayers of intervention so that God will provide you with opportunities to intervene. Pray prayers for wisdom so that God will provide opportunities to become wise.  Pray for silence in the midst of chaos so that you can hear God's whispered call.