His Marvelous Works

“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;

I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”

     Psalm 9:1 (NKJV)

Throughout the Bible, we are exhorted to praise God because He alone is always worthy of praise--not only for what He does but for who He is.  In the above passage, we’re told to tell of all His marvelous works and I’m here to do just that.

I just finished a very challenging project at work—filling in for another attorney editor on a book that I’d never worked on before. To make it even more daunting, the book was in a substantive area of the law that I didn’t know, working with authors I didn’t know and the book was quite large with a pressing deadline.  Needless to say, I was nervous and felt more than a bit overwhelmed when I started this project a couple months ago.  But God was faithful, as always. 

I committed myself and the work to God each day, and prayed for His help and guidance so I could do my best on it, that He would be glorified. He didn't fail but was there with me, day by day, each step of the way.  Oh I made mistakes, but He helped me make the necessary corrections and even to apologize when I needed to.  My heart overflows with gratitude to Him!  It is humbling and awesome to serve such a faithful, gracious Lord!

I’d like to invite others to share in the comments something that God has done in your life:  

Let’s tell of His marvelous works!

Let’s testify to His goodness and His greatness! 

Let’s sing His praises together! 

Doing so will encourage us and bless our gracious and worthy Lord.

Thursday Devotional - Chasing after the Wind of Accumulation

I’m a natural saver. As a kid, I even saved candy for years and years. However, when my sisters or Mom would find my “saved” candy and eat a piece, it wasn’t very good because of how old it was. There is such a thing as saving too much or too long. 😊

We’re to be wise stewards of the money God enables us to earn. However, a focus on accumulating and saving and hoarding more and more isn’t beneficial to us or others around us.   

Ecclesiastes 5:8-15      ⁸ If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. ⁹ The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has enough;
    whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
    This too is meaningless.

¹¹ As goods increase,
    so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
    except to feast their eyes on them?

¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
    whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
    permits them no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:

wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
¹⁴     or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
    there is nothing left for them to inherit.
¹⁵ Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,

    and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
    that they can carry in their hands.

A focus on accumulation isn’t satisfying or beneficial in this life or the next. Those focused on accumulation are never satisfied. It’s never enough. Let’s prayerfully be generous with what God has provided, while wisely saving just enough.

Alice

Have A Talk With God

But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
    I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.
I will praise you forever, O God,
    for what you have done.
I will trust in your good name

    in the presence of your faithful people.  Psalm 52:8-9

Trusting in God is not an easy thing.  One of the things I enjoy is listening to others and their life stories.  I laugh at their follies, and cry with them in their pain.  Everyone should be heard in my world.  We all want someone to hear us, don’t we?  I think of what God must hear when we talk with Him.  My conversations range between the very same things I hear people speak to me of.  Sometime, God is trying to teach me in a humorous way, and I look up to the heavens with a grin on my face saying, “God, you’re funny.”  Other times, I am tired and weary, and look to God to just help me get through the day.  Then I think of my wife, and am often overcome with emotion in how He blessed me with her.  I say, “God, I do not deserve this wonderful woman.  Thank you for putting her here and loving me so much.”  These are the things I talk about with God, and in hindsight, those are the reasons I trust Him.

However when I lose focus on these things, I am not so trusting.  I rely maybe too much on my wants and not what God wants.  These are dangerous times where doubt creeps in and sinfulness may be at hand.  It is then that I need to realize that doubt is the work of the Satan.  I must trust God and sometimes, that means I must pause.  This is where I stop, and God starts.

It is vital to have open communication with God.  A simple truth in any relationship is that the better the communication, the better the relationship.  I read this 52^nd Psalm of David, and initially thought this was about trusting God against your enemies.  But as I got to the end, David spoke about thriving in the house of God.  It was more about His relationship with God than all that was going on around him.  He spoke glowingly not only in front of others but also and more importantly to God Himself.  It gave me comfort realizing that we too have that same access to God.  Reading, going to church, and prayers all constitute as ways to communicate with Him, and as we talk more with Him, we gain confidence that builds the trust David speaks of.  Paul wrote in the opening of 2 Corinthians, “We have placed our confidence in Him, and He will continue to rescue us.” (2 Corinthians 1:10b)  This is what a growing relationship in Christ sounds like.

Our relationship with God is real.  It is not one where we either go through the motions or read just to check off a box of a ‘To Do’ list.  It is motivating and often convicting.  It’s hard.  But if we are willing to search deep in our hearts and soul and share with God all that is our life, He will listen.  He will hear.  And most important, He will answer.  A song by Stevie Wonder speaks to this saying:

Many of us feel we walk alone without a friend
Never communicating with the One who lives within
Forgetting all about the One who never ever lets you down
And you can talk to Him anytime, He's always around

Let us continue to speak freely to our Heavenly Father with consistency and without fear or hesitation.  What will you talk with Him about today?  What joy, fear, or pain can you share with Him?  My prayer is that we break free of our stagnation, and simply as the title of Stevie Wonder’s song says, “Have a Talk with God.”  Amen.

Prolonged life of peace and prosperity

Proverbs 3:1-2

My son, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
    and bring you peace and prosperity.

There are so many places in the Bible that teach us how we are to listen to our Heavenly father.  At the same time, we can relate these verses to how we as children or parents are to follow the teaching of our parents.  As we read these verses, you will never find it saying, do this because I said so (which by the way, I find myself telling my son too often).  Instead, it always says to obey the commands because it will prolong your life and guild you on the path that will be best for you.

I don’t know about each of you, however I do know that in my own life, I have struggled with understanding why God wants me to follow a specific path sometimes however I do know that it always leads to the correct destination.  Is there something in your life that you struggle to obey God’s teaching?  Today I just want to encourage you to search for where God is trying to lead you.  Keep his commands in your heart and he will lead you to a life full of peace and prosperity.