Psalm 37: What to do When the Wicked Prosper

Honestly, looking at our society can be discouraging. I felt a need in my soul for some help in focusing on the ultimate reality that God is in control, even when it looks like he isn't. So every day this week I have been starting off my Bible reading with psalm 37. The more I read it, the more parallels I see to our culture.

I started my mini study of this Psalm by listing all the things God wants us to do when the wicked prosper. There are both positive and negative directives.

Negative:

1. Don't fret.
2. Don't be envious.
3. Don't be angry. 

I don't know about you, but these are my natural tendencies when I look at the wicked who are in control.

Positive:

1. Trust in the Lord.
2. Do good.
3. Feed on faithfulness.
4. Commit your way to the Lord.
5. Be still before the Lord.
6. Wait patiently for him.
7. Turn away from evil.
8. Keep the Lord's way.

Dear Lord, help me to model this psalm in my life.

I John 4:4-5

Little children (This is who we are- God's children. We are not powerful. We are humble little children, but God's children.)
You are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

As we live in a culture that continues to turn away from God, and therefore continues to disintegrate, we can remain confident and positive. We have overcome the world; not because of who we are or anything we've done, but because of who our Father is. He has overcome the world, and we are in him.

Solomon's Temple

As I read today about the building of the temple I was impressed by two things.

1. The immense amount of wealth that went into the Holy of Holies, and yet no one ever saw this except the high priest once a year.  Much thought needs to be given on what value and cost it took/takes to enter into the presence of God. See Hebrews.

2. God promised to destroy the  temple if his people no longer obeyed his commandments. Our worship means nothing to God if our lives don't match what we say.

Solomon's Temple. A visual tour

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last Friday and Saturday I and my younger children tagged along on my older son's scout camp out at Congaree Swamp National Park. After dragging our stuff a mile through the woods in light rain, eating cold hot dogs, managing to get a fire going and roasting some marsh mellows, we were snuggled in our sleeping bags, trying to go to sleep. All around us scouts were singing and setting up tents. As I lay there, I suddenly heard two little boys singing "Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation." It was my sons. They they too were having trouble sleeping and decided to sing. What a blessing to my heart to hear God praised in the midst of his creation to whoever happened to hear.

Serving God with Joy

Here's a great quote from Matthew Henry on Deut. 12.


 What we do in the service of God and to his glory redounds to our benefit, if it be not our own fault. Those that sacrifice to God are welcome to eat before him, and to feast upon their sacrifices: he sups with us, and we with him, Rev. 3:20. If we glorify God, we edify ourselves, and cultivate our own minds, through the grace of God, by the increase of our knowledge and faith, the enlivening of devout affections, and the confirming of gracious habits and resolutions: thus is the soul nourished. 

Thanking the Lord for His Righteousness

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness.

   Psalm 7:17

When I first read that I owe the Lord thanks because he is righteous, I wondered why righteousness specifically was mentioned as the reason to give thanks. God's righteousness has awed me and sometimes even frightened me. He, totally right and just in everything he does. Me, a sinner, not worthy of his love or a place in heaven. His righteousness would demand my separation from him. How could I give thanks for this?

So I decided to make a list of the benefits his righteousness brings me. My list included things like bringing justice to the earth, treating me fairly, making sure that I personally would receive justice for all the wrongs done to me.

Then we were in church singing "Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress" and it hit me. This was the greatest reason to thank God for his righteousness. Christ came and lived a totally righteous life. He offers his righteousness to me if I repent of me sins and turn to him in faith. I now have his righteousness instead of my sinful rags. All the joys I have now and the eternal joys that will be mine are because of his righteousness.

Thank you, God, for your righteousness.

Studying I John with the Kids

One of the things our church is doing together this year is learning how to study a book of the Bible. We were encouraged to pick a book that we could read through at least a couple times a month, memorize the chapter content of the book, memorize a chapter from the book, and read a commentary on the book. I needed to pick a book that my children could handle so we could work on it all together. We picked I John.

Since I homeschool, it is pretty easy to incorporate the study of this book into our schooling. We work on our chapter memorization at meal time. So far we have chapter one and part of chapter two memorized. Our goal is to memorize the whole book this year. This is not a hard task for young minds. For those of us who are 50+ it takes a little more work, but it is still possible.

I also take time to read through the book together with my elementary aged kids. Eventually, they will read it on their own. I will also probably read the commentary with them. Maybe we'll read it together at meal time.

On my own, I am using a method I learned from the Inductive Study Bible. Every time I read through it, I note all the occurrences of a key word. So far I have noted the occurrences of life, love and abide. This helps give me an idea of the major themes of the book.

I have not come up with chapter content yet, but I think I have a working title for the book; Knowing the Truth.

This study is a real blessing to me. I'm glad our pastor suggested it.