Behave Wisely

Psalm 101: 2-3.

I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

As I read these verses this morning, I couldn’t help but think of all the many times I did NOT behave wisely or in a perfect way. It grieves me that I’ve chosen many times to behave in a selfish and ungodly way. We know the difference, don’t we? In the middle of ungodly behavior, we know that we are not following His perfect way for us, yet we continue because we want what we want.

To live in my own house knowing that I am right with God is a daily choice. No one else, not even my husband, has to know exactly what is in my mind or heart. It is completely possible to present a godly mien to others even when I’m concealing sin in my heart and mind.

Wouldn’t it be easier just to give that sin up to the Lord and walk away from it? Sure! And sometimes I do–at least for a while. But sin and self are a daily struggle because Satan wants my mind. If he can capture my thinking, then he has won. It is our thinking that leads to words, actions, and emotions.

I remember thinking, when I was very young, that by the time I was an adult I would have this all figured out. I would always choose to do right, think right, make godly choices.

While I can say that I do better now, at 76, than I did at, say, 16–I have to acknowledge that the temptations are just different now than they were then. Each stage of life seems to present its own challenges. So, it is necessary to choose every single day, sometimes several times each day, what we will set before our eyes.

Starting each day in God’s Word is a great way to set the tone for the rest of the day. TODAY I will walk wisely. And I will let tomorrow take care of itself.

A Psalm of Pure Praise

Psalm 100.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

I don’t remember if this was the first psalm I ever memorized, or if that was Psalm 23. I’m quite sure I learned them both at about the age of seven or eight. I remember the reward in my Sunday school class for memorizing scripture. It was a long red ribbon with a blue paper crown stapled to the top. Each student had his own ribbon, with his name written on the crown. The ribbons were hung from a bulletin board. There was a symbol for each scripture passage. For Psalm 23, the symbol was a woolly lamb. For Psalm 100, I believe the symbol was a harp. For a long stretch of John 3, it was a cross. The person who filled up the ribbon first was declared the winner. There was no actual prize. Things sure have changed. Today, the child would expect, at the very least, a trophy of some sort; or perhaps money, or an expensive gift. Back 70 years ago, just being declared the winner WAS the prize!

What I remember about this beautiful psalm is the joy that it expressed. Joy, gladness, singing, thanksgiving, praise–it’s a happy poem.

He is goodness, mercy, and truth. He is God. There is no one else like Him.

We should take time to think on this psalm. It will lift our hearts to Him in joy and praise.

Sunday Morning: Tea instead of Coffee :)

I started feeling — well, icky is the best word I can think of–yesterday afternoon. Terry doesn’t believe icky is a real word, so:

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

ick·y

/ˈikē/

adjective

INFORMAL

1. unpleasantly sticky.
   • nasty or unpleasant.”icky boys with all their macho strutting”
   • distastefully sentimental.”a romantic subplot that is just plain icky”

There’s nothing particularly sticky about this, just unpleasant. Shivery. I remember hearing versions of this word when I was growing up: Ishy; ish-kabbible; ishta,” oh, Ish!” It’s a perfectly good word. I like it. It expresses my present physical state perfectly.

I have no idea what’s going on, but I suspect this too shall pass. I slept a solid 11 hours overnight and still had a hard time waking up. Maybe I’ll go back to bed when I finish here 🙂

Maybe I’m coming down from three days of Prednisone. That stuff makes me totally hyper!

Then, to compound things, I got steroid injections in my lower back on Tuesday, so I guess it’s no wonder I feel weak and tired. I’ve been on a steroid high most of the week. Certainly not fit to be seen in public !

So. I’m going to leave you with that today: Contemplating the words icky and ish kabbible. In case you are like me and enjoy knowing where words came from, here’s a link for you: https://morristownmemos.com/2014/10/13/ish-kabbible/. Learn something new every day!

Saturday Soliloquy: Daylight Savings Time

I just saw a notice that DST will end on Nov. 6. Yay! I think it’s a big pain in the neck, and wish we’d just eliminate it. Some states don’t do it. Smart. The only really good thing about it is that we get an extra hour of sleep in the fall; but it doesn’t make up for the hour we lose in the spring. I’m tired and crabby for a few days after we “spring forward,” and I gladly anticipate “fall back” to normal time.

This really isn’t a big deal, I know. I mean, I’ve survived most of my life quite well in spite of DST 🙂 I just don’t like it. So sue me!

I’ve actually had a very good week. Saw an ENT doctor a week ago who diagnosed my vocal distress as a result of acid reflux. My vocal cords are fine, but the membrane under them is swollen to twice its normal size and is covered in a pile of sticky icky mucus. So we’re medicating for that, as well as new medication for my swollen nasal tissues. I’d been using a popular OTC brand that really isn’t good for anyone over the long haul. So far, so good. Hoping I’ll eventually be able to sing clearly again, which would make me SOOOoooooo happy 🙂

The only thing that still isn’t resolved from my list of woes over that past several weeks is my wonderful recliner. It needs to go to a shop about half and hour from here, and we don’t have a vehicle it will fit into. Terry has been working on a couple of other projects that took priority, but those are nearly finished. So may sometime in the next few weeks we’ll get the chair fixed.

Speaking of fixing. I really like my brand new laptop except for one feature that drives me insane. If one finger so much as wiggles over the touchpad, it responds with a variety of things I don’t want or need. So I figured out yesterday how to slow it down, and I’m very proud of myself for figuring out how to make it less sensitive. Now I need to figure how to keep Facebook from popping up with “suggested” names when I’m typing a post. I’ve always objected to others who try to do my thinking for me, and Facebook is no exception. Annoys me to death when I type three letters and up pops a list of names that start with those same letters. Leave me alone. I can do it myself.

Sometimes it’s the little things, isn’t it? Small annoyances, like a pesky mosquito that buzzes around your ear in the middle of the night but disappears the moment you raise a hand to smack it!

My troubles are certainly not insurmountable, and compared to other things that are going on around the world, they are infinitely small. The Middle East is brewing into what could become a global war. Iraq is now emboldened by our weak leadership to threaten us with terror attacks on our home ground. Inflation has increased our grocery bills by huge amounts. And then there’s the price of gas.

So why is it that we–I–get so riled up about small stuff, and yet remain calm about our deteriorating political and economic, to say nothing of moral, conditions? Do we trust God with the big stuff, but not the small? Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel?

If I ever figure out the answer to that question, I’ll let you know 🙂

A Small Rant

I hope you will forgive me as I take a sidestep today to unburden myself of a saying that annoys me.
“Everything happens for a reason” is something we hear and see everywhere these days. It is so vague and amorphous that it’s meaningless, yet we apply to everything from love relationships to to upset stomachs.

What reason? And who is the arbiter of that reason? Are you really saying that murder, rape, and other sexual abuse “happens for a reason”? When babies are burned to death by terrorists, that happened for a reason? A terrible accident happens on a highway and people die. What’s the reason, and how does that help the ones who grieve such a loss?

Are we saying that one person’s tragedy happens so that some other person gains some kind of amorphous benefit?

It is just nonsense. It has a sort of fatalistic feel about it, like the person who fell down the steps and broke his leg and said, “Well, I’m glad that’s over with!”

People die in fires, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and so on. We’re just supposed to figure, well, everything happens for a reason, and shrug. Babies die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. What could possibly be a positive reason for that? A young teen develops leukemia and dies at age 14. What reason are you going to share with the grieving parents to make them feel better? Oh, well, you know, everything happens for a reason.

But no one ever goes on to say what that reason is. And that’s because they don’t know.

I do know. Bad, unexpected, terrible things happen because Satan is active and busy about his goal of destroying whatever God loves. We live in a sin-cursed world that is in a downward spiral as we become more and more secular and humanistic in our thinking. We have a new Speaker in the House of Representatives, and he’s already being excoriated for daring to mention God and the Bible more than once in his acceptance speech. How DARE he! Oh, no, horror of horrors, we have a Bible banger in the Speaker’s seat instead of someone who is full of hatred against Christians, Jews, and anyone else who doesn’t march in lockstep with the Left.

I wonder if those who are already standing against Mike Johnson believe that he got elected “for a reason.”

This ridiculous saying goes along with others I deplore: “Me time,” follow your own truth,” “you have to learn to forgive yourself,” “you can’t love others until you love yourself”–these are just a few of the platitudes that get spouted all over the place these days. Wait–you mean I don’t have to love myself in order to love others? The Bible says we are to love others IN THE SAME WAY that we love ourselves. The assumption Jesus made when He said that is that self-love is a given. It’s not something we have to learn.

When I was counseling, I would often get a client who claimed low self-esteem. What I learned, over time, is that what he really meant was that others didn’t esteem him as highly as he thought they should. Chew on that thought for a bit.

I want to say a few words about self-forgiveness. First, it is never mentioned in the Bible. What is overlooked in that saying is that forgiveness needs to come from whoever you offended; ultimately, it comes from God. When we say, “I’ve asked God to forgive me, but I just can’t forgive myself,” what we really mean is that God’s forgiveness is not enough. It is insufficient. What we really need to do is to appropriate the grace, mercy, and forgiveness that God offers in I John 1:9, which never mentions forgiving ourselves. His grace is sufficient. Accept it. Be thankful for it. And don’t repeat whatever you just begged Him to forgive. “But I still feel so terrible about what I said/did! I need to forgive myself.” No. You don’t. You need to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and accept the complete forgiveness He offers to anyone who confesses and repents of sin. You need to apologize to the person or people you have hurt. And then you act out repentance, which means to turn around and walk in the other direction.

There are things in my life, even from many years ago, that still make me cringe inwardly because of what I said or did. I don’t forgive myself when these memories rise up. I go to God and thank Him that He has already forgiven me, and I ask Him to take the memories and replace them with scripture.

II Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” THAT is what we need to claim when our past sin rises up to grieve us. That does not come from God. It comes from Satan, who wants to keep us locked in regret, remorse, and shame.

Don’t fall for the humanistic thinking of today. It will lead you to places you ought not to go. Instead, get into God’s Word and learn that He, and He alone, has the answers.

He is Holy!

Psalm 99:4-9.

The King’s strength also loveth judgment; Thou dost establish equity, Thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy.

Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name; they called upon the LORD, and He answered them.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept His testimonies, and the ordinance that He gave them.

Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.

Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

This is a song we rarely sing these days. We ought to. Every verse. Often. It’s one of the songs I remember from early childhood, sung to the accompaniment of a mighty pipe organ and piano. Gave me the goose bumps when I was just a little girl. And it helped me understand that what we were doing in church was important; that GOD is important.

I’m not going to comment on every verse in today’s passage. It speaks for itself, and I wanted to make sure you read it. We need to be reminded often that God is holy! Set apart, flawless, incapable of sin. Full of grace and truth, He is perfect and spotless. He is in complete control, all the time, no matter how it looks to us here on earth. His character is goodness. His truth is the only truth. There is no such thing as the popular concept of “my truth” and “your truth.” Those are secular humanistic ideas that make us independent of the truth of God. Transcendentalism is the idea than man can rise above his humanity and become like God. That’s heresy, pure and simple. If it were so, then God would lose His place of perfect, sinless goodness and holiness. He would just be one of many. He is so much more than that! He is the CREATOR of all mankind, and is sovereign in His creation.

Just a note: Someone has asked me why I bother to capitalize all words pertaining to God, to His Name, including pronouns. The answer is simple: The capitalized pronouns remove all doubt about the person being mentioned in any passage of scripture. People get he or she. God gets He, Him, His. It used to be a common rule of punctuation, but I guess that’s gone by the wayside.

“But the KJV you use in your blog doesn’t use caps for pronouns referring to God.” That’s right, because no such rule applied in the1611 translation–which very few people can read today–or in the authorized version in the late 1700s. English grammar and punctuation had not been standardized yet. It has now, and most of the time with very good reason. Let me give you a brief example in which I’ve put the story into my own words:

“The disciples had been fishing all night, but their nets came up empty. Discouraged, they started pulling for shore when they saw Jesus waiting for them. They hailed him, and he returned their greeting. He asked how the fishing had been, and they told him they’d caught nothing all night. Jesus said,
“You should throw your nets on the other side of the boat!” After some raising of eyebrows and shrugging of shoulders, they obeyed him and did what he said. To their great amazement, the nets came up so full that they broke, spilling dozens of fish into their boat. They were shocked that he had known where the fish were hiding all night 🙂 They were glad they had obeyed him and listened to his words.”

This may not be the best example because the context makes things clear, but you can see that he, him, and his would more clearly refer to Jesus if they were capitalized. The caps set Him apart from ordinary mankind. And that’s why I do it, and always will, no matter who says it’s unnecessary.

Little bit of a rabbit trail. I hope it answered any question you may have about why I capitalize pronouns and any other words that refer to God.

His Name is Great, Terrible, and Holy

Psalm 99: 1-3.

The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: He sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

The LORD is great in Zion; and He is high above all the people.

Let them praise Thy great and terrible Name; for it is holy.

This is a psalm of praise over God’s protection of Israel. Many reasons have been concocted over the centuries to explain away the seemingly endless persecution of the Jews. Boiled down to its mot simple cause, Satan hates whatever God loves; Israel is God’s chosen people; therefore Satan hates it. His goal is to destroy all that God loves, and all who love God.

I am not saying that Israel loves God, and accepts Jesus Christ as Messiah. As a nation, they do not. Zionism is not a religious movement, but a political one. When Israel has suffered down through the centuries, it has usually been because they have lost sight of God. Often, they have worshiped idols of other nations, or become completely secular.

In spite of that, God’s desire is to bring Israel back into right relationship with Himself. Often, he has used other nations to fulfill His purpose. Often, the conquering nations have fallen into ruin and misery at the hands of another conquering army.

We could be seeing history repeating itself right now on the world stage. We could be seeing the beginning of the end times. We don’t know. I pray that our nation, in spite of the obvious leaning of our leadership toward Israel’s enemies, will stand by our allies in Israel.

The word terrible in this context is to inspire reverence, awe, and a holy fear.

Whatever happens, we need to remember that Israel is God’s.

Music to the Lord!

Psalm 98: 1, 4-8.  O sing unto the LORD a new song; for He hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.

With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.

Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together

I want to focus on the importance of music today. This psalm is full of music!

I’m so glad not to have lived during a time when NO music was considered appropriate for church! I have been immersed in music in church for as long as I can remember, and it has been a joyful, joy-filled part of my life. If you’ve been with me for any length of time, you already know how much I love music!

I would like to add here that my love of music is not restricted to church music. For instance, I enjoy playing ragtime. Not appropriate for church 🙂 I’m rather eclectic in my musical choices, but church music, gospel songs, and hymns are at the top of my list of favorites.

Today’s verses make reference to the human voice (sometimes called the sacred harp). God created music, and gave us vocal chords that rub together to create our speaking voices and singing voices. What a magical thing, to be able to produce beautiful, musical sounds from our own throats. Singing together in harmony with others has been one of the delights of my life.

The next couple of verses refer to harps, trumpets, and cornets. Many other musical instruments are mentioned in the psalms, as well as in other scripture. What a joy it is to hear an orchestra playing soaring notes of praise to God! Or to listen to the incredible voices of a mighty pipe organ, or the nimble fingers of a gifted pianist as they create joyful songs to the Lord.

Even nature sings to the Lord! The floods, the seas, and the mountains lift their voices in praise to their Creator. If you’ve never heard the music inherent in the ocean, find a recording online and just close your eyes and listen as the waves roll in, with the sounds of gulls playing counterpoint. Or listen to the rhythm of the falling rain as it waters God’s thirsty earth. ( I just realized that I used the words of a song there 🙂 )

Music is all around us. I’m often, especially in the spring and summer, wakened by the music of songbirds near my bedroom window. How delightful!

Music is a wonderful, soul-satisfying gift from God. He created it for His own pleasure, and for ours. We must rejoice, and be thankful and glad for God’s gift of music.

The Hills Melted

Psalm 97:3-5

A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about.

His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.

The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

As things heat up in the Near East, many are predicting that this is the end times. Maybe. That has been predicted often down through the centuries as war has raged back and forth across the earth. But we don’t know. It is not time for anyone to go stand on a mountain top in a white sheet and look for the return of Jesus.

It is time to pray, to contact our legislators and make clear that we stand in support of Israel. Perhaps you don’t. That’s between you and God. I’m not looking to start an argument here.

Bible-believing people understand that Israel, in spite of all they’ve gone through, and even in their disregard of Jesus as Messiah–Israel is still God’s chosen people. They are now under attack on two fronts, and possibly three. But God has intervened on their behalf before, and if it is in His providence, He can do it again.

The verses I’ve chosen today describe what seems unbelievable. When God manifesst Himself, mountains will melt in His presences. Never saw a mountain melt? Go look for pictures and videos of Mount Saint Helens as it blew up and turned into a hill instead of a majestic mountain.

I don’t know how it will look when a fire goes in front of the Lord, and burns up His enemies. I do know that every word of scripture is inspired by God, and therefore we know it to be true.

The devil is dancing a jig right now, enjoying the assault on God’s chosen people. He knows very well, though, that the day is coming when he will be cast eternally into the Lake of Fire, where he will no longer be able to deceive anyone into believing that God does not exist.

We are to watch and pray; we are to share the Gospel with those who are seeking answers.

It’s fine to study God’s Word about what will happen in the times before Jesus meets believers in the clouds. There are, however, things that Gods has not revealed and that we should not try to figure out and predict. Many have tried that, to their own embarrassment. God said that no one knows the day or the hour of His return. We know it will happen. Our job until that moment is to live for Him, and to share the message of salvation.

Please, read this entire psalm You will be blessed.

Sunday Morning Coffee: A Good Time Was Had by All :)

Please forgive the trite, passive voice title 🙂 It just seemed perfect my my post today 🙂

It was a lovely October day, partly cloudy but with a promise of rain later. Fall color welcomed us most of the way as we traveled west toward Lancaster County. We saw a motorcycle accident that could have been really bad. We were so thankful to see the rider get up and walk around. We were right there, So Emily stopped and asked if he needed to call anyone. He had a phone, and seemed unhurt. So we journeyed on.

We go t there in plenty of time to find our seats and have a quick lunch from one of the vendors in the hallway. Some delightful young women had brought their grandma, and sat next to us. Fun to chat with them

And then the music started, and I really think, of all the many videos I’ve watched of the Gaither Homecoming concerts, it was one of the very best. So many of the older singers are in the heavenly choir now, and I miss them. But there are still lots of the original members, and some really outstanding new faces and voices.

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve included a new video of this particular program as it was presented in Tulsa:

And here is a selfie of Emily and me just before the music started last night:

We met my son and his wife for supper, and that was a good time too. It was just a perfect day!