Ask of the Lord

“One thing have I asked of the Lord,   that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).  What do you and I ask of the Lord?  Do we ask anything, do we take the time to even talk to Him?  Life is busy, and sometimes time is short, I get that, but don’t we have a few minutes to spend with our Creator… our Savior… our Father?  Do we ask of the Lord?  Our Father already knows what we need before we even ask him, so why not ask away, David did here (Matthew 6:8).  David just had on tiny, well maybe three, things to ask of the Lord in this verse.  These are worth a closer look.

The first thing he “seeks” is to “dwell in the house of the Lord” all of his life.  That’s no small request, he is asking for a place in the Master’s house, a place at the dinner table, a bed and most importantly, a close relationship with the Master.  Wow, wouldn’t we all do well just to ask for that one thing each day?  Lord let me be so close to you that you are my sustainer … my provider … my everything.  David wants to be so close to god that it is as if he is living with him.  God has said he will do that for us, did you know that?  “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22).  So whatever it is, ask God to take it and He will not only take it, but sustain you through it all. 

David continues with his “one thing” he is asking here.  He wants to “gaze on the beauty of the Lord”.  Now that’s a bold request, because you may remember that the Jewish people, who David was, believed that if you saw the face of the LORD you would die.  They had a pretty good reason to believe this too, God said so.  “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).  It seems that David is so in love and so comfortable with his relationship that he is willing to take that chance.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to feel that close to God?  So close that you could touch His face, bask in his glory and “gaze upon His Beauty”.  It’s nice to know that we can get that close to God.  James tells us in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”  So we just need to snuggle up to God in His house and he will snuggle right back.

Lastly, David wants to “inquire” of the Lord, and in His temple, the most holy place on earth to a Jew.  So David wants some answers.  It’s ok to ask … we should ask … we should expect God to answer.  I think we sometimes kind of waste prayer, if we even pray.  We pray the small things.  Help me to get through today.  Help the doctors who are taking care of Aunt Sally so she can get better.  And so many other small prayers like that.  Why not ask GOD sized prayers.  Let me have the best day ever today.  Heal Aunt Sally.  Ask God to do what only He can do. James again puts it like this.  “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2).  Jesus told us in Matthew 7:7 to “ask, and it will be given to you”.  Ask expecting to receive (James 1:6-7).

If we look on down to Psalm 27:5 we get a glimpse of what God wants to do when we ask of Him.  “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”  Get close to God, so close that you can feel His presence, live with Him each and every day of your life and ask big, bold prayers that only He can answer.  See what might happen in your life. 

God bless!

Walking With God

Walking with God, I know we like to say we walk with God or God walks with us, but do we really.  Do we rely on that power…that strength…that amazing help?  Some people in the Bible actually did walk with God, whether literally or not, I don’t know, but I know it says they did.  It seems that God actually walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, based on Genesis 3:8.  Enoch walked with God and “was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).  It sounds like he didn’t even have to die. “Noah was a righteous man and walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).   Genesis 17 mentions Abram (Abraham) walking with God, and Zacharias (walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord).  (Luke 1:6)  So we see, it can be done, but how? 

Paul encouraged the church at Ephesus to “walk in a manner of the calling”. (Ephesians 4:1)  As long as we are here on earth “we walk by faith, not sight”; and we should “make it our aim to please Him”. (2 Corinthians 5:6-9)  But again, how can we do this?  Jesus tells us, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  I don’t know about you, but having some light makes it much easier to walk.  When we are able to follow Jesus, we get such great benefits, we “renew our strength…run and not be weary…walk and not faint”.  (Isaiah 40:31)  When we seek the Lord’s ways, we get to “walk in a wide place” (Psalm 119:45) It’s so much easier to walk when we can see where we are going and the path is wide. 

I love to hike, and I’ve been down some very narrow trails and some very steep…getting caught on thorns or stumbling on a root are real possibilities.  I couldn’t even imagine trying that in the dark, and what a relief it is getting back to a wider portion of the path. 

When we spend our days with our Savior, He helps us along the way.  Walking with Him gives us constant strength, vision and courage.  The next time you see that narrow, dark bend in the path of your life, just remember that when you walk with the Lord, He will clear the way.  You still must go through, but doesn’t it make it so much easier knowing Jesus walks right beside you.  “When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.” (Proverbs 4:12).

God Bless!

My God, My God

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me?”  “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  Have you ever noticed the contrast of the 22nd and 23rd Psalms?  Both were written by David and placed side by side.  They didn’t even have chapters when the Hebrew Bible was put together, so they would just flow together, chapters and verses were added much later.  I don’t know about you, but that seems to be the story of my life.  Desperately distressed one minute, or day, and deeply devoted the next.  What’s wrong with me?  I do feel like I am in good company with David, the man after God’s own heart, but still?  Why the roller coaster of emotion… of devotion… of faith?  I have often described my spiritual walk as somewhat of a rollercoaster ride.  There is the great anticipation of the click, click, click of the coaster as it makes its way to that first big drop.  Then there is the exhilaration and blood pumping excitement of the first big drop, but somewhere along the way, maybe during a hairpin curve or one of those corkscrew loops that, at least, a little fear and maybe doubt sets in.  Let me say now that I love coasters and thank God for them, just as I do this amazing life he has given me, but I still have fear at times, I still doubt, I am still human.  I am just sometimes hot and sometimes cold when it comes to faith.
It may surprise you, but even Jesus had his moments, never giving in, but moments nonetheless.  Remember Matthew 26, in Gethsemane when He asked the cup be taken from Him?  His human side was “very sorrowful, even to death”.   Sound like a rollercoaster moment?  It would be hard to even come up with all the times David’s faith was tested, and he failed several of them. Peter denied Jesus outright, “I do not know the man” (Matthew 26:69-75).  Moses tried to get out of saving the people from Egypt … Sampson gave his secret away and lost his power … Abraham, the father of nations, made numerous mistakes on his spiritual journey.  So when I mess up, it sure won’t be the first time God has seen that happen.  When my faith is not as hot as I would like it, it won’t be the first time God experienced someone in a moment of weakness.  Jesus understands, He is standing right beside God reminding Him, as if he could forget anyway, about all these great men of faith that messed up, had weak moments and even left the faith for a bit.
What’s amazing about all these men, there are women too, by the way,  is that they kept getting up.  David was a man after God’s own heart.  Peter delivered that amazing message starting the Lord’s Church at Pentecost. Moses saved the people from Egyptian bondage and was used mightily by God.  Sampson’s strength returned and he saved his people. And,  Abraham was the father of nations and through him we received Jesus, our savior.  So when our faith is a bit weak, or we mess up, even big time, God gets it, He’s seen it all before.  Don’t be too down on yourself.  Now read the 23rd Psalm, notice how personal it is.  Look at all the “I’s”, “my’s” and “me’s”, that’s YOU.  Take comfort … God is with you … God forgives you … God loves you.
God Bless!

Living Water

Water, our bodies are predominately made up of it; the earth is primarily covered with it, and we would perish if we had to go very long without it.  Water is a significant part of our world.   There are places where finding clean water is next to impossible, and people die from diseases from tainted water; however, I can’t seem to force myself to drink enough of it.  If you are honest, you probably are in the same boat... which floats on water by the way. 
Water also plays a significant role in God’s Word.  God uses water, and quite often.  From Genesis one, it seems that the earth might have been covered by water even before God began His creation.  (Read Genesis one carefully.)  God uses water in a major way later in Genesis to cleanse the earth of evil and begin again with His creation.  Water plays a major role in Exodus.  Remember Pharaoh’s bath than turned from water to blood in Exodus 7?  Who could forget the miraculous parting of the Red Sea from Exodus 15?  What an amazing display of the use of water that must have been.  There is Jesus asking for a drink from the woman at the well in John 4, and the water to wine in John 2.  Jesus even walked on water in Matthew 14.
So much talk of water might make you thirsty, but Jesus offers us a different kind of water…water that will do much more than quench physical thirst.  It will actually quench that spiritual thirst that might be a little more difficult to notice.  I can’t tell you how many times I have just known something wasn’t right, I mean that deep down uneasy feeling.  I was thirsty, thirsty for more.  I needed the “living water” Jesus offers.  Jesus offers this water in John 4:14, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Why hadn’t I noticed this, why don’t I listen to Jesus?  I need to be planted by that living water so that all I do may prosper (Psalm 1:3).  I need to consistently draw “water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).  But I forget … get too busy … or just plain give up and give in before I drink.  Life is tough, we all know that, we have been there; you may be there now, but it is much more difficult if you are thirsty.  If we would just remember that God “satisfies the longing soul”, (Psalm 107:9) we would be so much better off, better equipped to handle what life may throw our way.  Jesus so graciously offers, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.   Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-39)  Let’s all drink, so we can help others drink as well.
God Bless!