“How blessed are the
people who know the joyful sound! O
Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your Name they rejoice all the day. And by Your righteousness they are exulted”
(Psa. 89:15-16).
Hey Gang: Did you
even stop for a moment in the midst of a very busy day and look up into the sky
and wonder what they are doing up there, tight at that moment. Did you know there are more than nine
references in the Bible to the truth that God is going to roll up the sky one
day: Isaiah 34:4 reads, “And the host of heaven will wear away, and
the sky will be rolled up like a scroll”. Tell me
that would not get some folks attention - including the author of this epistle.
Picking up where I left off in the last morning thought: A
girl on the Oregon trail, after many hardships as they trucked to the West,
wrote on the cabin wall, “I have known
what it was to believe in God, but now He came so near that I no longer simply
believed in Him but knew His presence there…that calm strength, that certainty
of One near and all sufficient, hushed, and cheered”.
“He came so near” words that are etched deeply in the hearts
and souls of all who threw their lives into the arms of the Lord when they
found themselves deep in the wilderness.
Her words are echoed by many of us who have walked the path of pain. We cry out Lord, why do you allow bad things to happen to
good people”. And he quietly speaks to
the deep recesses of our heart, ”So that you can experience my nearness to you
and help you understand how much I love you”.
And now I talk from experience. I get totally and completely angry with the
prosperity advocates who are leading multitudes of people down a path that
leads only to frustration, and pain.
Their message; ‘If you are sad or unhealthy or without the bangles and
beads of the world, you are not walking with the Lord.’ That is a message directly
from the pit!
In my studies of Psalms I find two very clear paths: those
times when David was dealing with a ‘back-against-the-wall experience’, and the
other when he was ‘praising the Lord for providing a way through those
wilderness experiences.’ In Psalm 28 he
cried out, ”Do not be deaf to me Lord”
For If you are silent I will go down to the pit” (vs.1). But in verse 7 he also cried out “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My
heart trust in Him, and I am helped, Therefore, my soul exults and with my song
I shall thank Him”.
But you say, David was a man after God’s own heart and had a
very special relationship with Him. The
“very special relationship” is correct, but Jesus said, “I stand at the door of
every heart and what to come in and have a very special relationship with you!”
(Rev 3:20 Gramp’s version). He also said
It is the desire of my heart that no one, not one single person perish, but
that one day ALL will be in attendance at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
Sooo, my friends, we all have choices on whether we will cry
out to God, when the rubber-hits-the road, or retreat into our war closet and
cry out as David did, “You are my
strength and my shield, My heart trusts in you”. Your choice.
Blessings,
Gramps
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