CELEBRATE!

Image result for clip art showing celebration  Today I am rummaging around in Psalm 118.  I am SO ready to celebrate. I have grown so weary of the voices of gloom and doom.
This Psalm was the song of victory sung during the Feast of Tabernacles.  This feast lasted for six days and the psalm was sung once daily, and on the seventh day, it was sung seven times. On the seventh day, it was called the Great Hosanna.  It may have been used during David's reign or when Israel experienced her restoration from Babylon. Israel was well ready to celebrate for she has been in exile.

As I stare down pressing circumstances, how I need to refocus and speak, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."  Israel has been pressed, eyeball verses 10-18! It seems the psalmist is talking to himself (self-talk) because he makes several declarations of truth that he knows and recalls: 1. The Lord is with me.  2.I will not be afraid. 3. He is my helper. 4. I will look in triumph on my enemies (metaphor for what is bugging you!).  5.I will take refuge in the Lord.  I cannot trust in man, self, or higher authorities to deliver me.  Years ago, a gracious pastor, first husband, reminded me, "Cheryl, talk to yourself, but don't listen to yourself." Interpretation:  Speak truth to yourself or don't listen to yourself!  Am I willing to change the paradigm from "woe is me" to FATHER, YOU are good and YOUR love is forever!  Am I willing to move to celebration and thanksgiving as I daily walk out my faith?  Am I willing to focus and stand on truth and HIS promises or focus on how I "feel"?  "But thanks be to God, who ALWAYS (my addition of upper case) leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him."  2 Corinthians 2:14.  Oh Father, I do NOT want to give a stench of flesh of unhealthy emotions.  I want to be a fragrance for you for others. CELEBRATE!  Forever learning!  In process, still!  #IHAVETHREESONS.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THOSE SEEING CAN BECOME BLIND

Image
John 9 is the story of the healing of the blind beggar.  Not only is it a marvelous story of the miraculous healing of the man as he is given his sight, but a sad story of the religious of whom Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind ." The religious have seen the miracle, even though it has taken place on a Sabbath, and they interview the man and his parents for their stories and understanding. I find it so thrilling that the healed man speaks so articulately and logically with the religious in their "interview" with him.  His statement, " Now that is remarkable!  You don't know where HE comes from, yet HE opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly man who does His will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." What truth he has spoken to the religious wh
Read more

REHEARSALS

Image
  I wonder how much time do I give to rehearsing God's goodness and how He has intervened in my life to "save" me from myself?  How alike the Israelites I can be, complaining about what goes wrong, how it affects me, and what I lack.  As a Christ follower, I have the Indwelling Holy Spirit to give me remembrance NOT of my complaining and grumbling, but of a recall of God's faithfulness to me.  It is recorded in Psalms 78 and 106 that " They forgot what He had done, the wonder He had shown them", "They did not remember His power--the day He redeemed them from the oppressor...", "They did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.", "But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel.", and "They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt...". Contrast with me, God's remembrance: Ps. 106:44-46, "But He took note of their distress
Read more

ORDER AND DESIGN

Image
    I do not have OCD, but I do confess that I like order in my home.  Now that I am retired, I am not so much into spotless, but "picked up" and "kinda" clean. (Do not open drawers and closets!) I might go to more trouble when I know I am having company, but otherwise, I remove the clutter that seems to reproduce on its own.   When I began the reading in Genesis in January, I was again taken with the with the orderliness and design of God in creation, and have seen Him use Moses and Aaron to ORDERLY marshal the Israelites to move out of Egypt. How do you move some 600+ males and that is not even wives and children? Animals also?  They have been one year+ out of Egypt, and have been camped at Mt. Sinai where God has given them laws for their spiritual and physical welfare.  God gives Moses the design of the Tabernacle and Moses is able to bring together the workers to complete the Tabernacle.   The clip art at the top is the positioning of the 12 Tribes and the
Read more