Celebrating the King

Psalm 45 starts with an outpouring of love for the King.

The King has been blessed by the Lord, and is the more fairest of all men.  He is armed with truth and righteousness.  All of His enemies will perish.

His throne is where the Lord resides.

The ladies who worship the King are among the most noble.

Of course, we're speaking about the one and only King of all, Jesus.

Starting at verse 10, the psalm turns to one's daughter.  She is to forget her people, where she came from, and will worship Him.  She is glorious and the rich will seek her favor.  She will wear the most beautiful of garments, and her sons will be princes of the land.

"It could be worse" vs. "Why do they have it so easy?"

In April 2011, my wife was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.  She spent much of that year at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  She stayed at the Hope Lodge, where we met lots of people with a variety of cancers.

My wife was lucky.  With the glorious power of God, she survived and is still in remission.  Even to this day, she has had other complications--she is legally blind--but she is cancer free.

Throughout this time, we've met many others and we've thought, "Our lives could've been a lot worse."  In fact, during my wife's stay, a younger couple also stayed at the Hope Lodge, was from our neck of the woods in northwestern Minnesota, and the young man had a similar type of leukemia.   Over a few short years, he went from being in remission to the leukemia coming back.  On July 3, 2013, he passed away.  He was only 27.

Yes, we could've been far worse.  My wife could've passed away--there were a few times in 2011 that she was close to Death's door.  But she didn't.

It's human for us to compare our lives with others.  Take social media.  We see other people's lives and think, "Wow, they have it so good.  Why can't we be like them?"

But what one doesn't know is their life, unfiltered through the lens of social media.  Even celebrities and others highly visible in the public eye.  It's easy for us to say, "They have it so easy."  Chances are, they don't.

Take time each day and pray to God.  Pray that He leads you down the path He wants you to take.  Don't compare yourself to others, either in sympathy or jealousy.  God has a plan for everyone.  Pray for Him to reveal your life;s plan to you.  And do what He instructs without question.

Quit casting stones

From the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verses 2-8, is the famous story of Jesus and the woman accused of adultery.  In verse 7, Jesus said to the teachers of the law standing nearby, when they stated the laws of the land demanded that the woman be stoned, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (NIV)

Judgement.  It is something we all do, everyday, even when we may not know it.  It is also something I wrestle with from time to time, even though I believe I have a decent handle on it--but I fail at too very miserably when I do.

The passage from John sticks out in my mind whenever I pass judgement on someone else, even without knowing all of the facts.  But God reminds me of His teachings in the book of John.

Let's take a person who reads about an executive at a company who embezzled millions of dollars and was being sent to prison for decades.  This same person, while judging the executive, is also stealing albeit a smaller scale, let's say pens or envelopes.  Stealing is stealing, no matter the size.

Whenever you find yourself judging someone else, tell yourself to quit casting stones.  You are no better than the next person when it comes to sin.  Pray to the Lord to help you, if needed.

Complaining to God? Seriously?

Psalm 44 starts by laying out all that God had done for His People, displacing them, scattering them, and then bringing them victory by His hand.

Then, on verse 9, whomever wrote the Psalm goes on a bit of a rant, telling God that He rejected us.  Humiliated us.  Let people mock us and causing us to be the laughingstock of everyone's jokes.

Near the end of the Psalm, we remain our resolve and still love Him, he do not turn our backs to Him, regardless of what troubles fell on us.

Muscle twitch? Or a touch by God and the Holy Spirit?

I grew up attending a Lutheran church in a small northwestern Minnesota town.

At the front of the nave was a giant wooden cross that covered much of the wall.  As a kid, I watched a lot of what I called "Jesus movies."  Just to give a context, I was born in the early 1970's and throughout grade school there was a lot of Biblical movies, many of which were on TV.  The crucifixion of Jesus always fascinated me as a kid--honestly, it still does--and of course it wasn't until I was older that the ramifications of Jesus's death on the cross became apparent.  My wild imagination even visualized Jesus being crucified on the very cross at the front of the nave.

That being said, there was an event at church once that, to this day, I still feel . . . both blessed and bizarre that it happened.  To me.  Yes, to me, of all people.  Mr. Nobody Important.

As hard as I may try, I don't know when this occurred, but I'm leaning toward my last year or two of high school . . . or perhaps my first year or two of college.  The reason for this is because after my second year or so of college, I didn't go home very much.

Then again, I could be completely wrong.

The church service went about as usual--as usual as a normal Minnesotan Lutheran service could be.  I was a bit tired.  That much I do remember.  I yawned.  Then, I stared up at the cross.

In an instant, I felt what could best be described as a light muscle twitch on my left shoulder.  Or, even more so, someone behind me touching me ever-so lightly on the shoulder.  I turned around.  Whomever was behind me didn't touch me.  But I will tell you this: as soon as it happened, I was filled with an energy I had never felt before.

To this day, I truly believe it was God, working through the Holy Spirit, touching me.  All I needed was a light touch, just to remind me that He was there.

Unbelievers will just deny this happened and tell me it was a simple muscle twitch.  Go ahead and believe what you want.  I know what it felt like--the pure energy.

Take bites of Scripture daily

Ever have a big task that needed to be done?  What is the best way to tackle it?

By bits and pieces.  Small bites.  Chipping away at the iceberg.

What is your big task is reading the Bible?

At my local church, they've had programs over the years about reading the Bible in a year and such forth.  Now, this may be fine, great, and dandy for you.  But how much of it will you absorb?  It's like cramming for a big test the night before.

Reading the Bible and living your life by His Holy Word, my suggestion is to read a little bit everyday.  Even if it's a devotional book, you're still reading His Word.  While writing posts for this blog, there are times when I'll take part of a chapter and read it over and over again.  I'll sit in the bedroom, with the lamp on, alone (except God is with me) and read.  I'll ponder what I read.

At work, during breaks and lunches, I'll read a few devotionals.  In each devotional is a Bible passage.  Undoubtedly, I'll read something that resonates with something I'm dealing with--God works very mysterious that way.

Try this to get you started.  Chances are, the more you read, and the longer you do this, your life will start making a more positive turn.

Prayer of rescue

Psalm 43 may be short--only five verses in length--it still packs a punch.

It is known as the prayer of rescue.

It starts with a plea to God, to both judge and vindicate me, rescuing me from those who are deceitful.  God is our strength, a mighty stronghold.

Our soul may be in despair, restless, and with a feeling of dread.  But hope in the Lord will lift you up against all transgressions.

Other versions of this same Psalm is set up like one is on trial against ungodly people.  God defends us, declaring us innocent of the wrongs that have been said about us through lies.