Light and Truth

Psalms 43:3, “Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.”

People love to be in the light. The light is good for the body. It is good for all plant life as well. The truth is good for the body as well. Harboring a lie can be harmful to someone’s health. It increases stress and anxiety. What we say and do does matter. We serve the God who is the God of light and truth.

Send out Your light and Your truth. God is the God of Light. He shines brighter than a million lightbulbs. He can pierce the darkness so that it runs away. Darkness is not allowed to be near where God is. This light is what we should aspire to be in. We can if we are willing to follow God. Where God is, is the Light and we can be in that Light.

Let them lead me. The Truth and the Light are there to guide us. The truth is there to keep on the right path. If we walk in the truth, people will trust us. Most importantly, we are living according to God. When we live in the light, we are lead where everything we see and do is seen. There is no hiding in the light. If we do nothing wrong, this is perfect. When we do something that is wrong, we need to confess it right away so that we do not allow ourselves to have the darkness come near us.

Let them bring me to Your holy hill. When we are on a hill, we can see everything that can come to get us or be with us. We should all strive to be on the holy hill with God because He will be there to protect us. He will help us if we will come to Him. When we live in the truth, we come closer to the holy hill where God is. When we live in the light, we come closer to the holy hill where God is.

To Your tabernacle. God’s tabernacle is a holy place where we can go to be safe. We come to Him and worship Him. His tabernacle is a refuge for all that attempts to harm us. We should want to stay in the presence of God. His tabernacle is strength. The truth and light are strength.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being a safe place for us to be in. We are protected by You. Help us to live in truth and light. Help us to allow ourselves to lead by You. We know that You have plan and we are here to submit to this plan. You love us and we choose to come to You, to worship and love You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Search and Know

Psalms 139: 23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

When looking for something like a clue, it requires a closer look.  It may require a magnifying glass.  A magnifying glass make something that is far away, closer.  It does not change the size of the object but it changes the perspective of the object.  When it comes to the end judgment, God is the one to search and know.

Search comes from the Hebrew word חָקַר châqar, khaw-kar’; which means to penetrate; hence, to examine intimately:—find out, (make) search (out), seek (out), sound, try.  God, when He searches, He does not go surface deep.  He penetrates.  He looks as deep as possible to see what He can find.  He searches mind, body and soul.  He created all so He knows all.  When He seeks, He looks until He finds.  He does not give up.  He does not quit.  He will find out everything He needs to know about each and every person.

God not only searches us, but He truly knows us, especially our hearts.  Our hearts contain more than just muscle and blood, but contain who we are.  What we are made of and how we react when we are put to the test.  God knows us because He created us.  He knows every hair on our body, every cell in our being, every thought and action we will have.

Try comes from the Hebrew word בָּחַן bâchan, baw-khan’; a primitive root meaning to test (especially metals); generally and figuratively, to investigate:—examine, prove, tempt, try (trial).  When things are tried, like gold and silver, they are heated to remove the impurities.  When God tries us, He is getting rid of the bad that is in us and wants us to be good.  He is also examining us to see what is good and bad in us as well.  We need to live for God so that we can prove how much God means to us.

Everyone has anxiety.  God already knows our worries and our cares.  The key is to let God have them.  Give them all to God.  He knows, which shows that He cares.  He actively wants to know what is going on in our lives.  We need to know that we can turn to God and give Him our problems because our problems are smaller than our God.

 The fact is that there are wicked ways in each of us.  Each of us contains sin and sin is wicked.  It goes against everything that is God.  God already knows what is inside us so He knows how wicked we are.  What wicked thoughts we have.  What wicked actions we do.  He knows it all.  He sees it all.  The key to all of this is to eliminate the wicked to the best of our ability and let us help us with the rest.  He is there for this.

Because of Jesus and His death on the cross, we have the Way to God.  It will be everlasting and it will be sweet.  It will be sweet because when we die, we will be in the presence of the Almighty God.  His glory will shine around us.  There will be no more pain.  There will be no more trials.  There will be no more sin.  For those that declare that Jesus is the Son of God and their Savior, Heaven awaits.  For those that do not, there is no place in Heaven for them.  It all boils down to a choice: to declare Jesus as Lord of your life or deny Him.  Choose Jesus.  Choose life.  Choose to search and know your Heavenly Father.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for all that You do for us.  You know us.  You love us, even though we have wicked ways in us.  We sin and You are still there for us.  Help us to love as You love.  Help us to see the world and help others as You help us.  Search us today and show us what You would have us to do.

In your name we pray,

Amen

The Lord is my Shepherd (Part 6 of 6)

Psalms 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Surely.  This word is used to show that the following statement is true.  Similar to truly or verily.  Used to show that what is said will happen.

Goodness.  The quality of being good.  The only one that is good is God the Father, Jesus the Son, or the Holy Spirit.  The triune Godhead is perfect in all goodness.

And.  Conjunction.  Combining goodness and mercy.  This shows that the Shepherd (Jesus) is both good and merciful.

Mercy.  The act of compassion and forgiveness when the actual result should be punishment and chastisement.  This is what we deserve but Jesus came to Earth to die for our sins and take our punishment on himself.  This is the ultimate act of mercy.

Shall.  Refers to the future.  Jesus will be with us forever.  When we invite Jesus into our lives, He is there to guid us and help us.

Follow.  Opposite of lead.  The sheep (people) are to follow the Shepherd (Jesus).  Jesus laid out the perfect example of how to life and we are to follow that example.

Me.  Refers to the sheep (people).  Goodness and Mercy shall follow those who call Jesus their Lord and personal Savior.

All.  Not some.  Not a few.  All.  Not skipping one.

The.  Article to show one group, in this case, days.

Days.  A 24 hour period of time.  There are 7 in a week.  Jesus is always with us.  Never taking a break or a day off.

Of.  Preposition leading to my life.

My.  Possessive word referring to what is the sheep’s (people’s).

Life.  The existence of people or other living things.  Life is considered precious by most.  Life is so precious that Jesus died so that our lives have meaning.  The meaning of living a life for the next life.  An eternal one.

And.  Conjunction to combine.

I.  Refers to sheep (person writing or anyone reading)

Will.  Future tense.  Refers to what is to come.

Dwell.  Where you live.

In.  A direction preposition.

The.  Referring to the House of the Lord.

House.  A building.

Of.  Leading to the Lord.

The.  Referring to one.  This case, Lord.

Lord.  The title of power given to Jesus.  Jesus is the Lord of Lords.  He is over all.

Forever.  A time that does not end.  God is forever.  He has existed since before creation and will exist far after the end of the world.

Goodness and mercy come from Jesus.  When following Jesus, goodness and mercy come with that.  Dwelling in the House of the Lord also comes with a life of following Jesus.  Jesus is our Shepherd.  We are the sheep.  We follow Jesus’ lead.  Jesus is always there.  He always cares.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your goodness and mercy.  Without these, we perish.  With them, we have eternal life.  Thank You for giving us rest in the House of the Lord forever.  We can never repay all that You have done for us.  We are eternally grateful.  You are our Lord.  We are Your people.  We need You at all times.  I pray that more come to know You and what You can do.

In Your name we pray,

Amen