What did He say?- Review time

Since I have been blogging this personal study through the Bible, my favorite posts have really been those that review. Repeatedly in the Bible we are exhorted to "remember" because, man, we are forgetful!  So strap on your seat belt or your thinking cap, and get ready to review! Click on the link for the entire post.

Psalm 31- Choosing to Trust

Reading the Bible to me, means looking for the Character of God and allowing it to shape me.
 After reading and meditating on Psalm 31 for a few days, one word continued to jump out at me.

  But I trust in the Lord.

 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;

God is trustworthy. I trust Him. But in a world with so much noise, so much distraction, sometimes it becomes a choice, more than a reflex. Yet I don't choose to trust with ignorance. I choose to trust because I have been here before. And I have seen His hand. I have felt His heart. I have heard His voice. And I say with Job:

⁵ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;

Job 42:5

Psalm 34- A love that delivers.

Through David's tears and pain, he praised. And knowing how often his words have carried me through hardships, I can't help but wonder how many people since David penned those words, have been helped through the night, through the day, through the years, from his words, those words he expressed while he lived a nightmare.

I have seen such sadness over the last couple days on facebook. Two different families, two different states, both saying goodbye to a newborn. Yet the words flowing from their hearts are not those of anger or bitterness, but insight and faithfulness. Like David, in their darkest moments, of unthinkable pain, they praise. 

:Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

And then,

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18.The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

He is near to the brokenhearted. If you are feeling brokenhearted, downtrodden, or crushed, turn your face to heaven, and magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. 

 Psalm 52: Even When Truth is Ignored, God's Love Still Endures.

 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The loving kindness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
Falsehood more than speaking what is right. [c]Selah.
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

Feeling a bit frustrated this morning as I read through the headlines.
Just How? How can lies be passed off as truth, over and over and over? And then even when lies are exposed, no one cares. So I put down my newspaper ( metaphorically speaking of course, who holds a newspaper anymore?? ) Finally, I flip open the Bible, (which I clearly should have opened first) to the assigned reading, as I go through the Bible chronologically and I am reminded that there is nothing new under the sun. Those that love deceitful and destructive words have been around for thousands of years. They are blinded by pride and a lust for power.

Yet, the loving kindness of God endures.

And this was my assigned reading for the day. Seriously? I couldn't have picked a more appropriate passage if I had googled "passage in the Bible that will encourage me after feeling defeated by the lies perpetrated in our world."  There is no greater proof for the veracity and power of God's word, then reading through it for yourself, and realizing the relevance and power God has to meet you exactly where you are!

One of my favorite things about the Psalms is that over and over again, David airs his grievances before the Lord, unashamedly and unfiltered. Yet by the end, he is encouraging himself, and us, thousands of years later, in the Lord. So if you, like me, can feel discouraged by this uphill fight, read on.

Psalm 56- Believe it or not!

I can't recap this one! You just have to read it ;) It might be my favorite because of what God did for little ol' me.