Britton Christian Church

“In panic I cried out, “I am cut off from the LORD!” But you heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help.” (Psalm 31:22 NLT)

As I read Psalm 31 this morning it is not too difficult to see that David is frantic. Trouble has come knocking at his door once again. I think this may be one of the reasons why I love the Psalms so much. Trouble of one kind or another seems to be part of the fabric of David’s life, and our lives as well. If it is not one thing it is another.

Troubles, trials, and the challenges of life don’t have to derail me, but when panic joins forces with the troubles of life then the wheels of sanity and security can certainly come flying off. David said, “In panic I cried out, ‘I am cut off from the Lord!’” I have no trouble relating to David’s response to the hardships of life. I don’t think I’ve ever phrased it like David; my reaction has been something along the lines of, “Lord don’t You hear my prayer? Lord, don’t You care about my heartache? Lord, You tell me to bring all of my cares to You, but I don’t see You doing anything to change my circumstances!”

I may have never said that I was “cut off from the Lord,” but I’ve sure felt it at times. Ah, there is that word again, “I felt it.” I know God’s promise that He will never leave me, He will never cut me off, but my feelings do get in the way. Evidently David’s did as well.

In vs. 22 David didn’t stop with how he felt. He followed how he felt with “But You heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help.” I have to wonder how much time lapsed between David’s panic and God’s answer? I’m so glad that I don’t have an answer to that question because if I did then I know me, I would put a time limit on God’s response. I don’t need a watch or a calendar, I need God. I need to wait on God. I need to be reassured by the promises of God’s Word, as I experience the troubles of life, that He will answer me at the right time. I don’t need to bury my face in my hands, but I do need to turn my face to His abiding presence at all times.

My prayer this morning Lord is that You will still my emotions when my heart begins to race with the cares of life and remind me that I can run to You instead of running from my problems.

Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. (Psalm 25:4-5 NLT)

Life can be very confusing at times. So many choices. So many decisions to be made. The decisions I had to make as a teenager seemed so huge at the time. Now that I am much older, and hopefully a little wiser, they still seem equally as imposing. Which decision is the “right” choice? Sometimes, when I consider my options, I feel like I am standing before one of those huge mixmasters on a major thoroughfare in Dallas or Chicago wondering which lane to choose.

How do I know? How can I know which road to choose, which path to take? David wrote, “Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow.” I know this is the first step in making godly choices–ask God to show me, to point out to me the path I am to follow. I need to pause before making decisions in life. A “pause” may take a moment or it may require a longer period of time, but I would rather wait on the Lord than get off track.

David goes on to ask, “Lead me by Your Truth and teach me.” God’s Truth is found in His Word. The more time I spend reading, learning, and implementing His word the more direction and discernment I gain about life and the decisions to be made. The more time I spend in God’s Word the better equipped I am to make wise, godly decisions.

Last of all, David says, “All day long I put my hope in You.” It is not enough for me to sit at the Father’s feet in the morning, allow Him to teach me, and then rush into my day focused on my business. I must keep my mind fixed upon Him all day long. I must put my hope in Him, rely upon what He has been teaching me, throughout the day. I’m not really putting my hope in Him if I have the final word on the decisions I have to make today. My prayer today, Lord, is that You will lead me down the right path throughout the day, give me the confidence in You to put my hope in the truth of Your Word, and trust that You will never lead me astray.

14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14-1 NIV)

Lord, it seems that You are developing a theme for the lessons You are teaching me this week. In Psalm 17:3, You showed me that I need a plan, I need to resolve not to use my mouth to sin. Today, I see that You are leading me to the next level. It’s not just what I say that matters to You, but You are concerned about what it going on in my mind as well.

My mind can be an absolute mess at times. I can say all the right things, put a smile on my face, and make myself presentable to those around me. If they only knew what was going on in my mind and heart! There are days when negativity negates the Truth. There are times when doubts and insecurities double me over. There are moments when sinful thoughts surround me. My mind, when left unchecked, can be a cesspool of ungodliness that makes me ashamed.

Paul told the folks in Rome, 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2 NIV) I’m learning that the transformation is a moment-by-moment surrender to God’s will, a minute-by-minute submission of my mind and my thoughts to the lessons, guidance, and instruction I find in His Word. I’m learning that if I neglect His Word even for a day, my mind, without effort, will begin to conform once again to the ways of the world. My prayer for today, Lord, is that Your Word will do it’s work in my heart and mind, as well as my mouth, so that my thoughts, as well as my actions, will be in sync with Your will.

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV)

To run the “race of faith,” to walk with the Lord each day, there are some things that I’ve got to constantly watch out for in this new year. First, I’ve got to examine my life, see my choices, habits, and desires through His eyes so that I can identify “everything that hinders,” that slows me down in my “run” with the Lord each day. Things like… Reading the morning paper instead of reading His Word before I head out the door to work in the morning. Anxiety that causes me to worry and fixate on my problems instead of trusting Him and “fixing my eyes on Jesus.” Too much time in front of the television or on the computer. These are some of the things that immediately come to mind. They are not “bad” things, but they sure get in the way, they hinder me from deepening my walk with the Lord. They hold me back from running like He has called me to run.

Secondly, I’ve got to be able to see the “sin that so easily entangles.” I know from experience that sin which takes root is all too a vicious vine that strangles and suffocates. A little bitterness quickly becomes unbridled animosity and anger if not dealt with swiftly. Dipping my toes in the pool of self-centeredness can leave me drowning in a whirlpool of greed if not addressed with urgency. That’s how sin works. It pleases before it entangles and kills. The alcoholic never intended to become enslaved by a bottle. The adulterer could have never imagined the destruction that would follow the fling.

More than fearing enslavement or destruction because of those things that hinder and entangle, I am yearning to run with the Lord like never before. For that to happen I’ve to get rid of what slows me down and holds me back. My prayer today, Lord, is that you would open my eyes to all that is in my life that is holding me back. Free me Father so that I might run this race with everything that is within me today.

“…I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.” (Psalm 17:3 NIV)

How many times has my mouth gotten me into trouble? How many times have my words left the sour taste of regret lingering for hours, if not days? If I had a dime for every time, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg would be asking me for a loan. The variety of ways that my mouth has led me astray from God’s desire for me are legion. In a moment of anger I have said things that have harmed instead of healed. In a mindless moment I’ve said things that later left me wondering, “Why did I say that?” Arrogantly, I have made myself out to be something more than I am by the words I’ve spoken. Selfishly I’ve put others down to try and make me look better. The list goes on and on and on. My words have bullied, berated, broken, belittled, and bloodied when they could have, no, when they should have, blessed.

In James 3, I’ve read about the corrupting potential of the tongue. From living life I know his words to be true. Yet, the Psalmist says, “…I’ve resolved that my mouth will not sin.” I looked up the Hebrew word for “resolved.” It means, “to plan,” or “to carry out a purpose.” The same word is used for those who devise evil schemes and carry them out. The ball is my court. Will I “plan” to use my words to bless and encourage today? Will I make my purpose, for this day, to uplift and comfort by what I say to those with whom I will interact? I know from experience that if fail to plan then I will most assuredly plan to fail. Before I ever leave the house I must find a quiet place to get alone with the Father and set the plan in place. I want my words to comfort and not harm. I want my mouth to uplift and inspire, not belittle or berate. My prayer today, Lord, is that You will help me come up with a plan and empower me to live it out, throughout the day, so that others might be blessed and You might be honored by the words of my mouth.

6 I will sing to the LORD because he is good to me. (Psalm 13:6 NLT)

Sometimes I read a verse in the Bible that stops me in my tracks and forces me to think. I may have planned to have read on, but the verse changes my plans. And so it is this morning. I hit the wall at Psalm 13:6. I had to stop. “I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.” David doesn’t say, “He has been good to me.” He wouldn’t have disagreed with that statement at all. God had been good to David. David writes in “real time,” present tense, when he writes, “the Lord is good to me.”

God has been good to me also. I could fill a library with all of the ways God has been good to me throughout my life. My problem is that when I go through the storms of life I suffer from amnesia. I forget about His faithfulness in days gone by and I focus on the problem in front of me instead of the One leading me.

David’s testimony reminds me that God is good to me. Right now. In this moment. With my troubles before me–He is good to me. He has blessed me to live today. He has given me a family who cares about me. He is my Counselor who is always there to reassure me that “He will never leave me.” (John 14:16) He tells me to “be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:9) He forgives me when I stumble and blow it and then reminds me that I am the “apple of His eye.” (Deuteronomy 32:10) God is good to me. My prayer today, Lord, is that You will constantly remind me of how good You are to me…every moment of every day.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:2 NIV)

Most everyone I know wants to be “happy.” “Happy” is defined as “free of problems, feeling good about life, having a good time, and wearing a perpetual smile.” I think most of us know that in this broken world in which we live to experience unending happiness is outside of the realm of possibility. Yet, “happiness” continues to be the goal of many, if not most people.

Life as we know it is an almost continuous string of troubles, disappointments, sorrow, loss, and pain. We have our moments of calm, flashes of unbridled fun, but they are soon replaced by another challenge. I’ve discovered something in the Psalms that gives me hope, a goal greater than happiness, and it is joy. In Psalm 9, I find David writing about his enemies, the wicked in the land, and rogue nations that have rebelled against God. With all of that going on around him, David sings, “I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.”

There is a connection between being filled with joy and singing to the Lord. I see it in Psalm 5:11-12; 9:2; 32:11; 67:4; 90:14; 92:4. In Psalm 7, before I ever get to the first verse, I read, “A psalm of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush of the tribe of Benjamin.”

I’ve got to learn to sing. I don’t mean find a voice coach and take singing lessons. I mean that I’ve got to learn to sing in the midst of my trials, to hum along with the cadence of Heaven’s joyous praises regardless of what is going on in my life. My prayer today, Lord, is that You would put a song in my heart and empower me to sing so that Your joy might displace the disappointment and sorrow that comes frequently in this life.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV)

The last few verses of 1 Corinthians 9 have always been a favorite of mine. Paul is writing about the discipline and tenacity of athletes, but what he is really thinking about is the “race of faith.” We are not out for a casual stroll through life–we are in a race. We should not be content with merely making it to the end, or crossing the finish line, we should run to win. You may not be a runner at all, but remember, Paul is not talking about “running” at all. He is talking about “living.” We should live each day with focus and discipline. We should live each day with a heart full of passion and wonder. We should live each day with purpose–the purpose of living for the glory of our King. My prayer for each of us today is that the Lord would give us a burning passion to “run” this day like no other.

In His Steps,
Mike