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²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

As I read this passage this morning, it seemed the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear…“do you believe it?” Do I believe that God is able to do “immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine”? Yes, I believe He is able…I guess I just forget sometimes. Or perhaps I doubt that he wants to do those things. For me at least. Hmmm.

I must have missed the opening verses of the book of Ephesians:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

¹¹In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14 (NIV)

Is it reasonable to believe that the God who has done all this for us:

• Blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ
• Chosen us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight
• Predestined us to be adopted as His sons and daughters
• Lavished freely upon us His glorious grace with all wisdom and understanding
• Made known to us the mystery of His will – that is to bring all things under Christ
• Marked us and confirmed to us that we are saved by giving us the Holy Spirit as a deposit which guarantees our inheritance

Is it reasonable to believe that the God who has done all that for us (and more) is not willing to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”? I don’t think so.

But we have the experience of living in this fallen world where bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to me and to you; to my loved ones and to your loved ones. How do we process that against Scripture that says God is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine? Well, that’s a question that books and books have been written about. Let me just share a few thoughts before moving on:

• Painful and negative experiences shape us in ways that our joyful times cannot. Faith grows in those dark times, as does our patience, character, perseverance and humility. These are all qualities that make us more like Christ.
• Suffering gives us a common ground from which to minister to others who are suffering.
• We are sinful people living in a sinful world. Until this world is redeemed we suffer the consequences for our bad choices and the bad choices of others.

I know, those may be hollow words if you are in the midst of a deep struggle. As I said, books and books have been written about the subject and I would encourage you to read one or two or three of them. Off the top of my head I’d recommend The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt & What We Can Do About It by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey (a great writing team) or Don’t Waste Your Sorrows by Paul E. Billheimer.

But the Holy Spirit wasn’t whispering in my ear about living in the midst of deep pain today. He was whispering about how we live in the every day trials of life – you know, the day in and day out stuff. The Holy Spirit was reminding me that I too often allow my experiences in this world to fill my view finder and I forget that God is able. That leads to living in the expectation of “more of the same” instead of the expectation of God interrupting my life and changing my circumstances. He is able and I want to honor Him by living as if I believe that. I want to approach life expecting the best from God. As encouragement to do so, let’s look our key verses in different translations:

²⁰Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. ²¹May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)

²⁰Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. ²¹May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (TLB)

²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NRSV)

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)

“Glory be to God!” Allow those phrases to soak down into your spirit…

able to accomplish

infinitely more
far more
abundantly far more
exceedingly abundantly above

than we would ever dare to ask or hope
than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes.
Than we can ask or imagine
All that we ask or think

Take a moment to consider some challenge you’re facing. What is the best outcome you can imagine? God can do better than that! Infinitely better! Exceedingly abundantly better!

That’s the God we serve. I want to look for that God working in my life. And my experienced has taught me that when I look for that, God opens my eyes to it. Sometimes it takes awhile for my eyes to focus, but then His perspective comes into my field of vision and I say with Paul “Glory be to God!”

Friends, look for the goodness of God this week. Expect Him to do exceedingly more than you can ask or imagine. Because that’s just how good He is.

A couple of months ago I started signing my e-mails using the closing “Enjoy!” I probably meant it somewhat sarcastically the first few times I did it…as in “Here’s the 50 page draft for you to review. Enjoy! Sandy” But after doing it a few times I decided I liked it and I began to use it regularly. Somewhere along the line something changed! I realized that I wasn’t telling them to enjoy their document, I was telling them to enjoy life and I was telling myself to enjoy God. Now almost every time I close a business e-mail I sign off “Enjoy” and I think “Enjoy God, enjoy life!” It makes me smile even when I’ve been at my desk for ten hours and I’ve written twenty e-mails.

My e-mail sign-off is just one of the things I surround myself with that remind me of God. I have a plaque on my desk that says something like “Autograph your work with excellence.” Every time I read it I think “Autograph your work with excellence because you are a reflection of God to those around you.”

Life gets busy and it’s easy to lose our focus. Life gets harried and it’s easy to get frustrated or discouraged. Life gets challenging and it’s easy to become overwhelmed or defeated. Surrounding ourselves with things that help focus our attention on what’s truly important keep us grounded, faithful and joyful.

In Deuteronomy 6 Moses told the people to tie the commandments of the Lord “as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:8-9, NIV)

Wear the Lord’s commands as jewelry so that you are always reminded of what’s important and true and right. Put the Lord’s commands in places where you will see them often so that your focus is on Him, not on the chaos and busyness around you. It’s the same concept. The difference perhaps is that I’m not specifically encouraging you to surround you with Scripture because many of us life and/or work in environments where that’s not advisable. No matter what environment you live and work in, however, you can place things that turn your focus on Christ and what He’s done for you.

Here are just a couple of ideas:

• Wear some piece of jewelry that reminds you of your covenant with the Lord. We wear wedding rings to remind us (and others) of our covenant with our spouse. Wear a ring, bracelet or necklace that says to you “I belong to Jesus.”
• Many non-religious photos can turn our thoughts toward the Lord. It could be anything form a beautiful flower or waterfall to a geometric image that reminds you of infinity. The nature photo can remind of how awesome our Creator is. An infinity image can take your thought so the “foreverness” of God or remind you that you will spend eternity with Him.
• Many motivation posters have biblical themes. We have three in our office that remind me that I my purpose is bigger than the work I do. (Be careful to avoid those that encourage doing it all on your own effort – it’s not about us, it’s about God.)
• Scents are powerful memory joggers. If there is a scent that reminds you of an encounter with God, use that scent in your environment.

Use props to keep your focus on the Lord throughout the day. It will make a difference in your day. I promise!

What kind of props do you use? Comment below or on our Facebook page.

Have a great week!

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Proverbs 6:16-19

God has used this passage more than once to keep me from doing something displeasing to Him. The first verse gets me – The Lord hates, he detests these things. When tempted to do one of them, that verse comes to mind and I think “Do I really want to do something the Lord detests?” I usually decide that I really don’t want to put myself in that camp.

Let’s look at the 7 things He detests?

Haughty eyes. Some versions translate this as “a proud look.” According to the Amplified Bible, this is a “the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others.” Have you looked at others with disdain? If so, you are guilty of this offense. I know that I have. There is plenty in God’s Word that speaks against pride and it is pride that is at the root of this sin.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

It is to our benefit and the Lord’s glory for us to keep our pride in check. It starts with that haughty look, that “better than thou” attitude that creeps into our thoughts and actions. Lord, give us Your thoughts about each person we meet.

A lying tongue. God detests lies. Even white lies. Even exaggerations that make us look better than we really are. What’s your resume look like? Is it honest? How did you present yourself when discussing a conversation with a third party? Did you make yourself out to be better than you really were as you presented your side? I work hard at being honest, but some situations present challenges. As I write marketing literature for our company, I am challenged to be compelling and honest. When faced with disappointing someone, the temptation is great to make up an excuse when the truth is simply that I want to do something else. Lord, give us such a love for the Truth that we detest lying as much as You do.

Hands that shed innocent blood. OK, so I haven’t been tempted to murder anyone lately, but Jesus took murder several steps further:

²¹“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘RacaRaca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5:21-22

RacaRaca is a Greek word that means “worthless one.” Have you called anyone (even in your heart) a fool lately? Perhaps the person in front of you at the grocery store or the parents down the block who let their children run wild? Do you see the relationship between this and “haughty eyes.” Both have pride at their root – you know better than the one you are condemning. Lord, help us to value others and the gifts You have placed in them.

A heart that devises wicked schemes. Have you plotted the downfall of your lazy coworker, overbearing boss, church troublemaker or neighborhood gossip lately? I hope not. I’m not saying that these people shouldn’t be dealt with appropriately. They should. The key word is appropriately. Not by devising wicket schemes. Not by devising situations in which they are exposed harmfully. Allow God to bring about situations that render justice. Lord, enable us to turn all situations over to you and not harbor wickedness in our heart.

Feet that are quick to rush into evil. Is there an area in which you are quick to desire and rush into things that do not honor God? I’m convinced that some practical jokes would fall into this category. Some are harmless and funny, but our culture has an edge to it and what would have been considered hurtful in the past is now accepted by many as practical jokes. If you are a practical joker, be careful to keep your pranks on the right side of the line. Lord, help us to bring our fun side under the control of Your Holy Spirit.

A false witness who pours out lies. Isn’t this the same as a lying tongue? It would seem so, but God takes special interest to say that He detests lying about the actions of another person. Whether that person is guilty or innocent, our responsibility is to speak honestly about their actions. When we are a wronged party, that can be pretty challenging. When the person is unpopular, perhaps even because of their own actions, it’s important to speak truthfully. Our sinful nature is tempted to exaggerate the wickedness of people who have not been kind to us. Doing so is the same as being a false witness. Lord, help us to be discerning and to speak only Truth.

A man who stirs up dissension among brothers. When someone has wronged you, are you tempted to tell others about it? That’s stirring up dissension. When church isn’t going as you think it should be or the pastor makes a decision that you disagree with, are you tempted to talk to others about how wrong the Pastor is? That’s stirring up dissension. At work do you join others in complaining about the boss or decisions that management is making? That’s stirring up dissension. We live in such a society of complaining! I hate it, but confess that I am not immune to it. It is sometimes so tempting to answer the “how are you doing” with a list of complaints about life. Sometimes the Lord brings this verse to mind and I wonder what there would be to talk about if we didn’t complain about life as we know it. The Lord brings the answer – the goodness and blessings of God. It doesn’t fit into our culture, but we’re called to be counter-culture. Lord, help me to resist the urge to stir up dissension and to enter conversations where others are complaining with grace. Lord, let me bring You into all situations.

And therein lies the answer to avoiding all the sins: Bringing the Lord into all situations. Asking for His grace to live and act in His ways.

I am confident that you didn’t find yourself in all seven of these sins that the Lord detests, but I suspect you might have found temptation in some of them. I know that I do. By God’s grace, they are all less tempting than they were twenty-five years ago when I first discovered this verse. I had a boss who was asking me to lie to an auditor. I knew it was wrong but I didn’t want to lose my job. The morning after the discussion with my boss I read these verses. I knew I could not lie. Shortly thereafter I chose to quit the job and God gave me a better one. He is faithful to those who follow Him. As we mature in Him, though, the definition of sin takes on a finer edge as He continues to conform us to the image of Christ.

Blessings, friends. May God continue to conform you to the wonderful, truthful image of Christ who is full of grace and mercy.

King Solomon spells them out in the first six verses the book:

1. Attain wisdom (v2)
2. Acquire discipline (v2 and 3)
3. Gain understanding (v2)
4. Develop a prudent lifestyle (v3 and 4)
5. Learn to do what is right and just and fair (v3)
6. Receive knowledge (v4)
7. Develop discretion (v4)
8. Add to our learning (v5)
9. Receive guidance (v5)
10. Learn to understand proverbs and parables (v6)

Do those things excite you? I have to confess that upon reading them this week they left me a little flat.

I looked up the word prudent in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:

1: the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason
2: sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs
3: skill and good judgment in the use of resources
4: caution or circumspection as to danger or risk

Those things, and the other nine in the list above, sound like good qualities to me – practices that will enhance my personal, professional and spiritual life. Why would I not want that? Perhaps because sometimes I want what’s easy and these things take work. Perhaps it’s because living in America in the twenty-first century, I am overwhelmed by television, magazine and online ads that encourage me to “go for the gusto” and “indulge myself.” I’m encouraged again and again to live the good life and to give myself a break because “I deserve it” or “I’m worth it.” Our environment cultivates a self-centered lifestyle that is passionate about enjoyment and rarely encourages discipline and prudence.

When I’m constantly bombarded by messages to the contrary, it can be hard to remember that pursuing discipline and prudence – making them the by-product passion of my passion for pursuing God – is what will bring the most satisfaction. As we look at Proverbs 1, I am reminded of the first three verses of Psalm 1. These verses were written by King Solomon’s father, King David:

¹ Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

King Solomon learned from his earthly father that blessings abound for those who pursue God, His laws and His ways. They are blessings that surpass the “good life” this world wants me to pursue.

The first six verses of Proverbs may not hold the pizzazz of the most recent sixty-second commercial I watched, but they hold the potential for tremendous blessing – both in this life and the next.

Lord, deliver me from my sinful nature that wants what this world is selling. Grow in me that hunger and thirst that only You can fill. Help me develop the discipline that turns to you when I am looking for escape and rest.

As I finished reading Proverbs 1, I found this verse:

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
Proverbs 1:32 (NIV)

Lord, keep me from my foolishness and complacency.

How about you, friends? Do you find yourself pulled by this culture into a leisure-focused lifestyle? Do the words discipline and prudence sometimes cause you to turn and walk (or run) in the opposite direction? May the Lord encourage you (as He has me) to put aside your complacency and your foolishness and run hard – with all you’ve got in you – toward Him. We do that by following His plans for our lives, not the world’s.

I pray that as we read the book of Proverbs, the Lord draws us into discipline and prudence while giving us wisdom and understanding. May He bless our reading this month.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

Lately my days have been stolen from me! At least that’s how I would have viewed them in the past. I am learning to view them simply as God having other plans. As my parents age, it’s not unusual for me to get a call that has me drop everything and drive an hour to Cleveland to spend hours at the hospital then drive the hour home. That’s usually followed by phone calls to make, e-mails to write and fallout to deal with the following day or days. That fallout might be more trips to Cleveland, making arrangements of one sort or another, or just dealing with my own emotional condition following the crisis.

I’m not complaining. I am blessed to still have my mom and step-parents around. I’m just saying that God is using this time to teach me in a new way that my time is not my own any more than my money or my possessions are not my own. Learning that my money and possessions were not my own was much easier!

I like my time being my own. I like scheduling out my days and having a plan. I’m even pretty good about things happening that change the plan – because things always happen and plans always change. But the situations I’m facing these days are not changes to plans, these situations are the demolition of plans with little likelihood of being able to develop an alternate plan.

Have you been there? How have you dealt with it?

God is teaching me to let go and trust that He is the author of time and He will and does make it possible to either accomplish what’s necessary or give grace for what isn’t finished as planned. I love that about God.

1) God is teaching me…He doesn’t expect me to just know it. He doesn’t expect me to get it right all the time. He understands that this doesn’t come naturally to me, so He gently pulls and shapes me until I am malleable clay and am formed into the image He has in mind. OK, sometimes it doesn’t feel so gentle, but the end product is pleasing to Him. And if it’s pleasing to Him, I’m good with it.

God has me in training and training is grueling and painful sometimes. Other times it’s repetitive and boring. That’s where perseverance comes in. The Apostle Paul had a few things to say about racing and perseverance:

²⁴Do 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. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

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.
Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

2) He enables me to accomplish things I can’t believe can be accomplished in the time available. Wow! I preached a sermon once about the power of a time-warping God. That sermon was about how He has worked in the past, even before I was born, He works in my present and He is somehow at work in my future – to set things up and help me become the woman of God He wants me to be. That’s pretty powerful stuff. This is a different kind of time warping. This time warping somehow accomplishes four hours worth of work in one – which doesn’t do much for my income when I bill on an hourly basis, but He takes care of that too and it keeps the clients happy which causes them to be repeat customers.

3) He gives grace for what isn’t accomplished that I thought needed to be accomplished. Sometimes I’ll learn that a client was on vacation when I thought he was expecting a project, or I’ll receive changes that would have made all my work a waste had I had time to do it. And sometimes clients are simply understanding as we humbly admit we won’t be able to deliver when we expected to.

Both this point and the previous one are reflected in our company’s key verse:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

The sum of those three lessons teaches me one other thing – that I truly can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).

I love that God deals with us where we are but takes us to a greater place. He not only has plans for us – plans to prosper us and to give us a hope – but He turns those hopes into reality by walking through our every day life and especially our every day challenges.

My challenge for each of us is to look for what God is doing in each of those 3 areas:

• What is He teaching you through your most significant challenges this week?
• How is He helping you get through those challenges?
• What extra-ordinary grace is He extending to you or others that makes your life work?

My prayer is that we become partners in our growth – recognizing God’s work in us and allowing Him free reign to conform us into the image of Christ – for His glory in heaven and on earth.

Blessings, friends, as you are molded into something greater than you are!

One of Jesus’ primary teaching tools was asking questions. In Mark chapter 8, he asks the disciples this question:

⁵“How many loaves of bread do you have?” [Jesus] asked.
Mark 8:5

It’s a simple question, and with that question, Jesus is redirecting the disciples’ attention away from the enormity of the need. He’s saying “don’t look at the need, look at me!”

It’s the story of Jesus feeding the four thousand men, along with unnumbered women and children, with only seven loaves and two fish. Jesus first brings the need to the attention of his disciples by calling them together and saying:

²“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
Mark 8:2-3 (NIV)

Their response isn’t their finest moment:

“How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?”
Mark 8:5 (NLT)

I hear it as “Are you crazy? How in the world are we…?” And since I know the end of the story, it occurs to me that any time I have that reaction, there ought to be a check in my spirit…because God is setting me up for a miracle! Instead of “I can’t possibly…” or “Are you crazy? How can I…?” I want to be the person that shouts “Yeehaw! A miracle’s about to happen!” OK, not so cowboy, but you get the idea.

I’m not that person yet, but the Holy Spirit & I are working on it. We’re getting closer.

The apostles looked at the crowd and said “we can’t possibly feed these people.” Jesus didn’t look at the crowd, He looked at the resources, knowing that when the resources were fully given to God, God would multiply them to meet the need.

Picture it, 32AD: Four thousand men, in addition to the women and children, were in need of food. The apostles had seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Looks to me like recipe for a personal meltdown!

But God…He gently took the disciples by the hand (metaphorically), turned them from the crowed to look into His face, and redirected their thinking from “How are we supposed to…” to “take a deep breath and look at me. Now tell me, what do you have?” No meltdown. Instead a miracle!

I’m going to go back to that, but first I want to ask my own questions. Update the picture: Think about what you’d like to do for God. Go ahead. Pause here for a minute or two here and answer the question: What would you like to do for God? OK, now answer this question: what are your four thousand people? In other words, what is keeping you from accomplishing it. Is it lack of money? Lack of time? Lack of energy?

Jesus wants to uncomplicated things. He simply asks “what do you have?” Quit looking at all the reasons you can’t do what you’d like to do for God. Start telling God what have and ask what you should do with it. He’ll give instructions, and you’ll be on your way to being part of a miracle.

When we give it to Him, God takes what we have in our hands and He uses it to bless others.

That’s the original covenant of the Old Testament – that Abraham would be a blessing to many nations,
and the awesome privilege and responsibility of the New Testament – “go ye into all the world…”

So God wants to take my resources and your resources and use them not to meet the needs of just our families, but to reach out to others. But if we look at the opportunities, at the enormity of the needs, we become paralyzed because our resources seem so puny. That’s when Jesus asks the simple question “what’s that in your hand?” “What do you have?”

Let’s look at that question a bit more: “What do you have?” We don’t know how Jesus actually asked the question, but one method of studying a verse or phrase in the Bible is to work our way through it by emphasizing each word individually. I found that approach to be instructive in this case:

WHAT do you have? – Tell the Lord. Answer the question. In Resting at the River’s Edge we’ve just started the book of Jeremiah. In this book God is regularly asking Jeremiah “what do you see?” And then a prophetic message comes to him after describing to God what he sees. I’ve found that often God doesn’t begin to give me ideas for serving Him until I’ve started describing the situation to Him.

What DO you have? – This encourages us to look at our resources, not just the need. The apostles were stuck looking at the need and it was so great it paralyzed them. Jesus redirected them by saying, “OK, so you can’t go buy food for everyone, what DO you have.” If we look at the need we become discouraged. If we look at the need, it crushes our faith and we don’t take the first step.

What do YOU have? – Jesus asks us to use our resources. We have to give them before he can multiply them. When we hold on to our resources, there is no miracle of multiplication of those resources.

What do you HAVE? – This is an interesting emphasis. At first glance, I wanted to answer that it’s very much like “DO” – what DO you have? OK, I have this, this and this. Then God asks again “what do you HAVE?” In other words, take another look – what do those things put together make. Perhaps bread and fish make a meal. It’s the synergy part of the sentence. It’s the whole thing being greater than the sum of its individual parts.

It’s also the point where we step back, perhaps acknowledge – Lord, we got nothing…so we stare a little longer (hopefully praying while we stare at what we have) and God’s miracle begins to become apparent. OK, I get it! It’s not just bread and fish, it’s a meal. And perhaps it’s not just bread but it becomes the bread of Life as we give it in Jesus’ name. This could be good… Let’s have the people sit down and start feeding them and see what happens!

And what happens is God’s miracle because we’ve looked away from despair, given our resources to the awesome ministry He’s given us and voila! it’s time for His miracle!

Jesus is a master at asking simple questions. We tend to complicate life by moving to the complex when the simple will suffice. Jesus asks “what do you have?” When life crowds in and your need seems to overshadow your resources, Jesus asks: “what do you have?” We would do well to learn from the Master.

God, the Creator of the Universe is Our Dwelling Place

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

What a reassurance to the psalmist! “Lord, throughout all the generations, you have been our dwelling place.”

• God has been faithful to His people for thousands of years. He has sheltered for them.
• We have a heritage of generations who have been sheltered by the Lord. The older I get the more important my heritage is to me. That heritage connects me to something much bigger than me. When I allow the Lord to be my shelter, I continue an established heritage.
• We are part of a community – He is “our dwelling place” – we are not alone.
• Our dwelling place is the Lord – As we’ll see in the following verses, the Lord almighty!

²Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

~~
⁴For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.

• He is an eternal God.
• He is the God with power to create the earth and the world.
• Eternity is an unimaginably long time. Perhaps a thousand years is like one evening.

We are Sinful and Deserve God’s Wrath

³You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”
~~
⁵You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning—
⁶though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered.

• He rules over the lives of men and women.
• In light of eternity, our lives are as short-lived as a blade of grass that comes to life one morning but dies in the heat of the sun.

⁷We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
⁸You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
⁹All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
¹ The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

• We are a sinful people and deserve nothing short of the wrath of God.
• We could easily be consumed by our sin.
• Our sins are not a secret from God. They are offensive in His presence.

Seek the Lord and His Favor; Find a Heart of Joy

In light of God’s faithfulness and power, and man’s sinfulness and impotence, the Psalmist does the only thing that makes sense: He Asks for wisdom.

¹²Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
¹³Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
¹⁶May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

• Wisdom comes from the Lord. Lord, teach me how to order my days, giving priority to the most important things and forsaking the foolish.
• It is the Lord’s unfailing love that satisfies our deepest needs, our deepest hunger. Lord, reveal Your unfailing love to me in the morning until I am satisfied in it.
• Being satisfied in the Lord enables me to face the world with songs of joy and gladness. Lord, put that song in my heart to carry me through the troubles of this life.
• Show me Your deeds and splendor, Lord.
• Let Your favor rest upon me. When God’s favor rests upon us, we are blessed.
  
• Establish the works of my hands. Keep my life from being meaningless.

I can’t help but see that these ending prayer requests are an outcome of verse 1 – that when the Lord is our dwelling place, we are positioned for Him to show us His deeds and splendor and to be satisfied with His unfailing love. We are positioned to have the song of joy in our heart.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10

What a wonderful passage! It’s rhythm builds to a crescendo in verse 9, then quietly slips in the wonderful message that we are the people of God.

Today I want to focus on one little 4-letter word in the verse: “that.” Used here as a conjunction, Mirriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary describes it as a “function word to introduce a subordinate clause expressing purpose or desired result.” We might substitute “so that” if we wanted to be a bit more wordy than Scripture. The first part of the sentence happened “so that” the second part could or would happen. Let’s look at it again.

First part: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” – this happened for a purpose –
Connection: “so that”
Second part: here’s the purpose – “you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

Wow! The purpose for which I was chosen is to declare God’s praises. Put another way, I am fulfilling my purpose – my destiny even – when I am praising God. When we declare God’s praises, we are fulfilling our holy destiny and high priestly calling. That just blows me away!

Are you having one of those days and need a reason to rejoice? Try any of these:

• God has chosen you! (Meditate on that awhile!)
• God has made you a royal priest! (What an honor!)
• You are a part of a holy nation! (No, we’re not talking about the USA, but the Kingdom of God!)
• You belong to God!
• He called you out of darkness into His wonderful (some translations say marvelous) light!
• You have received mercy!

Is it any wonder that the answer to the first question of the Westminster Catechism is this: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

He is deserving of endless and boundless praise, and I am so looking forward to enjoying Him throughout all eternity.

During this Summer of Praise, let’s fulfill our destinies by praising the One who has done so much for us!

I publish this blog at the risk of overdoing a theme. I hadn’t planned on having my next blog be about praising God, but somehow He keeps bringing me back to the theme.

I left my husband in the ER tonight waiting for a bed in the hospital to be available for him to spend the night there. Or at least what’s left of the night. When I left it was 1:30am. We’re hopeful he’ll be home tomorrow.

On the way home, the wonderful Holy Spirit reminded me that this is the Summer of Praise. My tired brain couldn’t remember a song to sing, so I spent the drive home making up (I guess a more confident person would say “writing”) a new song to the Lord. You can hear it here.

It was a week ago today that I introduced you to my “Summer of Praise.” Since then, my excitement has grown when I think about what God will do as I spend the summer focusing on praising Him. I have several themes running in my head – I suspect they’ll work their way into blogs in the coming weeks. Additionally, other articles, blogs and e-mails on related topics seem to be coming across my desk with increased frequency. I think we’re in for a great summer, friends!

Even as I write this, my mind reminds me that not everyone is celebrating: A friend is in pain, a nephew has lost his grandfather, another friend is over-stressed with life and yet another is depressed. Despite it all (and of course, there are many more examples), I am convinced God will transform us as we are obedient to praise Him, perhaps especially when that praise is a sacrifice. And I am excited about experiencing that transformation in myself and with my friends!

Today I read a blog that has been in my inbox for three weeks. Titled “Happiness is a Choice,” I expected the blog to be a bit too familiar – “there’s nothing new under the sun” was my reaction to the title. (Lord, forgive me for my cynicism and lack of respect.) The blog is written by a woman I’ve included here before, so I kept it in my inbox to read at some future time. The future became today, and I found that not only was I wrong about there being nothing new under the sun, but that the blog was extremely well written. Among other things, I love her line in the first paragraph about electricity and friction and her discussion about grafting our happiness onto others.

This “Today I Realized…” blog is worth the read. It’s short but powerful and will enhance your Summer of Praise.

Let’s make good choices and let’s continue to praise Him!