Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Psalm 120; 121; 123; 125; & 126.
A very short reading today, but so much great stuff in these little Psalms! They get right to the point and don't beat around the bush.
Psalm 121 in particular was comforting and encouraging to me. "He will not let you stumble." "He... never slumbers or sleeps." "The Lord himself watches over you!" "The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life." "...both now and forever." WOW! I don't think I need to elaborate.
The other thing that really stood out for me was Psalm 126:5-6.
Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.
It's always a struggle for us to understand why we have to go through difficult or painful things in our lives. Of course, we all know the intellectual answers and all the platitudes and all the things people say to reason it out
Every rose has its thorn. Wisdom from 80s rock? ;)
Without rain there wouldn't be rainbows.
It has to be dark for the stars to appear.
As Christians we know (or should know) that God never promised us a smooth ride with nothing but beautiful scenery along the way. There is a lot of ugliness in this world in which we live, and if we're honest we know that there is ugliness inside all of us as well. We all have the capability to do mean, cruel, unkind, selfish, sinful things. But we know from what we've already read and from things we have yet to read, as we push through the second half of this journey together, that we have been promised that our trials and tribulations are not in vain. We will shed tears regardless. That is not in question. But as we follow God's will, we will plant seeds. Some that we recognize and others of which we are unaware. We may not know or see the results now or maybe even not in this lifetime, but we know that there will be a harvest. There will be shouts of joy and singing. It may seem small comfort when we're in the midst of a difficult time but that day will come, rest assured. We know God keeps all his promises!
Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 128-130; 132; 134; & 135.
1 comment:
I LOVE wisdom from 80's rock!!
Two verses that really stuck out for me in this group were Ps 125:4-5 ~ "Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers."
To me this says we're not necessarily "home free" just because we accepted Christ once upon a time. It indicates that despite that necessary, one-time event, true Christianity is an on-going process; something that we'll have to work at until we're released from this world. It's a sobering thought to see it's still possible to be punished with unbelievers if we stray from the straight and narrow path.
This passage scares me a little when I think of how liberal our version of Christianity has become, and it's great incentive to run back to the Word, to really study it and KNOW IT! Without that, following it is pretty tough.
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