Read the Bible in a Year (23JUIN19)

PSALMS MOMENT – (23JUN19) At any given service where the churches are full, or on a Christian network around the holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Resurrection Sunday, etc., you will find religious leaders promising the blessings of God if you donate this amount of money, sow this amount of offering, plant this particular seed, give this amount of tithes, or sign this kind of pledge. Christians line up at their churches in the $1000, $500, and $100 lines in hopes that if they plant the right amount of money, God would be sure to take notice and give them a return on their deposit. Yet, is this really what God wants out of His children? This is not to say that you can expect the blessings of God when you have a tight fist, but should God be thought of as a raffle ticket in hopes of lucking out on the reward? Unfortunately, many people want the gift, but not the Giver.

The psalmist wrote, “You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you, God, will not despise” (Psalm 51:16-17). The psalmist was telling the reader that God was more concerned with the sacrifice of the heart than the sacrifices of bulls, lambs, and goats. He wanted to be in fellowship with the individual and not with things. It would be the same as someone giving you gifts, but you do not have a true relationship with them. You may have the gifts, but you do not have their heart. God desires for us to have a heart for Him. Of course, He loves to bless His children, but He is more concerned with us having a relationship with Him over anything that we could give Him outside of ourselves. The psalmist asked for the Lord to create in him a clean heart and to renew the right spirit within him. We all need for God to create in us a clean heart, so that we will have a Spirit for Him. We cannot buy God because He already owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all that we could ever give to Him is already His. Yet, we can choose to devote our lives to Him and His service. When we freely give of ourselves to Him, that’s when we can expect the windows of Heaven to open; not because of money, but because of our genuine love for Him. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY – (23JUN19) Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Does God pay attention to my tears?” Some years ago, I was sitting down, while at church, waiting for the service to begin when one of the female elders came over to speak to the lady who was sitting beside me. After she finished her greetings and pleasantries, she looked over at me. She and I had spoken only in coming and passing. The church was fairly large, so it was normal not to know everyone personally unless you were working together in ministry, which was not our case. Nevertheless, on this day, she did something different. For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to her as Elder Smithson. Elder Smithson looked over at me and proceeded to give me a Word from the Lord. She said, “You are a mighty woman of God. Your tears are like diamonds in His hands.” After she spoke these words, I first had to process the fact that God would ever consider me a “mighty woman” of His. There was nothing special about me and to this day, I do not hold myself in that regard, but God does. Yet, the second half of her words stood out to me the most. My tears were like diamonds in His hands. I had never told Elder Smithson the pain that was in my heart from many of the trials that I had privately gone through. Yet, God was paying attention. Of all the people in the world, He had taken time to single out little old me and had noticed my flow of many streams.

The psalmist asked the Lord to record his misery and list his tears on His scroll (Psalm 56:8). He then asked the question, “Are they not in Your record?” David had gone through a lot of challenges prior to becoming the king of Israel. The one who should have loved him was the one from whom he had to run. King Saul, his father-in-law, was jealous of David’s anointing, and that God had chosen him to be the next king. Instead of Saul accepting the Lord’s wisdom, he foolishly sought to kill David to prevent God’s will from taking place. David found himself in enemy territory by fleeing from Saul to king of Gath. Unfortunately, he was unwelcomed and had to pretend to be insane, so that they would release him. David had no place to call home. He had no family he could turn to for help. He had no friends to rely on. David felt alone as he wrote Psalm 56 and made a plea to God. The Lord, however, was indeed tuned in to David and delivered him from his enemies. Just as God was mindful of David, He is also tuned in to you. God sees your trials. He sees your pain. The Lord sees your struggles, and He records your tears. Yes, there is a Book of Tears in Heaven where every tear that we have shed on earth is recorded. Whereas people do not always understand, nor can you confide in everyone, God does understand and makes record of everything. Why is that? Because He loves His children with an everlasting love. Won’t you trust Him today? “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Something to ponder….