verseoftheday

Sunday Psalms; Wake up,  O Lord!  Why do you sleep?  Get up!  Do not reject us forever. Why do you look the other way?  Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression? We collapse in the dust, lying face down in the dirt. Psalms 44:23-25 NLT If you've been in distress, lost, alone, wondering what God is up to, wondering if He even is there, then this psalm from the descendents of Korah (who's whole community perished - see Numbers 16) may express some of what you are experiencing. The sons of Korah did not join the rebellion & this Psalm is where they're at this point in their lives; Questioning God. They feel tossed aside, dishonored: [9] But now you have tossed us aside in dishonor. You no longer lead our armies to battle. Psalms 44:9 NLT They don't believe they are to blame at all: [18] Our hearts have not deserted you. We have not strayed from your path. Psalms 44:18 NLT And yet, at this moment, here they are. Questioning. Hurting. And the redemptive str...

The righteous will never be shaken,  but the wicked will not inhabit the land. Proverbs 10:30 BSB When we look for Jesus in this Proverb, he is right there. As a baby with his family on the run. As a child in the temple teaching. As a carpenter working with timber. Teaching the sermon on the Mount. Being rejected by his family, being in that mental and spiritual anguish in the Garden, facing the power of the Roman Empire in silence, and facing death itself...so that wickedness, evil, and it's effect, will not inhabit the land. Jesus is the Righteous who knows what it is to be human and to be shaken by events in this life, and is the divine who will never be shaken, who we can trust to make all things new, the only one who can make this place uninhabitable for "wickedness", uninhabitable for evil, uninhabitable for death itself... #Proverbs #wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #speaklife 

Friday! Proverbs! The righteous will never be shaken,  but the wicked will not inhabit the land. Proverbs 10:30 BSB The wicked certainly do live in the land so this Proverb must be inviting us to consider it in a different way... Perhaps in the Big Story only the "righteous" will remain. And if we look at Proverbs as a way of seeing into our own hearts, what does this Proverb open up? The righteousness, the goodness that is iny heart, thoughts, motivations, desires, and the wickedness, the "anti-God" that dwells there too.There will be a day when that will not "inhabit the land", the inner landscape of my heart. For today, this hour, this minute, we can hold to the idea here that the righteousness, goodness, truth, love that is in us, will remain, and will prevail... #Proverbs #wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #speaklife 

I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them.  Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder... Romans 15:14-15 NLT Paul's letter to the church is uplifting and affirming, and then there's this "even so". Even so. I wonder what Paul would notice as strengths in my church, and what his "even so" would be? I wonder if Paul was writing to me, what he would notice as strengths, and what his "even so" would be? We're not great at noticing strengths and encouraging ourselves in our own strengths. Perhaps allowing Paul in to my life, what would he affirm me in? What about you? What would Paul encourage you in? And then is this gentle invitation to consider "even so". What in my journey with our God does his invitation open up, invite me to step towards, stop avoiding? S...

I pray that God, the source of hope,  will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NLT This is a beautiful prayer.  Whatever is in front of you today, may this prayer of Paul's give you hope, peace, and that elusive thing called joy. The context of this prayer seems to be around conflict in the church. Conflict about food, holy days, ethnicity, and the lack of acceptance of difference. And in this little concluding prayer Paul brings his readers/listeners back to the "source of hope" and where they put their trust (hint: my trust is not in how right I think I am about an issue, but in our God).  This "confident hope" is not about whether I am right or wrong about food, holy days, Jew or not Jew, but that I can trust our God to hold my small story in His Big Story, that I can trust His Big Picture of love & grace, and that in His time and Hi...

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. Romans 15:5-7 NLT Paul is writing to a church where there was lots of unacceptance going on - remember all that dialogue about food and holy days - there was clearly disharmony, impatience, unacceptance of difference.  (Some care here - this is about difference among believers, not tolerance for abusive behaviour, harm, violence, or seeking justice. It's about difference). Where do those things (disharmony, impatience, unacceptance) show up in my life in relation to my church community? Where do these things show up in my heart? Paul invites us to step towards harmony, towards patience, towards acceptance of difference, so that...

Send out your light and your truth;  let them guide me.  Let them lead me to your holy mountain,  to the place where you live. Psalms 43:3 NLT This psalm, this cry, this prayer was answered 1000 years later, not with an event, not with something, but with a person. God sent out His Light and Truth, embodied in all the limitations and frailities of being human. It is Jesus who becomes our guide, snd through Him, we get to go to that "holy mountain", that place where our God lives. Jesus is The Way, the Light, and the Truth, and in him our story, our life is safely held. #psalms #songs #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved