Psalm 118:5-9, which reads...

Psalm 118:5-9 are the verses for today, which read,

"From my distress I called upon the LORD;
The LORD answered me and set me in a large place. 
The LORD is for me; I will not fear; 
What can man do to me? 
The LORD is for me among those who help me; 
Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. 
It is better to take refuge in the LORD 
Than to trust in man. 
It is better to take refuge in the LORD 
Than to trust in princes."
 The couplets of Psalms and also Proverbs hold such power in each thought.  Let's look at them individually this morning to see what we can glean.

"From my distress I called upon the LORD;
The LORD answered me and set me in a large place."
 Distress comes from the words "curse" and "stomach" so you are sick about something that is happening.  So where does God take you?  He takes you to a place to see the bigger view on the matter or pointing you to His point of view which is usually different than yours.

"The LORD is for me; I will not fear;
What can man do for me?"
 The first phrase is just two words.  "The LORD" is one word and the other is the rest, "is for me; I will not fear."  So if God is for me then part of the package is not being afraid.  When we lay what man can do alongside of what God can do, it is no comparison.  This is one of those large or high places He takes us to.

"The LORD is for me among those who help me; 
Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me."
 God does send along others in our times of distress.  I have heard it many times that when you are in trouble, that is when you find out who your real friends are.  It is usually less than what you think.  God sent them to help you see or inspect or perceive better those who oppose you.

"It is better to take refuge in the LORD
 Than to trust in man."
 It is better to trust, confide, and hope in God; to flee to Him for protection than it is to do the same in man.  A simple comparison that we need to be reminded of.

"It is better to take refuge in the LORD 
Than to trust in princes."
 The Psalmist ups the ante when he changes just any ole' man to a man who is a royal man.  The word includes the idea of someone who has some money.  You cannot serve two masters comes to mind.
  I think the central theme here is to trust in the Lord.  Trust what He says.  Be thankful for those who come in the name of the Lord that help us continue to see this from God's point of view from the high places.  Keep that comparison clear that God's ways are much higher than man's ways, even rich man's ways and go with God.

Pastor Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more