Waiting beside My doors

Psalms 95:4  In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Psalms 135:6     Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

Psalms 65:6  the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;  who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,  so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.  You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.  You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.  You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.  The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

Genesis 1:9-10     And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.  God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Proverbs 8:29     when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,  rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.  “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Jeremiah 5:22     Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

Psalms 97:5    The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Micah 1:4    And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire

Job 9:5     he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

Nahum 1:5    The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

We take a piece of wood and make something out of it – our creation.  God made the micro cellular seed structure for every tree species, the means for nutrients, the means for respiration, photosynthesis ( and while we think of this He made the sun and the earth too).    We look at what we or others have put together as something creative and maybe inspiring.  Some architects even go down in history as leaders of their time.  Books are written about them.  And yet we only need to open our eyes to God’s creation to see the awe inspiring magnitude of Him.  We are a creation of His.  He has given us life and free will to choose to praise, honor, serve, follow and obey Him.  Those who choose this path, He gives life (eternal).  Those that choose to reject Him, He gives death and torment eternal. “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Handiwork of God

Psalms 74:16  Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

Psalms 136:7  to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;  the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;  the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;

Genesis 1:3  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1:14  And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,  and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.  And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.  And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,  to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Psalms 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

Psalms 136:3  Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;   to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;   to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;   to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;   to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;   the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;   the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;

“The heavens declare the glory of God.”  There is so much we take for granted.  We see the sun come up every day and as well the moon and stars, yet we forget the awesome power of God who spoke them into existence.  In Romans it says that  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”  We chase after so much and so easily turn a blind eye toward the handiwork of God.  I recently heard a man speaking from back in 1975 on the expanse of the galaxies and how many stars are estimated.  We seem to be able to see more and more with the latest technology which shows the expanse of God’s creation.  This same man said it appears as though we are being allowed to come out of a designed permitted ignorance.  There have been so many new discoveries in the last 25 years about the universe we live in.  These discoveries, though new to us, have been there since creation.  It seems as though God is allowing mankind to see more of His creation.  Don’t get lost in the science and discoveries.  Keep grounded in knowing God is the creator of all there is.  Commit to humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him.

In the morning

“I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.”

“for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.”

Psalms 5:3
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Psalms 22:2
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Psalms 55:17
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

Psalms 69:16
Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalms 88:13
But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Psalms 130:6
my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Mark 1:35
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Isaiah 26:9
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Psalms 119:147
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.

Our hope and strength are in the Lord our God.  Note the heart of David in many of these scriptures: “my soul yearns” “I wait” “I rise early and cry out to you” “my soul waits” “evening, morning and noon I cry out to you” “I hope in your words”.   We find hope in His words (promises).  Do you find yourself in a place in your life where your walk with God seems luke warm at best?  You don’t seem to have many troubles and yet you don’t see blessings.  From past experience I can attest to living in this state of mind.  I know exactly  what this is like and when I look back there were actions / choices made that allowed me to arrive at this place of christian blah.  I was very complacent in my walk with Him.  I was not reading His word. I was not seeking Him.  I was not placing Him first in my life.  I was not meditating / thinking about what His word.  I was not praying.  I was not being a humble servant desiring to bring honor and glory to Him.  I was living, existing without much care for Him or His plans and purpose for my life.  He did not leave me there.  He reached out and dropped a rock on me to get my attention.  He used my wife to get the word of God and His promises in front of me.  He placed people around me who spoke His word into my life.  He restored my soul, desire, hope, joy, purpose.  When I look back at this I am so thankful and yet at the same time regretful.  I regret not seeking, desiring to serve, honor, and glorify Him. I regret not staying in His word and being one of those able to speak His word of encouragement into the lives of those hurting or lukewarm.  I regret all of the time I wasted in not serving  Him.  I am thankful for His steadfast love and mercy.  I am thankful for His word of hope, joy, peace and rest.  I am thankful for His leading.  I am thankful for those He used to encourage me in my walk with Him. If you find yourself lukewarm get into His word.  Your life will change, your hope renewed, and purpose made much more clear.