A God silence. ( Psalm 77 )

 In Psalm 77 v 19, we read,'Your  way was in the sea ,Your path in the great water, and your footsteps were not known'. The psalmist  writes of  needing  God's help,he expresses  deep concerns ,that God appears not to be responding to his situation,it also  appears that God is never going to help.Verses 7-9 are questions he is asking in response to God's not acting to help him.Many of us can identify with him,when we  are up against it , and we are filled with thoughts of God not caring,being angry with us. In verse 10 we have him expressing his weakness, that was happening was overpowering him.His mood changes and he  begins to appeal to God in relation to His great deliverances in the past, His power,and miraculous deeds, and to Gods character. Verse 15, he highlights the rescue of God's people out of Egypt. Verse 19 reads'Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters,and Thy footsteps are not known'.It is Barnes who comments on these words,'Thy footsteps are not known', as the mystery of Gods Providence,that His ways are often past finding out.yes He takes comfort in God dealings in the past with His people,but remembering the importance of trusting Him when it appears there is a God silence.And as one writer puts it ,'when we cannot trace God we can certainly trust Him.'

                                   

Empty hands. ( Psalm 130 v 1 )

 There is an old hymn that has these words ,'nothing in my hands I bring,' reminding us that salvation is not about us doing,working or whatever,it is coming to God with empty hands. Those hands are reaching  out to God for His mercy , grace ,and forgiveness,it is a place were pride is vanquished, boasting is silent.We are bowing at the cross of Christ, and the cry of our heart is,'God be merciful to me a sinner'.We come just as we are with a deep sense shame,and lostness ,as  we look at the cross we see the enormity of sin ,for we kneeling in the presence of Him who is holy,our wrong actions, ,thoughts,and motives,are seen for what they are ,sinful, No more excuses ,no more ignoring our past, our sinful blindness and willfulness,we were rebels, we never wanted or cared for God,in our blindness we thought we should ignore God,whom we never took serious . We believed so many wrong things, we made light of things that God said was wrong,we remember so many times we twisted the truth, replacing them with our lies.We went along with the crowd on the broad road ,not realising that the broad road leads to destruction,we never took serious,that there was a place called hell,and if there was a heaven,God who is love will welcome us in ,forgetting that God is holy,and that He will judge  those who lived and died in their sin.So here we are now,bowed down,broken,repenting,begging pleading for forgiveness,and the good news is this Christ died for sinners,and whosoever calls on the name Jesus shall be saved .

                                                   'Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,

                                                    Jesus, I come! Jesus I come!

                                                    Into the Joy and light of thy home,

                                                     Jesus, I come to Thee!

                                                     Out of the depths of ruin untold,

                                                      Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,

                                                      Ever Thy glorious face to behold,

                                                      Jesus , I come to Thee.'

                                                               Words,W.T. Sleeper.

The day of trouble. ( Psalm 77.)

Let us consider some thoughts from Psalm 77,written not by David but a person called Asaph, William Plumer says that this was a family name.Like many of the Psalms it is written at a time  deep distress,it is important that we hear that,and possible one of the reasons the Lord of trial,could be summed up in the words  of Charles Swindoll, ''We lean more on the Lord in difficult times, than times of prosperity''. It was Puritan Thomas Brooks who said,' that God drives us to himself by often scourging us with thorns'. Verse one reads,'I cried unto God with my voice,even unto God with my voice;and He gave ear unto me'. This prayer was both earnest and fervent CP  James 5 v17, and the good thing is, God heard him.  Verse two reads, 'In the day of trouble I sought the Lord', in Psalm 50 v 14- 15 we read, how certain things that can hinder our prayer, CP Matthew 6 v 14-15, unforgiveness towards others,Psalm 66 v 18 ,unrepented sin.and so when go we to God aright we have this wonderful promise,'Call on me in the day of trouble,I will deliver you, and you will honour me.'( Psalm 50 v 15)

                                                        Begone ,unbelief !

                                                        My Saviour is near

                                                        And for my relief

                                                       Will surely appear,

                                                        By prayer let me wrestle

                                                       And He will perform;

                                                       With Christ in the vessel

                                                        I smile at the storm'.

                                                          Words John Newton.

More ( Matthew 4 v 1 - 11 )

' More lovers,more drugs, more flirting,more poker, I wish I'd been naughtier', so read  the article in the magazine of one of our national newspapers.The writer goes unto spell out what that means,the person who wrote this is a female,and is tetraplegic, I suppose one understands why she may have written what she did,as a lady who is wheel chair bound, out of frustration.Her condition came through riding a horse    ,before that she appeared to live a pretty active life. The dear lady does not appear to be a Christian,I am a Christian,it goes without saying I am far from perfect,there are no perfect people,yet it something our dear Saviour says that we should aspire to,to set ones heart on, it should be our goal,( Matthew 5 48 ).The dear lady in her wish list,writes of the thrill of being naughty, she includes in it lust,being sexual deviant which means departing from the usual  or accepted standards, being rude,and taking drugs.She regrets that she did not indulge in these things.She goes unto write ,'Oh yes, I wish I had been more bad',she appears to ignore the misery in those things As long as we are here we will always have wrong thoughts, wrong desires,none of its very nice,none of its good. I continually pray that I may be a better person than I am,my goal is to be like Christ.

                                                                        A prayer.

                                          More purity give me,more strength to overcome;

                                          More freedom from earths stains, more longing for  home;

                                         More fit for the kingdom, more used would I be;

                                         More blessed and holy, more, Saviour, like Thee.

                                                             Words. Philipp Bliss.

                                        

A kiss of grace. ( Ephesians 2 v 8 - 9 )

 Don is one of the leaders of Stonebriar Community Church in Dallas Texas, he told of an incident in his life when he was a boy. One day while watching the cars going by,he had a childish mischievous thought,and he put it into action, He started throwing dirt at the cars as they passed by,but a car passed by,and the window was open, so when Don threw the dirt,it went through  the open window and hit a passenger.Don watched the car till it turned round and came back,so he ran indoors,his mother went to answer the knock on the door,there was the couple and they explained what happened.Don was called and said he was sorry, the couple very graciously,accepted his apology,returned to their car and drove off.When they had gone his mother turned to him and give him a kiss.Don described that kiss, as a' kiss of grace',instead of the deserved punishment, he was shown unmerited favour. So  it is when we come to Christ  and ask Him to be our Saviour, we receive a,' kiss of  grace',in the forgiveness of all our sins.

                                                  ' Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

                                                   That saved a wretched like me!

                                                   I once was lost, but now am found;

                                                   Was blind, but now I see.'

                                                         'John Newton'

                                        

Our deliverer . ( Psalm 18 )

 What we read in 2 Samuel 22 is repeated in Psalm 18 composed by King David after God had delivered him from his enemies ,and from the hand of  Saul,who sought to kill him. In 1Samuel 16,David was anointed by Samuel the prophet to be the new King of Israel, but before that was to come about, David would experience many difficulties,and dangers before that would be fulfilled.When God gives us a  promise often we have to wait ,there are so many examples of that in God's word.The promises are not instant coffee,David 's waiting time would be a time of learning  to depend on God in ways he would never have thought.God had much to teach David and much to treat us.Godly people are not self made people for godliness is a spiritual characteristic,it is the work of the Spirit of God.We are the clay,God the great potter is making us into what we should be,that is like Jesus.In this Psalm he recalls God's wonderful deliverances, and he gives Him the glory. It was Oliver Cromwell in June 14, 1645,who wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, after a victory at the battle of Naseby- 'Sir, this is none other than the hand of God; and to Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share with'.Let us all be quick to give glory to God at all times.

                                               'To God be the glory in all things.

                                           

The will of God. ( Romans 12 v 1 - 2 )

 Why did our Saviour come?,the answer is very simple ,to do the will of God, like Him, that is what is required of us.As a Christian of long standing I know that  there is what we could call the revealed will of God. That we are meant to be holy,sometimes that can become confused by what people call worldliness they don't always equate.We are called to be witnesses for Jesus,we are called to do good works as an evidence we are saved.I am seeking to make the point that there are things that we know is the will of  God.But there are times we may not know clearly what the will of God is for our lives.Believing that something is Gods will for us, we then pray to that end, and it doesn't happen. My first wife and I went to Bible college believing that we where called to be missionaries,it never happened. My dear wife died of cancer, I prayed that she would be healed ,it did not happen. I had to learn many lessons in my relationship with God ,it was a long process, still on going.I remembering hearing of a man  who believed God was calling him to serve oversea's, he sold everything,he and his family went to the docks  to get on a boat and that the fare would be paid. it wasn't, he had to go back and sort things out. It is only in  looking back on my life do I see more clearly what was God's will,remember the no, is just as much as important as the yes is,when it comes to the will of God,

                                               Thy precious will, O conq'ring  Saviour,

                                                Doth now embrace and compass me;

                                                All discords hushed, my peace a river,

                                                My soul a prisoned bird set free.

                                                     Words Lelia Nayor Morris