There is a Fountain!

Zechariah 13:1“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

That fountain has already been opened and living water flows freely from Him. I have tasted that water and found that it brings life. It is pure and he who drinks from it can drink freely and be cleansed from sin and impurity. "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!" After drinking from that fountain, why would anyone search for anything else. Having tasted myself and seen that the Lord is good, why would I even consider drinking from another fountain. Yet, too often people keep searching for something else. It is difficult for me to fathom. Yet, they can search all of their life and never find anything else to satisy them like the Lord.

Come to the fountain today and drink heartedly. Drink to your fill! Once you do, you will never be the same again.

When the Darkness Encompasses Me

Psalm 139:1Y ou have searched me, Lord,and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.1

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you.

Does anyone know where you are? Do they know what you are going through? Do they even care? Sometimes we can feel all alone in this life. Sometimes we feel like the darkness has encased itself around us and there is no way out. Life's trials and problems seem to crash upon us like the crashing waves of the sea. As soon as one problem comes and then receeds, another one is right behind it. We cry out for help and wonder if help will ever come, but the Psalmist let's us know that our help has arrived.

God knows me! He knows when I sit and when I rise, He knows my thoughts, He knows when I go out and when I lie down, He is familiar with all my ways. He hems me in and lays His hand upon me and there is no where I can go where He is not. If I go to heaven He is there, if my life seems like it is a living hell, He is there. Even in my darkest hour, He is the light around me and he shines in my darkness like the noon day sun.

I agree with the Psalmist, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain."

God's Unfailing Love

Psalm 138: "1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. 2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame.

3 When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.

4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord,when they hear what you have decreed.

5 May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great.

6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me.

8 The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands."

"I will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness. What can a person really add to that. When you reflect on the fact that God loves us with an unfailing love, it stirs the emotions. Hey, I have been betrayed by many people whose love is constantly failing. They have hurt me, lied about me, slandered my name, and tried their best to destroy my character, but God's love is unfailing and he remains faithful even when all others have become unfaithful.

That is one constant we can rely on. God will always love us and will always stand by us, no matter what. It was while we were still sinners that He died for us and while we were his enemies that he went to the cross to redeem us (buy us back.) So we can rest assured that His love and faithfulness will see us all the way to the end. No wonder the Psalmist cried out...""1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise." I too join him in that echo of praise today!

Give Me Neither Wealth Nor Poverty

Proverbs 30:7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord;do not refuse me before I die:8Keep falsehood and lies far from me;give me neither poverty nor riches,but give me only my daily bread.9Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’Or I may become poor and steal,and so dishonor the name of my God.

This is an interesting verse of scripture, isn't it? Give me neither wealth nor poverty only my daily supply. This verse probably make us cringe a bit because, in America we are so bent of gaining wealth. We have weekly lotteries and thousands of people put their money down in hopes of walking away a millionaire. We have stocks and bonds and we are hopfuly that our broker picks the right one and we too gain even more wealth. We have multiple ways of increasing our income. 

 

Yet, rarely, if ever, do you hear someone say a prayer that says, God keep me content with my daily portion. We do not want a daily portion, we want to have this sense of security that our future is well cared for. We do not want to have trust in God, we want to have trust in our stock pile. Which brings another thought, isn't it interesting that on our money we have the slogan, "In God we trust."

The reason Solomon offers the prayer is so that our trust is in God and not our resources. He says that too much resource causes us to put our security in things. He actually says we can have so much that it causes us to disown God. Yet too little may cause us to setal and dishonor the name of God. The word he is giving us in contentment....contentment in what God is giving me today, knowing that he will, no matter what happens, take care of my tomorrows.

In a Deep Spot

Jonah 2: 1From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

I love how the Lord always hears our prayers when we are in the deep stuff of life. It really doesn't matter what we did to cause it either, and let's be honest, most of the time we caused it. :0( But God always uses the rough spots of life to gain our attention and to get us to refocus on Him. Jonah said, "In my distress I called out to the Lord! From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help..." I can;t tell you how many times I have been in that same spot (not in the belly of a whale) but in the belly of my own discouragment, distress, and depression. But like Jonah I cried for help and I love how he completes the sentence..."and you listened to my cry!"

Where do you find yourself today? In what deep spot have you landed. In that spot learn a lesson from Jonah, cry out to the Lord and he will listen.