“Let me hear joy and gladness.”  Psalm 51:8

The challenges continue.  I wrote in my journal this week, “He’s still parting the waters!”  And God truly is still doing some amazing things, even amidst the clamor of life; Covid is still here, closures continue, educators, parents and students are exhausted and frustrated. Schedules are fluid and there is little structure and routine.  All of society seems on edge. 

But I don’t always see the amazing.  All of society aside, some days I’m consumed with what seems like an episode of Survivor…all the distractions and demands of an ordinary day that push me to my limits physically, emotionally…and spiritually.  I hear nothing but noise.  The noise of a culture consumed by selfishness, lying, laziness, disrespect.  

It’s often hard to return personal assaults with continued grace and patience and kindness….with love, the way Jesus loves me.  But it’s what He wants.  People, young and old alike, are frustrated and hurting for a variety of reasons. They’re often stressed and depressed.  People need the Lord, and I may be the only way they’ll ever see their need and find His amazing love for them.  I can’t let the negative noises be the loudest, tempting me to return unkindness with unkindness, or to begin to only think of myself. 

Psalm 51:8 is in the heart of a chapter about David’s great remorse over his grievous sin of adultery and murder.  He cries out to God for forgiveness and healing, for God’s Spirit to continue to be upon him.  David met with the consequences of his sin, but he met them with that forgiveness and healing that God made available, always makes available to his children.  He met the consequences with God’s promises and His unfailing love. 

Perhaps my sin wasn’t as grievous as David’s, but it grieved God just the same.  The consequences may vary, but sin is sin.  It needs confession and forgiveness.  And I’ll say it again because it is a wonderful thing…God ALWAYS makes it available. 

      “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (I John 1:9)

A few days ago I was hearing anything but joy and gladness.  But God met me where I was with His wisdom, His answers.  That day It came from one of my wonderful sons who listened to my hurt and frustration through tears, then chuckled and said, “Mom!  Don’t let their attitudes and actions change yours! Keep doing the right thing. Let God do the rest.”  He was right.

Today it came directly from this passage of Scripture.  “LET ME HEAR JOY AND GLADNESS!”  As I asked my Father to drown out the negative noises it became clear to me that with His help I can hear joy and gladness above all the clamor.  But it depends on what I’m listening to, what’s gaining my ear.

Listen to the noise of need.  Sometimes it expresses itself in hurtful attacks, disrespect, selfishness, rejection, sneering, unkindness.  React with kindness.  React with grace.  Take it to Jesus.  And when you take it to heart instead of taking it to Jesus?  Those times you blow it? Take that to Jesus too and find Him ready and willing to forgive and restore and move you forward by His grace.

 

What are you hearing?

Are You Listening to Me?

“And the Lord God said…”  Genesis 2:18

The LORD GOD said [bold, caps, underlined…emphasis mine!]

It’s a brand new year!  If you’re reading this, we’re off on yet another adventure.  We have been given one more day to LISTEN!  If there is one thing I want to do this year, it is hear what the Lord God says.

I finished a different through-the-Bible plan this year with a Promise Bible my hubby purchased for me last Christmas while visiting our oldest son and his family.  Every day, I was drawn to it like a magnet.  I didn’t always get to read each daily segment, but I was so conscious of it when I didn’t, so wanting to “catch up” or, not wanting to get too far behind.  We ended this year on a trip also, a whirlwind kid/grandkid tour starting in Atlanta with our youngest son and his fam, stopping back in WV overnight to hear our second son preach and spend a “Christmas evening” with them. Then it was on to Indiana to see the oldest and his fam.  We brought the New Year in with the number- 3 son and his fam in Philadelphia.  Since I had my Promise Bible with me, ending 2014, I started over on the first of 2015.  These beginning chapters in Genesis were so familiar.  But there were certain words and phrases that just kept grabbing my attention: God created; the Spirit of God moved; God saw; God divided; God called; God said; God made;  God set them; God blessed them; God ended His work.  Then, all of a sudden a change occurs in chapter 2 verse 4.  It now begins to say, “the LORD God made”; the LORD God formed; the LORD God planted; the LORD God commanded; the LORD God caused; the LORD God said. 

The powerful Creator God became personal, intimate. 

The name “LORD God” was so intimate that the Jewish tradition did not allow for it to be spoken.  We know it as Yahwey, Jehovah.  Too holy to voice, too sacred to even spell, it was YHWY. But not only did God the Creator perform all these wonderful acts, He desired from the beginning to communicate with His creation.  And He has not stopped.  After all, what is a relationship without communication??  And what would our world be without words, spoken or written?  God is all about words.  In fact, He is the Word ("In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God," John 1:1).  He is speaking.  The problem is that we’re not listening. 

Yes, the Scripture is familiar to me.  I have read it all my life.  I have made it a point to learn it, memorize it, and apply its Truth.  Maybe for you it is new, maybe a bit overwhelming.  Maybe you are doubting its relevance in our world today or intimidated or even angered by its authoritative nature.  Regardless, God has spoken.  He is the great Creator God, the LORD God, and He wants us to hear what He has to say.  It matters.  Whether it is a passage of Scripture you have read a hundred times, or you have just read it for the first time, it is now a part of you and it is alive and powerful.  It can change you, cheer you, encourage you, guide you, teach you, correct you, instruct you, empower you, help you, heal you, save you.  JUST LISTEN! 

“Did you hear the words coming out of my mouth?!”  I’ve said that from time to time to one of my boys or one of the many God has given me to care for, when I just knew that somewhere between the words leaving my mouth and being put into action, they just got lost!  The connection was never made between what I had just said and what they had just heard.  It was obvious that even though they heard what I said, they did not listen!  Listening involves more than just hearing.  Until there is impact or action there is no listening. 

The LORD God has spoken people, and I want to listen, more now than ever before.  I want it to penetrate my heart and life, bringing me into an even deeper understanding of His grace, His power, His love.  And I want to act on it in abandon, letting it work itself out in my every deed. I hope you do too.  It could make all the difference in how 2015 plays out.   

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!