Fishing For Whales

Proverbs 24-27

The title of these Proverbs are Similitudes which means the condition of being similar or having shared characteristics.  I went fishing yesterday with my oldest son, Aaron.  Reading the Bible is a lot like fishing; you never know what you’re going to catch, but you’re always filled with eager anticipation.  This morning the beauty of words and the truth of their meaning caught me.

“Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.”  25:11

How about these words;

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”  24:3-4

Scars and Stripes

Proverbs 20-23

Life is a tough and complicated means to exist.   That underscores the titles my Bible places on these Proverbs, “On Life and Conduct.”  I saw a tree yesterday that reminded me of this reading.  It was twisted and scarred; its trunk and limbs were swollen with the evidence of past wounds as it hunkered down over the hill with age.  However, all its hard life had only served to make it beautiful. 

It is often evident, in the life of the aged, those that have walked closely with the Lord.  It’s in their scarred, but beautiful form.

“The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their grey hair.  Stripes that wound scour away evil, and strokes reach the innermost parts.”  20:29-30

underneath the tree I saw

Venus, Jupiter and God

Proverbs 16-19

On the road.  Left yesterday in the darkness of early dawn following Venus and Jupiter that lay in the eastern sky like white holes in a black cloth.  I thought of them this morning when I read the following verse;

"Grandchildren are the
     crown of old men,
And the glory of sons is their
     fathers."    17:6

The achievements of our children are the brightest spots in our lives.  I guess that makes this verse more meaningful;

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life."    John 8:12

"...and the glory of sons is their fathers."   God is so proud of the glory of His Son!!!

Paved Paradise And Put Up A Parking Lot

Proverbs 12-15

"Contrast the Upright and the Wicked" is the heading my Bible places before these Proverbs.

We are driving through Ohio on the way to New York.  The whole country seems to be corn and crops.  On occasion a city will appear, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Columbus.  I always feel good driving through fields of green but cities make me tense.  Cities are mans rebellion against vegetation.  I guess that makes The Garden of Eden more meaningful.

"There is a way which seems
     right to man,
But its end is the way of
     death."  14:12

Wrong Is Wrong, Right Is Right

Proverbs 8-11

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”   9:10

Wisdom and understanding, how deeply removed these seem to be from contemporary culture.  Fear of the Lord does not mean you are scared of Him but it does mean that you acknowledge and behave as proof that you know that wrong actions are wrong and have consequences.  That’s the theme of these chapters.  It’s the theme of all great and enduring cultures.  It’s often not the theme of our culture. 

There are two many choices to trust our life to our mind or heart.  We’re too easily swayed by our desires.  That’s why it’s critical to seek God, to know His ways, so that our life is a reflection of good, not SELF.

The Bedroom Olympics

Proverbs 4-7

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

4:23

There may be no power on earth stronger than sex.  In many ways humans have allowed it to be a substitute for the relationship they could have with God in its ecstasy, intensity and satisfaction.   The sex act, in all its pleasure, can never replace God, but one can never read the Bible and not know that God created it as a sincere gift to humans.  It’s God, love, marriage, sex and then...

yeeeeehiiii, chase each other around the bedroom until your guarded hearts content!!!

Rembrandt's "Jewish Bride" or the 16th cen. bedroom chase.
Looks like they won the gold medal.

I Don't Understand

Proverbs 1-3

I am tired.  It’s early morning, sun just cracking dawn.  I am in a Cardiac ICU sitting by the widow, drinking strong coffee and looking out over one of the greatest medical centers in the world.  Jets fly by my widow, little communities of people, eating, drinking and living life at 600 mph.  Less than 50 feet from me a young girl flutters over eternity on a thread thinner than cold breath.  Another jet silently moves by my window. 

Words from an old soul; 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” 3:5

Another Reason To Kiss Your Wife

Psalm 142-150

“Praise Him (God) according to His excellent greatness.” 150:2b

There is no need to praise God until you know God!  One of the best ways to know God is to examine his “excellent greatness.”  Smell vanilla and ask yourself how?  Look inside a wild flower and ask yourself why?  Lie below a dark night and tell yourself where those lights are.  “He (God) counts the number of the stars and gives names to all of them.” 147:4 Gaze at your green yard and ask yourself who chose green?  Passionately kiss your spouse and marvel at who thought that up.

Afterwards;

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.”

                                             Last line of Psalm’s

DON’T YOU JUST LOVE A GREAT ENDING ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE IN IT?  

Raindrops On A Hard Packed Soul

Psalm 135-141

It’s dry in my yard.  The earth is baked...hot, hard and cracked.  Days of no rain have left it mean and hard and the sky floats by crystal clear as if all were well with the earth. 

That is the way our lives are.  There is a part of us, a large part, that no one knows, but us.  It’s hard pack!!!  It keeps us lost.  It keeps us unsaved, skeptical, cynical, and addicted to chuckles.  It keeps us amused to death while we float through life as if all were well with us. 

But God knows and longs to send us showers.  These are showers of Psalms, raindrops of love and baths of freedom.

“Search me, O God, and

         know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious

         thoughts;

And see if there be any

         hurtful way in

         me,

And lead me in the

         everlasting way.

                  139:23-24      

Let Me Run You A Warm Bath!

Psalm 120-134

Have you ever read something that contained so much truth written in such beauty that it’s reality swept over you like warm bath water on frozen limbs? 

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord.”  121:1

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.” 122:1

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.” 126:5

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children of one’s youth.  How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” 127:3-5

“If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with Thee.”  130:3-4

Don’t Read This Because You Won't Believe It

Psalm 119

What if I told you that I had discovered this magic book?  That it was an ancient tome written before the times of humans.  That this book was not able to make you a better person, but would actually make you a different person, a whole new person, a person so radically different that you would truly struggle to know who you were.  What if I told you that you didn’t have to do anything, that it wasn’t a self-help book or a book of do’s and don’ts and cans and cant’s, but just by reading this book all these things would happen to you.  

And what if I told you it wasn’t actually a book, but a living thing whose Maker actually formed into a book because words were the most perfect way to “transform” humans.  And what if I told you that the most essential thing in the entire universe is to get this Living Thing inside of you.

And what if all this were true?

You wouldn’t believe that would you?

A Warm Spouse

Psalms 112-118

Sometimes the Word of God is like a warm wife on a cold night.

Such are the soothing warmth’s of these Psalms.

“Blessed is the one who

         comes in the name of the

         Lord.”

                  118:26a

The one who comes...

        

Do You Have A Long Tail Or A Short Tail?

Psalm 107-111

I’m really anxious this morning.  I had a great friend in high school that use to have a saying for everything.  Right before a big game he would always say, “I’m as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!”

You know what’s good for anxiousness?  Knowing that the One in charge is doing a great job. 

“Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.  Splendid and majestic is His work; And His righteousness endures forever.  He has made His wonders to be remembered…”  
           111:2-4

My tail just got shorter!!!

Aren’t You Glad I’m Not In Charge!!!

Psalm 104-106

I love the word of God, the Bible.  It’s so clear and this mornings reading makes that point.  God is good!  God does all good things in heaven and earth!  God makes mountains and feeds animals!  God loves all humans! 

Now choose!  Love and serve God or love and serve yourself.

Even the choice is good.  If I were in charge I would make you love and serve me; “mow my yard and on the way out get me another cup of coffee!  Did you just eyeball me?”

What Do Your Grandchildren Deserve?

Psalm 97-103

Who’s taking care of all this stuff?  All this oxygen, making dirt grow food, making birds pretty, bringing rain and allowing us to smell coffee.  Why do we sleep and why do we love?  Who thought up grandchildren and loyal old dogs?  Doesn’t it seem like Someone is enamored with us?  The Psalmist sure thinks so.   

One of the greatest reasons to have a prolonged and consistent walk with God is children.  Either the world is a wonderful and beautiful place made to make us joy-filled with a sweet end or it is a rat race with a really mean end. 

“But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and his righteousness to children’s children.”  103:17

Grandchildren deserve a granddaddy that believes in the sweet end!!!!

A Fancy Bow On God

Psalm 90-96

It takes a committed effort not to live engrossed with ourselves…all wrapped up with pretty me and a bow of self.  It is a blessed practice to read the Bible and be reminded;

“Before the mountains were

         born,

Or Thou didst give birth to

         the earth and the

         world,

Even from everlasting to

         everlasting, Thou art God.”

                  Psalm 90:2

Nothing like putting a bow on God!!!

fancy "God bow" of fungi we came up on in the Smoky Mountians

Do You Believe This?

Psalm 84-89

Reading along in the Psalms this a.m. and was crushed awake. 

“Remember what my span of life is;

For what vanity Thou has

created all the sons of men.”

89:47. 

I am sitting looking out over the Great Smoky Mountains. Each one thickly layered in fog, waiting to be painted clear by the warm summer sun.  Yesterday my wife and I hiked deep into these mountains to find our oldest son’s altar that we had built ten years ago when he went off to college.   We found the altar just as we had left it ten years hence.

God, for what vanity have You created me and mine?  These mountains will live eons on after we are dust.  Even our son’s altar will stand for centuries as his flesh will die and be accepted back to earth and eventually be absorbed into the planet and distributed to the elements. 

We are Your eternal companions, to live and to enjoy each other for when time is no more.

“Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.  Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.  Do you believe this…?”       John 11:25-26

Aaron's Altar

Whose Shadow Are You In?

Psalm 80-83

Have you ever heard of Asaph?  He wrote the last 12 chapters of The Psalms that we just read.  I have heard of him, but have never really given him much thought until this morning.  Poor guy, he always lived in the shadow of David.  Shadows are not a good place to be except on a hot day. 

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings…” Psalms 17:8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXX_bKUi0Mk

Well, I guess the shadows aren’t as bad as I thought!!!

Breathe

Psalm 75-79

The Psalm’s this morning are all about us forgetting God.  Can you imagine forgetting God?  We have!  Here’s a good thought.  Take in a deep breath.  Plenty of air is available!  Seems like we would have run out by now with all of us breathing, humans and animals alike.  But we know that trees give off what we need and we give off what they need.  THAT IS PROFOUNDLY SILLY!!!

Can you imagine thinking that up as the remedy for abundant breath, breath enough for all, for all time?  If it weren’t so profound I would catch myself praising right now.  All I can do is shake my head in grateful wonder. 

Don’t you just love God?   

Where Betty, me and the trees were "breathing" yesterday!!!

The Conscious Creed

Psalm 70-74

I watched Steven Hawking’s Grand Design last night.  Like Dr. Hawking the Psalmists looked at the heavens and were amazed. 

This morning I read the Psalm’s and am sitting on my back porch early in the morning as it rains.  A Blue Jay just chased off the hawk that has set up residence in my back yard.  I am drinking good coffee, have a green energy bulb to light The Word and I AM CONSCIOUS. Carl Sagan said our consciousness is “the universe considering itself.”

There is something grand and glorious about consciousness, the ability we have to be aware, but its very existence should be the first clue that we are virtually clueless.  The far greater gift of consciousness is Faith.  For what is faith other than the giving away of the reality of our consciousness for a far greater reality of belief.  By faith we hold to the truths of our consciousness.

I believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen…  

Post Script:  I didn't have time to let Betty edit this.  I hope there are not to many grammatical mistakes!!!

Beauty Is A Gift Of Incalculable Wisdom

Psalm 66-69

“You (God) are like the wings of a dove

covered with silver,

And its pinions with glistening

         gold.”

                           68:13b

It is almost unfathomable that humans can take 26 symbols, our alphabet, and combine them with our heart and soul and come up with beauty such as this?  Beauty is one of the greatest gifts of God and one of the staunch critics of the biological evolutionary theory. 

“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief…”

                  William Shakespeare

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,

He sounds to blue to fly.

The midnight train is whining low,

I’m so lonesome I could cry.

I’ve never seen a night so long

When time goes crawling by.

The moon just went behind a cloud

To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weap

When leaves begin to die

Like me he’s lost the will to live,

I’m so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star

Lights up a purple sky.

And as I wonder where you are

I’m so lonesome I could cry.

                  Hank Williams

Beauty is a gift of incalculable wisdom.

The Psalm in "Forest Gump"

Psalm 58-65

The greatest art is that which exposes the sincerest truth, is readily accessible and carries universal reality.  That is why we love the Psalms so much.  Every line seems to voice the authenticity we have long held in our hearts and souls. 

There is a truth hidden in this passage that has long since past from the esteemed qualities of men.  It is found in chapter 62:8a; “Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”  In the civilized gatherings of humans we now count it virtuous to hold our hearts and souls in cool and deadened check.  But life rarely comes that way.  Life has a way of washing over us in torrents of reality, risks, danger, toils and ecstasies leaving us scared and stunned with a heart bursting to be poured out. 

Remember Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forest Gump, when in the midst of the storm at sea he clung to the masthead and pours out his heart to God.  That was a Psalm!!!

Do you have a Psalm in your heart?

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Psalm 51-57

Sometimes our praises can’t get passed our prayers.  That’s what has happened to David this morning.  We have found him knee deep in sin and trouble and have caught him crying out to God for help.  There is one verse in chapter 51 that has become one of my all time favorites:  “Restore to me the joy of thy salvation.”  52:12

Most of us consider our salvation just a ticket to heaven, not a source of our earthly joy.   Let’s consider a small thing that can daily help our joy, taste.  Don’t you love taste!  I believe that the most wonderful taste in the world is hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Just think of all the joy God has provided us because He decided to invent taste and then just gave it to each of us for FREE!!! Getting taste for free should be enough to keep us “joy-filled” continually.  

How To Devote Serious Energy

Psalm 45-50

God!  God is the theme!   God in all! God above all! God is all!

Humans are made to strive and devote serious energy and effort.   Do we not feel it?  The need to do, to take a stab at it or give it a shot...this is often the way we approach God.  We’re going to make a sacrifice, build a reputation or go on a mission trip.  These Psalms clear that all up.

“Cease striving and know that I am God;…Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,…Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”

46:10-48:1-50:14

If you want to strive after God, to devote serious energy and effort toward Him, the best method is PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING!!!

Let's try together.

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen.”

Now that’s a striving Psalm of the morning.

Talking Waterfalls, Forests and Sapphire Lakes

Psalm 38-44

Humans in despair is the theme of today’s Psalms.  In the middle of all this misery we read this verse:

“Deep calls to deep at the

                  sound of Thy waterfalls.”

                           Psalm 42:7a

There are times in life when nature gives us a glimpse of what I call “the Realm of the Almighty.”  The “deep” calls to our “deep” and suddenly we are aware of The Great I AM.  In this Psalm a waterfall brings it to David.  With us it might be sitting on a parched porch and hearing a summer rain come marching through the forest or maybe a snow filled mountain valley with a small sapphire lake set there.  It is there and gone in an instant and leaves us with a deep scar of joy.  It is a physical weight of painful ecstasy that we know speaks of Eden, of a manger, of a Hill called Calvary and of a Homecoming.   The deep color green of my forest shrouded in mist let me peek this morning.  

Small mountain lake Betty, Sarah and I stopped by on way to
Mt. Rainier 2 years ago

Diet of Death

Psalm 34-37

Man’s wickedness and the loving kindness and security in the Lord are the themes of today’s reading, but there’s a question there we must ask ourselves: “What are the desires of your heart?”  Stop a moment and ask yourself that question.  In today’s age of 24-hour techno/media our eyes are filled with visual candy that feed our heart a constant diet of desire.  I hate this affluence addiction. 

Who can rescue me from this diet of death?

“Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the

         desires of your heart.”

                  37:4

Just In Case You’re Not Feeling Great

Psalm 27-33

Everything in life and death is tied to God.  That is why the Psalms are so comforting to us.  David continually talks to God about every detail of his life.  David is so committed that it never crosses his mind that God may not be that interested.  When we read the Psalms we get the idea that David believes that he is God’s ultimate concern.  What a wonderful way to live.  To live believing that you are the most relevant thing on God’s heart at every moment of every day.

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

         as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

         Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

         before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

         They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;

They outnumber the grains of sand!”

                  Psalm 139:15-18

Clean Your Bedroom

Joshua 1:1-18

Psalms 26

I'm teaching Sunday school again.  It’s about obedience and so is this Psalm.  I once heard Francis Chan comment on obedience and the American Christian.  He said the American church was like him asking his child to clean her bedroom.  He comes back in several hours and asked the child, “Did you clean your bedroom?”  The child cheerfully and with great pride responds.  “I asked several of my friends over and we talked about cleaning.  We discussed all the neat and good ways to clean.  We even bought a “Clean Your Bedroom” manual and read it and even memorized a lot of the best passages.  We’ve promised to be the best at cleaning our bedrooms and are going to meet twice a week to encourage one another.”

Love

Psalm 19-25

There is a love born away in Eden’s garden…everlasting, the love for thy spouse.  There is a love ground deep in thy loins…sweet fruit of oak, the love for thy children.  And then there is the love for God, often dormant, but on occasion wakened in thee in absolute clarity which causes all other loves to fade away.   Such love is awakened this morning.

“The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul;

He leadeth me in the paths

Of righteousness for his name’s sake

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the

Shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence

Of mine enemies;

Thou anointest my head with oil;

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

23^rd Psalm

Thomas Cole's "The Good Shepherd"

                           

Nothing I Can Add

Psalm 14-18

The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

Psalms 14:1a

Pieter The Elder Bruegel's
"The Blind Leading the Blind"