Matt's Anthology

I, like a lot of people, have been watching the Winter Olympics.    I am amazed at these athletes and the ability to stay on the edge of skis, blades, boards. You can see them anxiously awaiting their time to leave the start gate.  The speed at which they are traveling is wild.  Operating at great speed, on the edge, can of course like life and as we see in these Olympics, end in tragedy.  But if upheld to the end it can result in great joy to the athletes, their families and the nation that they represent.

It reminds me of Psalm 94:18-19, When I said, “My foot is slipping,” Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.  When anxiety was great within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

So I am no Biblical scholar and don’t know Latin or Greek (and those of you that know me may wonder about English from time to time) so I like to look up words in the dictionary.  Now you may read the passage and think those words are not  unusual or hard to understand but breaking them down may revel something about God’s character.  So please bear with me through somewhat of an English lesson…

Notice the passage starts with confession.  When I said, “My foot is slipping”.  1John 1:9 teaches “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Have you ever had someone try to help you when you really didn’t want it?  It mostly ends up being frustrating for both parties.  Ask so you can receive…

So we confess and God  “Hold us up”. But notice He doesn’t hold us up with anger or condemnation or with His mighty hand.  The passage says “Your Lovingkindness” holds me up.  Lovingkindness, what is that?  According to Webster’s, lovingkindness is tender and benevolent affection.  Tender is “gentle, delicate, demanding careful and sensitive handling”.  Benevolent is “organized for the purpose of doing good”.  So with confession the Lord comes along gently and carefully handles us as not to injure us further.  “A bruised reed He will not break” Isaiah 42:3.

V19: When anxious thoughts multiply within me…Anxious is characterized by extreme uneasiness of the mind or brooding fear about some contingency (an event that may but is not certain to occur), worried. Here is a good reason not to worry or be anxious for nothing. Worry comes from the latin anxius-akin to angere which is to strangle, distress more anger.  I believe that is why David said the thoughts “multiply within me”.  It is like being strangled by our thoughts.  Multiply is to increase in number greatly or brood.  Brood?  You have heard of it, we say brood of vipers.  Get the picture?  Brood is hatched or cared for, to dwell gloomily on a subject.  The picture is one of a bird covering it’s eggs to protect and incubate them.  So are you incubating your anxious thoughts allowing them to multiply?  All they will grow up to do is strangle you.

Finally the last part of v19…Your consolations delight my soul (or as NIV says, brought joy to my soul).  Console is to alleviate grief, sense of loss or trouble.  Console is also a contest held for those who have lost early in a tournament.  Unlike the Olympics which is a one loss and you go home tournament or contest, the Lord brings along his ability to alleviate our sense of trouble with another round.  He is not a “one loss and you are out” God.  So go down the mountain first.  If you fall down the Lord will “chairlift” you up for another try.

Confess your slipping to the Lord, His lovingkindness will hold you up and His additional contest will let you play the game time and time again so that you may have delight brought to your soul.

Posted in Biblical Lessons

As I walked the dog this morning, snow was falling.  It was like a white blanket.  It was beautiful, peaceful but mostly what I noticed was it was silent.  The neighborhood, which is usually filled with the noise of school buses and people rushing off to work, was just silent.  The only sound was that of the snow falling against itself.  It was almost like a gentle whisper.  It reminded me of a story from 1Kings Chapter 19.

In Verses 9-13 the prophet Elijah is running for his life and hiding in a cave.  Now he had just seen the Lord in a big way (1Kings18) but he is running and hiding. Truth be told all of us run and hide from time to time and so we pick up the story there.

1Kings19:9: There he went into a cave and spent the night.  And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Now please allow me to paraphrase his answer;  “I have run around doing what YOU called me to do and now look at the mess I’m in, I am all by myself and these people even want kill me.”  The Lord said, ” Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

I believe the Lord showed Elijah the fire, wind and earthquake to show a portion of His power.  But He whispered to him to show him his Love.  In our lives, in all the running around, in all the noise, the Lord is still whispering.  Don’t run and hide from your life.  You are not all by yourself.  Don’t get burned out by all the things you are called to do.  If you are there hiding in a cave, running for your life; I ask you the same question the Lord asked, “What are you doing here?”  Go out and stand on the top of your mountain and enjoy the silence.  He is whispering His love for you.

Posted in Biblical Lessons

Proverbs 18:21  says, “the power of life and death is in the tongue”.  God gave Adam the job of naming the animals and Genesis 2:19 says, “Whatever the man called them, that was their name”.

I am learning that words have power.  They can tear down or build up, they can injure or heal, they can mean nothing or everything, they are forever.  Sometimes we say things we regret.  Sometimes we don’t say things we should.  I believe both are a sin.  James 4:17 says, “To him that knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin”.  Just as we should be kind in our words we should also speak when we believe we are led too.  I say that because there are times when we have something to say and it may fall on deaf ears or we “cast our pearls before swine”.  Say it anyway, you never know what seeds you will plant with your words.

Be careful what you say.  What you say matters.  Just a  large ship gets guided by a small ruder, your day, your present reality will be guided by the words you speak.  I am sure we all work with someone who has said or maybe we have said something like, “it is going to be a bad day” and sure enough what happens? It becomes a bad day.  As he thinks within himself, so he is (Proverbs 23:7).  When I get to the end of my life I don’t want to leave anything unsaid.  I also want to know I used my words for the building up of others and speaking life into them.  So what are you saying?

Posted in Biblical Lessons