Psalm 23

Everyone loves this psalm don't they? It is such a comfort in times of trouble, assuring us as it does of the Lord's presence and His sovereign care over us. Yesterday I was reading it over again, resting in its truth and thanking the Lord for who He is and all that He has done for me.

But somehow He led me on in it; I had been praying specifically for several friends who are going through immense difficulty at the moment - friends who are in that dark tunnel that seems to have no end and who are very naturally afraid and so very aware of their lack of control - they are indeed walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

I was remembering a particular conversation and I think that's why the Lord opened my mind and showed me that everyone on the planet is in fact walking through the valley of the shadow of death all of their lives. We each one of us have no control over the circumstances, the trials and indeed the number of days that we will live - each one aware that there is an end for us in this world and that awareness can cause anxiety and fear unless of course the Lord is our Shepherd.

I thought about the fact of my death - that I don't know when that will be, when I will breathe my last breath on this planet. All I actually know is that I have today - that this morning when I opened my eyes I could know that the Lord had gifted me another day and that through this day He would be walking before me. He would lead me beside still waters, He would restore those broken places in my soul - He it is who would guide me in His paths of righteousness because I have put my trust in His salvation and I am called by His name.

And I remembered that the table He has laid before me is not one full of food - no, it is that safe place that shepherds would mark out for their flocks - the 'mesa' lined with flaming torches to keep the wild animals away. He had laid out a table before me and in that safe place I would know His goodness, His loving kindness, His protection and His amazing grace. He had anointed my head with oil - I am His and He is mine and this day and for every day through my eternity I will dwell in His house.

It is wonderful to know this but He asked me this morning 'how will you live today on the basis of this truth?' and I answered - I will live thanking You for today and trusting You for tomorrow. I will live seeking this day to proclaim Your excellence - I will seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and then tomorrow if I open my eyes and see the morning I will live again for Your glory.

Every one of us lives in the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes we forget or can get carried away by the things we encounter in this valley - we are distracted by the glittering baubles that sometimes line our path, led astray by 5 or 10 year plans. Sometimes our minds are filled up with family and career and success and reputation and we forget that today is the gift from our Lord - today is the day He has given us to magnify His glory and to receive His joy.

It's hard to live like that - day by day - holding His hand and trusting Him for tomorrow - but that is where He wants us because it is there that we find His perfect peace, there that we find that His joy has become our strength, there that we experience His sustaining grace and there that we find the abundant life He died to give us.

So on this new day I have filled my mind with His truth and I have asked Him to teach me how to live each day for Him. I know He will show me.

Psalm 62

How wonderful to read these songs from David's heart and to know that they have come out of the fire, out of the difficulties and trials and tragedies that have marked his life. 'He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. David has experienced the peace that passes all understanding, has known the relief of running to His Fathers arms and finding a place of refuge and calm. He can write with authority about his God for he has experienced the power and the loving kindness of a God who has called him and promised him that He will never leave nor forsake him.

Could you write this song? This morning as we seek to worship our Lord and Saviour could we come to Him and say, You alone are my rock and my salvation and I will not be shaken.

I was awake at 3 a.m. and decided to catch up on my Bible reading. As I read I was praying for all those people and circumstances that the Lord brought to mind. There were so many for whom I had no idea how to pray or what to say - simply that I had to lift them up to God and to ask Him to do what was right. I would have despaired had I not known that God knows and cares and that He calls me simply to wait in silence, to wait calmly and rest in the knowledge that He always answers a prayer for His glory to be made known.

And what is His glory? It is who He is - it is a revelation of His infinite love and mercy and grace. A manifestation of His justice, His righteousness, His faithfulness and His power. His glory is Him revealed and that is what I pray for when I ask for His healing hand upon my friend, when I ask for His wisdom to know how to make right a situation I may have messed up, when I cry out to Him to give me the words to pray for those for whom all seems lost.

This morning I read David's words and knew they were mine - and then I wanted to share them and to encourage you to pray them to your Lord. I wanted also to ask you to come Monday evening and join us at DT as we pray - as we come before our Lord with another of David's songs - Psalm 25 - as we cry out to Him for our families, our neighbours, our government and our nation. I wanted to encourage you to join with us in fellowship - to come together in worship and praise and prayer, to share in the remembrance of His great love for us that is found in Christ Jesus and to proclaim His death until He comes.

I know that the Lord is calling us to corporate prayer and to fellowship; I know that He is calling us to it so that we might be strengthened for the days ahead. I know too that He will answer our prayers for He is forever faithful and that we will be able to say with David, .....He is my stronghold, I shall not be shaken.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Our new grandchild, Alexia Grace, was a week old yesterday. A beautiful baby girl, a gift from God to our son and his wife - a child who brought great joy and thanksgiving to my heart, whose birth caused me to praise my God and to worship Him with all that I am and all that I have. She is grandchild number four for us and how I thank God for His amazing grace and blessing upon our family.

As I sat this morning reading His word and talking to my Father, I came across the statement Paul makes in 2 Corinthians, the verse from which I have taken the title for our next seminar on 24 September - 'My grace is sufficient for you' - and I thanked Him that His power would be perfected in my weakness. He reminded me that I need not be afraid, that I could totally trust Him with my new beautiful granddaughter and that He would love her with His overwhelming love.

I know that doesn't mean that there will be no difficult times in her life, that there might be trials and circumstances that she has to face, or that her parents will face, but I knew too that He will call to Alexia every day of her life, that He has put the knowledge of Himself inside of her so that as she grows and matures and reaches adulthood, she might answer Him and call out to Him for her salvation. I was reminded that God never stops calling, that it is His desire that no one should perish but all come to repentance; reminded that He has promised that those who come to Him will never be disappointed, that He will hold them, never forsake them and will bring them to an eternity full of glory and grace.

How wonderful to know that as I trust in Him, as I lean not on my own understanding, as I acknowledge Him, He will make my paths straight. I need not be afraid that I will not be enough, that I might not say the right thing or be the right thing - because He is the all sufficient, all knowing, unchanging Creator of the universe. He is almighty, all seeing God, the One who knows and who cares and who has a plan that is unfolding and will come to fruition in His perfect time.

And yet again I came to that place of peace, that place of calm and rest in Him and I thanked Him for His powerful grace that is always sufficient for our every need.

I will pray for my beautiful Alexia, I will ask the Lords' blessing upon her, that He might makes His face to shine upon her - that she will know deep inside that she is loved not only by her parents or her grandparents but by the One who is Love, the One who has given her life.