Thursday, August
16, 2018
Praise the
Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my
heart as I meet with his godly people. How
amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All
who delight in him should ponder them.
Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! He gives food to those who fear him; he
always remembers his covenant. He has
shown his great power to his people by giving them the lands of other nations. All he does is just and good, and all his
commandments are trustworthy. They are
forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them
forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name
he has! Fear of the Lord is the
foundation of true wisdom. All who obey
his commandments will grow in wisdom.
Psalm 111:1-10(NLT)
This Psalmist understands
how valuable it is to the spirit of a human be present in the church house for
worship. He gives genuine thanks from
his heart there, marveling over all the good things God does for His
people. He maintains that all of God’s
acts reveal something of God’s character, which is glorious and majestic! He declares that God’s covenant love, God’s righteous
lovingkindness, never skips a beat, and God’s power is on display as God’s people
are blessed, and the influence of obedience to God grows into a worldwide
mission of blessing and awe-inspiring good deeds.
The final two sentences of
this Psalm should be the bedrock life’s theme for any believer who wants to see
their faith grow: fear the LORD, obey His Word
and grow wise!
To watch faith mature in
another human being is truly awesome. To
see faith develop and begin to flower into Kingdom fruit is beyond joy…it
becomes what the Apostle Peter blurted-out as a doxology about a life-lived that
walks in faith, not sight:
You love him
even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust
him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 1 Peter 1:8(NLT)
As a pastor, I’m in a unique
position to have a front-row seat to seeing faith mature. It is startling sometimes. A young lady and her fiancé wanted to
marry. They were not part of the church
I served, (or any church for that matter) but loved (in her words) the
lovely setting of your little church. At the time I thought, oh, brother…! And I was right…they had no clue, other than
some basic understanding that a wedding ought to be connected to God in some
way. We counselled for six weeks, all
the while me feeling like she despised my constant emphasis on becoming a
Christian family, and wishing we’d just get it over and get on with the wedding. Well, the wedding happened…and I was glad it
was over, hoping for the best. To this
day I have never laid eyes on them again.
It took ten years, but one
Sunday morning, just before leaving for the church, “Bridezilla” called to
thank me for being a faithful pastor; she and her husband were being baptized
that morning. Faith maturing!
For You Today
As you set out for whatever you’re
going to do today, take a moment to reflect on where faith has grown (yours, or
perhaps someone else you’ve known for a long time). Give thanks for what God has done…it’s the
foundation of wisdom to fear God, love Him, and obey his Word. And when faith matures, good stuff happens!
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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
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