Happy New Year

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and provide me with a spirit of willing obedience.  Psalm 51:12^(GW)

After King David’s unforgettable departure from living as the man after God’s own heart, he was miserable.  Life was falling apart, and there was no sense to living, let alone any joy.  His prayer in Psalm 51 was desperation.  That is something easily seen in our day.  People try to find some semblance of happiness, or at least a little relief from bad news.  That they need it is something you see every New Year’s Eve in Times Square, with 100,000 partiers in fully-intoxicated party mode.

Twenty years ago Elizabeth and I rang-in the New Year somewhat differently; we had the flu!  Our swizzle sticks were immersed in chicken soup.  When “the ball” finally dropped at midnight, I awoke because of the noise on TV.  I nudged Elizabeth, kissed her Happy New Year, she grunted, yeah…whatever, and we both went back to snoring in a Nyquil stupor.  It wasn’t all gruesome though.  Earlier that night Elizabeth had decided to bathe the dogs.  (We were “grand-dog” sitting at Carrie & Shannon’s house). 

When Elizabeth decides to bathe dogs, they have no choice.  One by one they were herded into the hall bathroom.  Being the sickest, I shouted encouragement from the living room while I watched the ball game.  When Elizabeth got to the “puppy” Cole, (85lbs and Buffalo-sized paws), things got out of hand.  Cole decided to exercise his I want outa here option.  He tried to bite the water, soap, scrubby-thing and shower curtain.  He understood that “nipping” Elizabeth was out of the question, so he just struggled to end the torture as best he could. 

The sounds were amazing.  I expected to hear, “No, Cole.  Stop, Cole.  Cole, cut that out.”  What I heard was high-pitched laughter…no words, just Elizabeth’s reaction to Coles struggle.  She was having a grand time with Cole giving Elizabeth a really good bath.

Elizabeth later explained to me that Cole had grabbed the soap bottle and flung it across the bathroom.  As she reached to retrieve it, the pooch got himself half-out of the tub, but his back legs were swimming, leaving a wake like the Titanic.  With water and suds flying everywhere, my bride was attempting to “re-tub” the front half of the dog, while the back end was objecting.  It was an epic struggle!

A few moments after the clatter began Cole and Elizabeth emerged from the bathroom in tandem; she had the hound by the tail with one hand, and a buzzing hair dryer in the other.  Cole was getting down the hallway as fast as his legs could scramble, considering he was dragging Elizabeth behind.  I don’t know whether it was the hair dryer or Elizabeth’s laughter that scared him the most.  Elizabeth rather enjoyed the ride!

It is an incredible thing, this joy that won’t be stopped; especially when it is connected to a Rotweiler/Bloodhound-mix puppy who won’t be stopped either.    I like joy; I like the genuine kind that starts deep-down within, and bubbles up to the surface.  It is irrepressible, unstoppable, and it is what Jesus died to bring to our souls – joy unspeakable and full of glory![1]

For You Today  

If you’re experiencing an absence of joy in your life, that deep-down contentment with living, there is something to be said for a spiritual checkup.  Joy is one of the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit.  Take time to read Galatians 5:22-25, and ask God to drench your life in His goodness.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Joy Unspeakable  and  No More Tambourines

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] 1 Peter 1:8

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

[i]

Monday, July 17, 2017

I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.  When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.  Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.  I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!  No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.  Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say, “You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.  Hear my cry, for I am very low.  Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.  Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.  The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.”  Psalm 142:1-7^(NLT)

Of the seven U.S. presidents who hail from New York, the last two have a reputation of being flamboyant and able to rub the cat in the wrong direction.  There is a story about the one who occupied the Oval Office from 1933-45, which may, or may not, be true:

Roosevelt decided that the guests were never really listening to what he was saying. One day at a reception he decided to try a little experiment.  As each guest arrived and shook the president’s hand he smiled politely and said pleasantly, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.”

As Roosevelt had anticipated, the guests responded with such comments as, “Marvelous!”  “Keep up the good work!”  “We are proud of you!”  “God bless you, sir!”

It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his guest actually listened to what Roosevelt was saying.  The ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”[ii]

Now, that’s a funny story, and, whether true or not, highlights part of the problem the Psalmist wailed about – that there wasn’t a single person who really cared what happened to him; nobody even gave his circumstances a passing thought.  Sometimes most of us at least have thoughts like that.  Some of us live there.

You may have been there – are there; I have been as well.

Our prayers at times like that turn to the kind of lament that drowns out the reasonableness of life.  We cry out to God for any kind of relief.  We are like Buck Owens character in the song, Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me[iii]:

Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Deep, dark depression, excessive misery

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all

Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Self-pity aside, the reasons why people get in this mode of frantically crying from the pit of despair is that we really are in deep despair.  Depression is no small thing.  And, if the sale of anti-depressant drugs is any indication, our culture is really good at creating it.

For You Today

Be aware today that of the first 10 people you will meet today, somewhere around eight or nine of them will have experienced, or ARE experiencing depression!  Help them know someone cares; help them pray with the other Psalm:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation…Psalm 51:12a^(NLT)

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

[ii] The President Did What?

[iii] Song Lyrics from Around the World