wait-on-the-lord

Trust in the Morning but Trust in the Lord MORE

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I appreciate waking up early (I really appreciate just going to bed early too – it is like a joy to say the day is done – I am “eligible” for bed – whew… (Sleep is also better than the best TV show or movie – more needed than eating or showering when we are THAT exhausted. It is an ultimate “Give it to God, so I will rest in His presence under His watch of everything.” If we didn’t rest, we would wear out so fast. God invented a system to make sure we knew He was watching us so we could rest. TRUST GOD with the world and rest. Trust for night – and trust in the morning arriving – but TRUST in the LORD MORE.

It is unusual to think that we sleep different times than others sleep – or that they sleep differently than us – we are a round world and there is a rotation of night – it seems that there are sleeping people all over the world – and that is true – and awake people – awake at different times – how interesting our circadian rhythm is set up to help us know our mornings from night. And what about nocturnal animals – they have night as their morning. Does it all make sense?

One thing I do know – is that before I awake, and after I go to sleep – and at every waking hour of the day – God is awake, alive, present, and watching. GOD IS !!!!

We have these busy days to keep us mentally sharp – but what about the quiet of the morning or of the evening or maybe the moment we sneak away in the middle of the day? God is with us. There is never aloneness from God. AND, there is always an opportunity to be alone with God even in a crowd. If we want to be quiet in our own minds, perhaps we are to listen more intently and rest more deeply – both. We are to rest in Him always – keep working but in mental rest that He is in control.

Instead of listening to the outside world – let us feel the rest with our inside hearts – and protect our hearts with God’s wisdom and our being with His armor. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

Perhaps like a newborn baby, we are to recognize warmth, nourishment, and comfort – all these things in our relationship with God. Care and correction and carrying by Jesus Lord, walking with us – lifting us – providing us light. Perhaps as full grown people, we are to also remember that God is much older in an infinite way – we are but young in His years and much better off listening to Him. Don’t try to go it alone – in acts or duty – in figuring out schedules or whatnot – listen to Him and wait on Him – be His and be His helper – His loving into the world. Believing that through our trust of Him, He will get us not only through the day, we will walk even closer to the Way. 

In David’s time they waited for Jesus to come. They trusted – we can trust too. We know He, Jesus, came. We know He is here with us in our hearts – in Spirit we are moved and we follow by faith. We can trust. We can now trust in all of the Word and in God’s Plan. He WILL make things right at His time. 

We can trust Him and ask Him to help. Psalm 5 (KJV) is a scripture which is also a beautiful promising song: “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” v1-3

Psalm 5 continues about Trust in verse 11-12: “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

David would write Psalm 130 also about Trust – and awaiting the Lord – but knowing He is here – before the morning even comes. Verses 4-6 “But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning – Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.”

Trust in the Morning but Trust in the Lord MORE

AMEN AMEN

Woe Complacency Sin, Amos 6

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If there’s a set of sins SO OFTEN called out in scripture, they would clearly be including complacency, settling into living without gratitude. This is what Amos is warning the people of Israel about, and warning all of us. Don’t be complacent and lack praise. 

We think of evil sins like murder and yet there’s sins of omission like apathy, living not caring even if you do know other’s plight. More turn our back sins like Charles Dickens wrote in “A Christmas Carol”, showing Scrooge horrified at children under the robe of ‘The Ghost of Christmas Present’ – the big booming voice: “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

All these sins all fall under not being aware of how we drift away from awareness.  Apathy feeds itself, and complacent behavior is just that, complacent. 

God wants attention. God wants us to understand what is bothering Him about how we (ancients descendants of Jacob and all of us now) don’t praise for what we DO have. 

Amos foretold the exiles forced by fierce neighbors in the time of the divided kingdoms. (Amos tells us now that we are running out of time to pay attention.) Amos warns the day of complacent ways will come to an abrupt end – For the Lord has given the command – and if we can acknowledge that prophets like Amos spoke truth of what was going to happen, then we must recognize that the future prophecies will also come true. 

Best we can do (in addition to PAY ATTENTION and PRAY) is PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW… 

Praise God for the new day to keep looking and working for Him. 

Amen. 

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Amos 6 NIV 

Woe to the Complacent

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You ou dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.

The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel

The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself—the Lord God Almighty declares: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.” If ten people are left in one house, they too will die. And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

For the Lord has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits.

Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness – you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar and say, “Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?”

For the Lord God Almighty declares,  “I will stir up a nation against you, Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”