Day 4 - Week 40 - Psalm 55:22 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken."

I have spent the past two nights both readying for and recovering from our annual Thanksgiving feast, always held at our home.  This year there were 25 family members here, and it is always a wonderful time of family, food and fun.  But invariably, I always end up getting rattled about the last 30 minutes of food preparation, trying to get everything ready to be served hot at the same time, and there's always some last minute catastrophe...or so it seems...that shakes me up!  My goal next year is to stay completely calm throughout the entire process...can it be done?  (Yes it can!  I just need to remember to pray for an extra dose of calmness next year.) 

When the food is served, and people are happy and well fed, and the conversations are flying across the multiple tables, then my anxiety is completely erased, my heart is happy and I am always so glad to be able to have accomplished this feat one more year!

This actually ties in well with this week's verse..."Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support you..."  I felt burdened in my preparations and when I burned my beautiful (or it was going to be beautiful) cake on Thanksgiving morning, I felt an extra burden.  In a much deeper way, I feel burdened in my concerns for my children and grandchildren.  I feel burdened when I see the slide in the morality of society and worry about the future world that my grandchildren will live in.  I feel burdened by my concern for Christians around the world who are tortured for their faith, and I feel burdened by my less-than-passionate faith in the face of their suffering.

Fact of the matter is, there are many things in this life that cause us to feel burdened, stressed and under pressure.  But our Lord, our good and gracious God, says, "Cast your burden on Me, I will support you."  There's the promise...He will support us when we throw the burdens off of our back and confidently give them to Him.  Our tendency, sadly, is to hold on to our burdens, claiming them as our own and clinging to them in some masochistic manner, while all the time God is ready and waiting to unload those aching backs of ours that are trying so desperately to bear up.

Georg Neumark wrote a German hymn hundreds of years ago that expresses the sentiment of this verse so beautifully,

If thou but suffer God to guide thee, and hope in God through all thy ways, He'll give thee strength, whate'er betide thee, and bear thee through the evil days. Who trusts in God's unchanging love builds on the rock that naught can move.

"Whate'er betide thee" today, tomorrow, or in the years to come...trust in God's unchanging love. He has promised to support you as you cast your burdens on Him.  Never doubt His capability to bear up under the weight...He is able.

Day 1 - Week 40 - FORTY! Yes, I said f-o-r-t-y!!

Here we are, starting another week --- our fortieth week of studying Scripture and committing verses to memory.  I must be honest --- I do not have all of these verses firmly in place in my memory.  But each week when we review, they come back to me and they are like sweet music to my ears.  Many of them are firmly in place, and I am rejoicing over that and will work harder on those that seem a little more difficult. 

Let's go through our list, and then we'll add another of God's promises to our treasure!

The Gift of Prayer (3)

Hebrews 4:16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

1 John 5:14   Now this is the confidence we have before Him, whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:15   And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

The Gift of Assurance (10)

1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son.

1 John 5:12-13  The one who has the Son has life.  The one who doesn't have the Son of God, does not have life.  I say these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life.

John 14:1  Your heart must not be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansion, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:3  And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you unto Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Your heart must not be troubled or afraid.

Isaiah 26:3-4  You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . (KJV)

Isaiah 53:6  We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquities of us all.

Praise and Thanksgiving (4)

1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  According to His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Psalm 100:4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 

Psalm 100:5  For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Revelation 4:11  You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.


Promises of God (10)
Matthew 6:33  But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give y
1 Corinthians 10:13   No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.  God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.
ou hope and a future."
1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:9   If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 3:-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  (NIV)
1 Corinthians 10:13   No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.  God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.

Isn't it amazing all the promises that God has given us?  And they are all such promises of His good provision!  And now we get to add one more...and it is one that will give us all the reassurance we need when we find ourselves in troubled times...

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burdens on the Lord, ad He will support you.  He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

or as it reads in the New International Readers Version (which I really like to use sometimes)

Turn your worries over to the Lord. He will keep you going. He will never let godly people fall.

Again, God is promising us that He is there for us...He is there to provide a way to get through our trials and temptations, and He is there to support us when we feel overloaded with cares and concerns.  He will keep us going.  We don't have to worry about being shaken or falling down...His hand is always there to hold us up.

Day 7 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

"God will provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

Temptations / Trials....do you view them differently?

Some time back this thought occurred to me:

• Satan tempts us with opportunities to sin, to rebel against God, causing a separation between us and God.
• God allows trials in our lives to give us opportunities to seek Him, to ask for His guidance and help, causing a deeper relationship between us and God.

James 1:13 tells us, "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone."

Interestingly, the Greek word translated as tempted above carries with it dual meanings....

To try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself in a good sense

In a bad sense, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments

So, using the first definition, we could say that God temps us with opportunities to show good behavior, to seek Him, and to show our faithfulness to Him (see Genesis 22:1 where the KJV says that God tempted Abraham, while the NIV has chosen to translate as God tested Abraham).

Satan is the malicious tester, throwing opportunities at us aimed at our weaknesses, attempting to draw out of us our poor judgment and causing us to stumble into the pit of sin and separation.

God's trials are always filled with purpose for us.  They grow us and bring us into deeper relationship with Him.  But sometimes God will allow those trials to bear down on us until we are forced to admit to Him that we are powerless without His supernatural strength to bear up.  Just as Paul admitted in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10,

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us...

So whether a trial allowed by God, or a temptation thrown at us by Satan, we can bear up when we rely on our Father and look to Him for our sustenance.  In the middle of the trial, seek God and know that He is near, working everything to good on your behalf.  In the face of temptation, look for the light of God's escape, peeking through the chasm of the canyon that you have been entrapped in and squeeze your way out!

Both trials and temptations now can be viewed as opportunities for growth and, when we victoriously handle them, as ways to please our Father and show our faithfulness to Him.  Don't you know that, as only a Southern girl can state it, just "bugs the tar out of Satan" when we foil his rotten plans for our failure!

God is faithful and He is good - never doubt it - no matter where you are or what you are facing!

Day 6 - Week 39 - 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."

Back again after spending a wonderful weekend in Oklahoma City with my two sisters, my daughter and my daughter-in-law.  We "shopped till we dropped", ate some really good food, and talked, talked, talked!  I think the only time we weren't talking was either when we were laughing or sleeping!  It is such a blessing to be able to spend times like this with people that you love so much!

Now - back to temptation - or rather, how not to fall into temptation.  I don't know about you, but for me every day brings with it times that give me the choice of succumbing to my human side or of living by the Spirit that resides within me.  Galatians 5:17 let's us know that this is a constant struggle between our two natures, "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.^" Not all of these times are huge, monumental, life-changing moments...but they are important because every time I either make a choice to please or displease my Father. 

I am thinking of a moment last week at work when I lost my temper with a co-worker and replied with a very sharp reply that was not at all what should have come out of my mouth.  I can rationalize my reply with the fact that I was tired, it had been a stressful week, and it was somewhat deserved by the other person's statement...but all of that is just what I started out saying it was...rationalization.  The fact is that I, as a professed Christian, had a choice as to how to respond and I did not respond by the Spirit of God living in me.  My words were purely my words, and they weren't lovely, gentle or kind. 

Every day, with so many different situations, we have choices as to whether we will show the side of us that Satan is prompting us to exhibit, the side that is self-seeking and self-motivated or the side that God is always ready to empower in us through the light of His Spirit, the better way.  The way that exhibits the fruit of His Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I have an apology to make---and I hope that the next time that I feel tempted to respond so quickly with harshness, I take just a split-second to ask God to provide to me His way, to put words in my mouth that will be both pleasing to Him, and more effective, than my sharp tongue provided. 

Temptations - all around us - big and small - but rather than looking at them as chances to fail, let's flip our perspective and see them as chances to please our Father by looking to Him for His provision.