psalms

Seeing the Specialist

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Because of various aches and pains I’ve had to see a lot of specialists over this last year. There was a longer and a premium price to see them but I was happy to pay because they understood my problem. I willingly waited because they knew the best course of action to help me. Why is it then that when I find myself in spiritual difficulties I ignore the symptoms or seek advice from the barber, the neighbors or even the internet?!

Sometimes King David had the same weaknesses as I. He depended on unreliable friends, forgot to pray and tried to pretend everything was fine even after he sinned. I love the conclusion He discovered in Psalm 59. He found by experience that there was no one better to help with his problems than God.

Are you facing trouble today? God is a specialist is trouble but unlike medical specialists you won’t need an appointment to see Him. Like an emergency room, Heaven’s office is always open. The fee to see the Good Physician is very high but the good news is that it has already been paid. The doctor is in. He is ready to see you. You are the next person in line!

But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. Psalms 59:16

My Song

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The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation Psalm 118:14 NKJV

What I miss most about childhood is baseball.  I loved the summer memories of trying to catch, pitch and the challenge trying to hit the ball. Only once can I remember hitting a home run and it happened while wildly swinging with both eyes closed!

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But this story isn’t about baseball; it’s about music and while the thing I loved most was baseball, the thing I loved least was daily music lessons. I hated not being able to play with my friends till my clarinet lessons were done. I hated sitting trying to remember that every good boy does fine (EGBDF). I hated split and bleeding lips from the clarinet reed. I dreaded sitting Saturday mornings with my music teacher squeaking and squawking through my lesson. But gradually music grew to be less like an unwelcome intruder and more like a family member. Clarinet blended into piano and then guitar. One summer I learned to sing and then music which had always been a part of my life became my song.

 

It is the same way in our relationship with the Lord. Every day we squeak and squawk through the notes to His song. Sometimes it seems like it would be fun to just run off to do our own thing. But if we commit to Him a little every day we will find that slowly we are being changed. Little by little, note by note He begins to teach us the musical score which He has created just for our life. Learning that melody by heart changes His music into our daily strength and song.

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Changing Seas

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If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day,.  for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:9-10

Maybe to you seagulls at the beach are just a nuisance and a pest. Sometimes they pass over our heads dropping little bombs of blessing or they swoop down to snatch a piece of sandwich from our hands. We usually meet them at the beach because that is where their world and our’s intersect. But their home is the constantly changing sea while ours is the land. Unlike us who pack our things and run for safety when storms approach, wind and tide do not bother them. They fly out to sea and ride out the storms calling whatever sea-shore to where they are blown their new home.

Right now whether we are approaching the dawn of a new day or the sunset of an old God offers us the same assurance He gives the gulls. When the terror of the unknown lurks like an enemy in our imaginations we need to remember, that our problems are no greater than Joseph’s when he fled for Egypt just ahead of Herod’s blood thirsty soldiers. Joseph’s faith like ours was not a guarantee of a placid life, but of God’s help in any danger. When all sorts of changes come knocking at our door today we can run for shelter or we can spread our wings like the seagulls. When we choose to trust God like them we will discover that even at the point farthest from our familiar His hand will lead us. Even when our changing seas threaten, His promise and His right hand will hold us and keep us even at the uttermost parts of the sea!

 

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