Psalms 4 (Part III)

⁴ Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.

The indication by all accounts of my brief study is this portion of "Be angry, yet not sin" is discussing the verbal reaction to the anger.  Note that this does not say "do not be angry", but only to "not sin".  Oh how wrong our culture teaches this today!  Too often anger is given equivalence to sin, so much that many a school teacher associates the two as the same.  And in so doing, they condemn boys most often who are trying to learn what to do with the emotion, when they should be teaching them how to handle the emotion.

I can't decide here if David is talking to himself or not.  I can see here where he could be writing his own thoughts down.  He is saying to himself to be careful with his anger over people loving worthlessness and seeking falsehoods but don't sin in his desire to verbally lash out and condemn.  Settle down to a quiet room and be still.  Focus on the spirit, the soul, and the heart inside that hears God the clearest and dwells closely with Him.  Notice that he still has not said to not be angry.  He is still very angry over their desire for things that are not of God.

The Jewish would say that the danger to verbal vomit is in opening one's mouth to Satan.  A person shouldn't curse himself or others, because as is said, the "lips are subject to a covenant".  That is, the lips can make promises and binding actions.  So, if one makes such a curse, they might, in fact, foretell what will take place.  If a person's words can bear fruit then they can bear a curse as well.  Certainly, no one wants an angel of Satan to hear the curse and take it to Satan so they can work for it to happen.

The NIV says "Tremble and do not sin".  The picture is of being so angry over unrighteousness that you can barely contain yourself and it is coming out physically through trembling.  "Yet, do not sin."  How?  By finding a quiet place to be still and "search your heart" for God.  Where He is there will be rest and peace and justice.  "Offer the sacrifices", pray for your own forgiveness from sins, and "trust in the Lord".  Know that He will forgive you and hear you and vengeance will be His in His perfect timing and manner.  And it may even be that once we get still and settle with the Spirit of God in our hearts that vengeance no longer is necessary, only righteousness for His sake.  Above all, trust in the Lord in your circumstance that He has the best interest of the situation at heart which will provide the best opportunity for the worst among all to choose Him, but when that time has passed His justice will be swift.

Where Does Chris Rank in your Priorities?

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Most of you have heard me say that I believe that of all the responsibilities of a father, by far the most important is to point their children to Christ and ensure they are maturing in Christ.  Everything else pales in importance.  Yet what I observe is that the things of God are relegated to "filler" times, those times after school, homework, sports, band, work, and other extracurricular activities.  If there is time, we'll go to youth, church, or do our devotions, pray, or seek God.  To me, we've bought into a lie by Satan that we can get around to spiritual growth later, but we've got to take care of school, and be excellent in our extracurricular activities first.  What we're modeling for our children when we parent like this is an attitude that we see our relationship with Christ as life assurance, but not Lordship.  We want salvation, but we refuse to make Christ Lord of our lives and refuse to yield control of everything to him.  This is a pervasive theme in the church and I give you football season and summer vacation time as evidence of that assertion.  Attendance in church is down when regional schools have home games late on Saturday night or on those first really pretty beach days of Spring.

Where does Christ rank in your priorities?  Have you accepted him as Savior?  Great!  Is He truly Lord of all?  What do your activities say about His rank in your priorities?  Are you presenting clear evidence to your children or those around you that Christ is clearly number one, or would they say that your work, or SEC football or hunting or fishing or excellence in school is number one?

How would you say that I am doing?  Looking forward to your comments!

 

Who is like God?

"Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" - Exodus 15:11

Moses who had seen the burning bush, heard God speak, witnessed the plagues of Egypt first hand, saw his people be freed with the hand of the only Living God over the hand of a man-god in Pharaoh, looked up and saw the column of fire and wind around the Israelite camps, been used by God to part the Red Sea and then see it crush Pharaoh's army - yes, that Moses - proclaims here in worship to the Living God He is and that He alone is God.

Yet, in my nothingness, by comparison to Moses, I too have felt as he felt at this moment - proclaiming God's greatness and awed by how or why He chooses to care for me.  Even more, at why He chooses to more than care, but to bless. 

As my eyes blinked open this morning I just lay thankful that I was at home, then that Julie would even be near me, then that she would even talk to me or touch me.  I was thankful the kids were sleeping peacefully.  I looked up and was thankful that I had a roof over my head and more, one that doesn't leak.  I heard the A/C running and was thankful to lay in conditioned air and on a soft bed.  It was otherwise very quiet and I was thankful for the stillness of the morning.  ...  Simple, by comparison to Moses, but I still find that I want to exclaim as he did, "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?"

Work

2 Thessalonians 3:10  For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Work.  It's a four letter word that I thank you for not using in my presence! 
I know that we're to work hard and with a great deal of integrity: Colossians 3:23  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.  But that's not today's issue.
I've been blessed to have the best job the Air Force has to offer.  I've also been in some terrible situations in spite of what sounded on the surface like a fantastic job.  I've discovered that the difference is the people involved.  While the opportunities that the job offers are compelling, its the people that make the job enjoyable or painstaking work.  The attitude, aptitude, and effort of coworkers can turn a incredible job into awful work, or turn the worst job into a blessing. 
I'm reminded that I can help set the tone at work.  Whether I'm facing great trials or fantastic opportunities, I'm compelled to do so with a positive attitude.  1 Thes 5 puts it this way:
¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.
My question is always "how?"  Nehemia 8:10 reminds us that the source of our joy is the Lord! 
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.  With a song on my lips and joy in my heart because I know that my God who is faithful, knows I've been brought to it and will see me through it! 

Psalms 4 (Part II)

² How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? Selah
³ But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him.

David is asking his own fellow people, how long will you seek to ruin me?  Why do you look to run me down and destroy all the good that was done and make it shameful.

It is important to remember Israel and David's path.  Israel had wanted a king even though God had wanted Israel to make God their king.  But, being a giving God, he allowed them to choose one and they chose a handsome, tall, king in Saul.  The problem was that Saul wasn't kingly, but cowardly.  God saw Israel's desire and need for a good king so He picked David.  David was courageous and knew how to trust God to do a miracle when faced with death if you have to rely upon yourself.  Saul turned evil, then finally was slain in battle, and David became the rightful king.  God then used David and restored all of Israel against its enemies and prospered.

But then, in a moment of boredom and wandering or slack hands, David sinned against God.  Nathan showed his sin to him and David repented and was restored.  Except there was division in his family with his children.  His son mistreated his daughter.  And now, finally , we are where this Psalm is purported to be written around.  David's own son is gathering an ever increasing number against David and David has had to flee until the time he is directed and will have to strike his own son down.

And so, he calls to Israel who follows an insolent son who has not been made right or restored to God for his own sins against his sister, "Why do you seek to turn all the glory of God through David to shame?  Why do you love things of no worth and look for lies?  Don't you know that God will set apart for Himself who is His, but moreso, I know my God and He will hear me."  I find David's ability to separate his love for his son from his love for the righteousness of God absolutely incredible.

Unfortunately, I find this to be a direct match to our times and our culture.  The amount of good and unbelievable things a leader has done for this country or others becomes of very little value against the one bad thing they probably have done.  I'm not sure how the weighting scale of culture's grading goes, but it seems it becomes a political agenda immediately.  And our culture certainly doesn't practice forgiveness except in the character of an ungodly person.  It is exactly opposite of the ways of God.  An ungodly person is forgiven and given many chances for success.  But a Godly person is unforgiven.  I can only surmise the reasoning is that if you believe in a standard such as God's and can't keep it you are characteristically flawed, but if you believe in nothing and don't achieve it, it is okay.

I am also reminded of our country today as it seems we have a leader who lies and lies and seems directly opposed to what is best for our nation yet all is overlooked.  "How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?"   David asked the people and that question could be asked of our country today.  Will we turn God's glory and blessings to shame?  Most definitely, if we don't find a way to change the direction of the people's will to look to God.

Psalms 4 (Part I)

¹ Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

 (v1) Again, the way David calls upon the Lord is uncomfortable to me, yet I see it as something I need to work through within myself.  At the end of chapter 3 David declared "Arise Lord! Deliver me, my God!"  And now he cries "Hear me when I call" and "hear my prayer".  I am reminded of Jacob who wouldn't let go of God until He blessed him.  I get the same perception of David here.  I will cry out to the Lord and I won't let go of Him until He hears my call and my prayer. 

How can we be so bold with a God who all knowing and all seeing?  I so often feel that I am just fortunate to be here, to be capable of a conversation.  I can't imagine saying things so declarative to the Lord.  How can I make such request of God and remain humble?  Suppose I did and God honored it, would I start to think I had an "in" with God and have an unreasonable value upon myself?  I have often wondered why I can't go to someone who is sick and pray over them and they get up being healed.  Where did that kind of faith go?  When was it removed from the earth?  Jesus said in John 14:12 that "he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do".  I believe the Holy Spirit is just as powerful now as it was then, so the issue has to be the faith of man and his ability to handle God's purpose.

I find when I read this that David was able to handle it well as he maintained a proper balance of his worth and place under the Lord.  David had experienced God's deliverance in the face of a lion and a bear.  He had chased down both to retrieve stolen sheep and when they turned on him he had killed them.  Standing in the face of either even with a gun would be terrifying.  I can't imagine doing so with only a sword or spear.  David had also experienced God's favor when he stood in the face of Goliath.  Yet he didn't just stand wondering if he would be destroyed, he stood with a passion for God to destroy this giant who taunted the Lord.  He was adamant that the battle was the Lord's and everyone would know that there is a God.

Maybe, just maybe, that's a part of our faith that's missing.  What do we live for?  What is our purpose?  Why would we want someone to be healed?  Why would we want God to deliver us?  Why would we want God to hear our prayer?  It must be that we know that the battle is His and so the world may know that there is a God who delivers us, who heals, who answers our prayers. 

"Lord, heal (insert name) so the world may know there is a God in heaven with the power to heal."

"Lord, reward their recovery, so the world may know there is forgiveness and love that is greater than man."

"Lord, deliver Your people when the evil come to take their homes and take all they have so the evil know that their God delivered them."

"Lord, make their faith so strong and Your presence so thick, that when the evil come to kill them, rape their women and take their children, they know the presence of a Holy God.   May they seek Your face."

Thorn in the flesh

2 Cor 12:  Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


I don't know about you, but when I've got a "thorn in the flesh," I'm a lousy patient.  I tweaked my back yesterday (I wish I could tell you I saved a puppy from 8 lanes of high speed traffic, as the dropped soap in the shower seems so wimpy...) and was hurting so that I left work at noon.  I rarely miss work due to illness or aches and pains, so to do so is a big deal.  I really don't endure these things well at all. 
Learning to submit to the love and assistance of others is difficult for me.  I'm grumpy, irritable, and generally not fit to be around even when people want to help.  I'm not that person that needs help, I'm the help-giver.  Needing help makes me angry.  People offering assistance out of love and concern makes me angry.  Yeah, I'm that warped.  Chris calls it insanity and I believe he's pegged it. 
I believe God expects us to endure these "thorns of the flesh" to learn how to accept love in its many forms.  A sore back isn't life threatening and I know in just a few short days, I'll feel better.  I have hope!  Others I know are suffering from life-threatening illnesses.  Intellectually I know they should have hope, but I wonder how I would respond if in their situation.  Would I have the hope I expect them to have?  My current response to a sore back would indicate I'm incapable of dealing with any real "thorn in the flesh."
May I learn to stand on His promise of sufficiency and learn to endure these "thorns" with grace and joy.  May those close to me forgive me of my attitude. 

Mankind is Insane

As I sit and ponder rejection and its consequences upon me in my life, I find my thoughts are confused.  I can't help but see clearly how rejection has had a tremendous impact on my life.  It has injected pain, not the kind you see, but pain inside that hurts, hurts, and hurts again.  I wonder if I had a better understanding from youth of human relationships if I would have been able to handle the pain with greater effect.

Why is it that humans can't forgive one another all the while knowing that we are all imperfect?  In other words, I know that everyone I know is going to hurt me in some way at some time, but I'm not going to forgive all of them for however they hurt me.  That actually sounds like the reasoning of a madman.  God in contrast, also knows that everyone is going to sin against Him, yet He forgives everyone, even though we killed Him when He came to us.  And we who refuse to forgive some of the  people whom we know will hurt us, also refuse to accept the fullness of God's free forgiveness.  Absolutely amazing when you think about it.  All of mankind is insane.  ...  Maybe it is just me.  

Yet, although I just wrote that, I find myself still hurting, still somewhat unconcerned for my Dad who I see as having abandoned me for the most significant years of my life and for others who did things that shouldn't be done to children.  Sometimes it is gone for years and then sometimes it isn't.  It is as though I am haunted.

The understanding that man is sinful and can't help himself does help, as does the acceptance that everyone you know will hurt you at some time or another, but I still find that it doesn't solve my inability to forgive completely and forget completely as God does and instructs me to do.  I think this can only be done by the power of God.  I do not have this power within my sinful self.

I pray as David prayed in Psalms 3, "Arise Lord!  Deliver me, my God!" and in Psalms 4, "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer."

For encouragement I find in 2 Samuel 33, "God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect." and in Isaiah 40:31, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  Right now, I like the sound of renewed strength and not being weary.

Life is a Temporary Assignment (Part 2)

In his book entitled "What on Earth am I Here For" Rick Warren states:

It is a fatal mistake to assume that God’s goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. He’s more interested in what you are becoming than in making this life easy for you. Remember, life is a test.

In my first devotion on this, I talked about how outrageous a me-centered message about God is to me.  Our focus is on God and how He reaches out to a lost world to save us from our sins, not prosper us in a material sense.  This is the second look at this statement:

More over, it seems to me that as I read about those who are being persecuted for their faith even to the point of martyrdom, I've got to wonder about the depth of a me-focused faith.  I know people who live from meal to meal, often only getting a few a week and are totally dependent on The Lord for basic needs of food and clean water while they apply their energies to spreading the gospel.  Who would blame them for crying out for prosperity?  Others pick up their families and move to foreign lands to minister to others in the name of Christ. These people all share the same depth of faith that I dont have and so rarely see here in the US.  Scripture tells us that God allows some trials and difficulties to increase our faith. How difficult it is to grow deep in faith in a land of excess. 

I believe this is the reason we see a decline in the church in America today. Those few who seek, don't see a difference in us in the church. We look just like any other charitable organization. We meet regularly with like-minded people, have a routine agenda, don't demand much of our members, emphasize helping others who are less fortunate, and cringe when someone different from us visits.  Some congregations are so open minded that they stand for nothing and others are so narrow minded they've deviated from the totality of scripture, picked out a few key issues, and beat them so dogmatically that they lose focus in the centrality of Christ and everyone's need for a rich and vibrant relationship with Him.  These two extremes are leveraged by Satan to paint the church as out-of-touch and irrelevant. 

 

Our challenge in mainstream Christianity is to dare to challenge ourselves to go deep. We are to be focused not on being prospered, but on making God Lord of our lives, yielding our own wants and desires to His perfect will.  In doing so, we lose our self-centered focus and become focused exclusively on Him, His will, His desires.  When we do so, we become more focused on the needs of those around us.  We learn to love others as we love ourselves and we cease to be self-centered and learn to become focused on the true needs of others.  To be focused in this way is to view all those around me with eternal concern for their eternal prosperity or salvation.  Our vertical focus is on God and our horizontal focus is on others - the sign of the cross.  THIS is why Jesus died on one.  He rose to give us eternal hope, not hope for the self-centered desires of our sinful nature. 

I pray that I live with a strategic focus on heaven as the real prize and not some spiritual Santa waiting to prosper me if I'll only...

 

Psalms 3

¹ Lord, how many are my foes!
    How many rise up against me!
² Many are saying of me,
    “God will not deliver him.”

³ But You, Lord, are a shield around me,
    My glory, the One who lifts my head high.
⁴ I call out to the Lord,
    and He answers me from His holy mountain.

⁵ I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
⁶ I will not fear though tens of thousands
    assail me on every side.

⁷ Arise, Lord!
    Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
    break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ From the Lord comes deliverance.
    May your blessing be on Your people.

(v1-2) The NKJV not only indicates that there are many enemies but that the number is increasing!  "Look!  At how many my enemies are and how many more they are becoming!  They are not only against me, they declare that my God will not deliver me."  Reminds me of David's trial with Goliath in some respects.  David not only had to recognize that the giant was less than God, but that the battle was God's.  His enemy wasn't just Goliath, but his own brothers ridiculed him.  Those without faith are always against those with faith.  In today's American society, do we not feel like David did here?  I so often have the feeling that there are enemies to my faith and they are ever increasing.  Then they validate that they are enemies by declaring that my God is not important and useless but any other god is important.

(v3-4) David then declares his confidence in God.  He worships God declaring that God is his protection and He holds him up.  He declares that God answers him when he calls out to Him.  This is a great testimony to the character and love of His Lord.  David is in a unique situation where his experiences back his great faith.  However, he is also older and sometimes that makes everything less certain.  Do our experiences back our faith?  Do we have recorded answers to prayer by God?  Have we had a time when the only answer was God?

(v5-6) "Although there are enemies on every side and they are uncountable, I will sleep at night and arise the next morning in the security of the knowledge that my Lord will sustain me."  What great confidence in the Almighty God!!  He does not toss and turn with restless sleep, but hands his very life into the hands of the One who will guard him.  How are we handling our problems, our fears, our insecurities today?  Do we wrestle with them or are we confident that God has them?

(v7-8) What bold statements of command David makes to an almighty God.  I do not know how to make such statements to God.  I am fearful of His retribution or required tolerance of my declaration.  Yet David did, a man after God's own heart the Bible tells us.  After praising God, declaring His protections and his security in God alone, he declares for God to strike his enemies and to deliver him.  Wow.  When I pray for protection, strength, encouragement, I neglect to pray for deliverance and for the enemy's defeat.  I feel so week by comparison to David and as though there is an aspect of my relation with God that is missing or that I do not understand.

(v8) Praise to the Lord further declaring that He alone is our deliverance and a call for His blessings upon those that love Him.  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  So be it.

God's NOT Dead!

As usual, I'm way behind the times.  I finally had a chance to see the movie "God's NOT Dead" over the weekend and in spite of some overly stereotypical representation of the secular world, I found it quite compelling in at least two areas.  First, I found the courage of so many of the young people in the movie very convicting.  From a student who was confronted by an unscrupulous instructor to a young lady kicked out of her family due to her faith, I found the faith challenges in the movie convicting.  I found myself asking "how would I respond in those circumstances?"  I'm not sure I would have had the same courageous response demonstrated in the movie.  I'm positive I wouldn't be able to debate an instructor with the poise presented in the movie.  The long list of court cases in the closing credits the movie was loosely based upon shows that faith is under attack in America perhaps just as much as elsewhere in the world.  Here it is much more an insidious mental attack verses an outright threat of bodily harm in other areas around the world.  The threat is very real and I'm not sure I've responded with the kind of courage necessary to have the impact shown in the movie.  Clearly, my game could use some "stepping up!"
Secondly, I found it quite interesting how the movie showed that we're all on the front lines of ministry.  The campus minister greeted his missionary friend and it was obvious from the script that he felt unusable by God in his present position.  Yet, he proved to be in a critical position to lend eternal aid to several who had no real alternatives in the secular world.  Clearly, we simply need to keep our eyes open and our hearts willing to serve as there are hurting and lost people all around us each and every day. 
I found this movie compelling.  It kicked off a very useful dialogue in my own family about at least these two issues.  If you haven't seen it, I recommend you not just rent it, but buy it and view it with your family not just once, but several times looking for insight as to how God is challenging you to grow and how He can use you exactly where He has placed you. 

Consumption Assumption

Some notes in my review of the 5th lesson on Andy Stanley's "Guardrails" video guide.  The lesson was on money and putting guardrails up to keep you from falling into being a consumer (spender) or a hoarder (saver), since both are selfish. 

Some good definitions in the video:

   1)  Greed - The assumption that anything coming to us is for our own consumption - either now or later.

   2)  Financial Independence - Living independently of serving your money.

Jesus didn't worry or have insecurity about physical needs.  Why did He have to feed the 5,000?  If He would know that there was such a huge need for food wouldn't He have planned for it?  Yet, being God, I imagine that if you could see the whole world you would see that there were many areas with many people with a need for food at that exact moment in time.  The real need was for there to be a demonstration of Who can provide for our needs so He could be revealed.  I just don't see where Jesus had any real concern for what He ate, where He slept, or what He wore – apart from the Last Supper.  In the desert, His temptations were to make bread out of rocks because He was hungry, to throw Himself off a roof and not die, or to kneel to Satan and have power and dominion over all the earth.  All physical things.  His first answer regarding that man lives by the Word of God and nothing else indicates the proper view of the world. 

Who else do we see that didn't seem to worry much about their physical needs?  John.  His primary purpose was to show Israel its need for repentance.  The physical requirements of this life weren't His focus.

Did John or Jesus die of a lack of provision regarding their physical needs?  No.  They died fulfilling their ministry.

Does the person with the most in this life have more in the next?  Pharaohs have massive pyramids that still hold all their stuff, a Chinese emperor had a whole terracotta army protecting him from spirits, yet their spirits left all of that behind.  No one moves to the next life with a single extra thing.

When I was a kid and my brother and sister and I were wearing no-name shoes and no-name clothes riding in our panel Ford Pinto station wagon with my Mississippi school teacher Mom, and we would talk about not having many things and being poor my Mom would always say, “We are rich because we have love.”  It really didn't mean much to me at the time and I considered it to be a cop-out that all poor people say.  But the truth is, she was telling the truth and I just wasn't able to recognize it.

Does the poorest person here who knows Jesus have more than the richest person here who doesn't?  The spiritual answer is of course, yes.  But we don't live as if this is true.  If we lived as though that were true, it would change our attitude and amount that we give to the church and to missions.  It would also change every conversation we have with every person we meet.  What if our tithe was to tell others about Christ?  Would it be easier or harder than giving money? 

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well – Matthew 6:33

Lots of things change when we “seek” Him first.  Our list of “all other things” changes in priority and importance.  We realize that all we need is Him and our life is meaningless, we are powerless, and all life is contained and achievable through Him alone.  Our requirements to live become being near God and those physical needs of food, water, clothing, and shelter take a back seat; and the “stuff” beyond that can hardly be seen in the rear view mirror.  This is a difficult place to stay, but it is somewhere to aspire to get to and stay.

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect place with perfect weather and were perfectly made for one another and they walked with God every afternoon.  Yet they rejected God there in that perfect place.  Today, we live in air-conditioned homes and have lots of food and clothes and jobs.  This is a garden to most people on the planet.  Let us be sure not to reject God today.  Don’t reject God today.  Be sure to have the proper view of Him in relation to everything else.