A Thanksgiving Psalm

Psalm 103
Of David

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Thanks for visiting. I wish you all an excellent Thanksgiving!

Worth

To be a human being and be without use to another is to know hopelessness. There is no value of self if we are not in some way of value to those we seek to please. If we have no one to please, we have nothing. There is no self-fulfilment if we are not valued by others no matter how much we pamper ourselves or seek our own way. To live a life of self-service is to live out life in an airless vacuum and to be utterly alone.

To know Jesus and to also desire to live for Him as Lord is to live a life of great worth; not only to Jesus but to all the others we come in contact with during our service to Him. There is no hopelessness in Jesus for whether we are strong or weak, He values us and uses us right where we are. In the prime of our physical strength, He uses us to care and tend to those who are weak. In our spiritual and emotional strength, He uses us to lift those who are down and spiritually bereft. In Christ, it is also quite possible to be weak but strong at the same time for it is in our weakness that Jesus outshines our own selves and is made visible to others. When we are weak, we have no choice but to depend upon Him. Even upon our sick bed when we are too sick to move a muscle, Jesus is very near and fills us with hope as He brings to mind all of those that we have nothing but time for as we lift them continually in prayer. Our loved ones may miss all the things we do for them physically but those temporal services cannot compare to the eternal blessing of having every action and every trial bathed in prayer by a precious saint who's last service on earth in this present time is that of prayer without ceasing. There is no church more enabled and empowered to reach others with the gospel than one that is continually lifted to God by these very usefull and valuble saints.

If you find yourself in a hospital bed or continually in the doctors office and you are thinking that God has placed you upon the shelf, open your spiritual eyes and see! All around you are the sick who do not know Jesus who's eternal future might be changed by an encouraging word from Jesus through you. Look into the faces of the tired and overworked health care providers who may have no hope but science and as they desperately try to mend the crumbling bodies of others, they are crumbling themselves from within by the emptiness of their own spirits. With the eyes of Jesus, look into these faces and see your worth, your value, and forget for a time, your own pain. There is no pain pill that compares to that filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit that lifts us upon eagle's wings to overcome all obstacles when we are fully operating within the full Will of God.

Dear Christian, no matter where you find yourself today, whether it be in sickness or in health, in poverty or wealth, in trial or celebration, look to Jesus and know the joy of being of upmost value to Him. He died for us so that we might live eternally with Him. He has left us here so that through us He may call others to that same eternal life found only in Him. He empowers us to do that work and protects us and holds us through every challenge that meets us as we walk the narrow path with only Him. We are His bride and He is coming soon to gather us to Him. On that day, there will be no more doubt caste upon our joy by the shadow of death that has in futillity set itself to destroy us and the work God has appointed to us, through our circumstance.

Look up! Our redemption is very near! Be lifted up as by the Spirit you are tucked safely beneath His wing as you soar above all trials, cruel circumstance, and even the crucible of physical pain and death to a day when the shadow of death exists no more and there is no more hopelessness and pain. Rejoice! Rejoice where ever you are today in the glory that soon we will celebrate together in Him.

Your Choice

Don't just let this one pass you by.


It will be out of your window before you know it.

On Painted Tape

Opera Singer
by Cake

I am an Opera Singer
I stand on painted Tape
It tells me where I'm going
And where to throw my cape

I call my co-star's brother
I call my co-star's name
I play both good and evil parts
I sing to Verdi's play

And every single morning
By 10 AM I'm dressed
My rehearsals last for hours and hours
With diligence I have been blessed

Some people they call me monster
Some people they call me saint
My talent feeds my darker side
Yet no one will complain

I am an opera singer
I sing in foreign lands
I've sung for kings in Europe
And emperors in Japan

And after each performance
People stand around and wave
Just to tell me that they love my voice
Just to tell me that I'm great

I am an opera singer
I will sing when you're all dead
I sing the mountains crumbling apart
I sing what can't be said

I am an opera singer
I sing in foreign lands
Most people seem to know my name
Or at least know who I am

If you ever get a chance to purchase Cake's album "Comfort Eagle" I recommend you go for it. It has a lot of fluffy pop-culture sounding arrangements with surprising lyrical depth.

Their first track on the album is the song "Opera Singer". The song is not performed in an opera style at all, yet the opera singer is oddly believable.

One of the main themes in the song is the way the opera singer is not really in control of his own choices. The painted tape on the stage tells him where he's going and where to throw his cape. He also boasts about the rigors of his schedule. I can't tell if he is crediting his "diligence" or his schedule for his success. Either way he is not behind the wheel of his life.

Another peculiar theme in this song is the way the opera singer plays the roles of so many different people yet has little or no understanding of who he is. He claims to play "both good and evil parts". He boasts that some people call him a monster and others call him a saint, and that this talent feeds his "darker side". He has presumably consumed himself with putting his identity in his outward appearance to convince others of his character -yet he remains a mystery to himself.

The problem is that he has no self under all those disguises. He says that most people seem to know his name, "or at least know who I am" -as if his self-identity were obvious, whereas recalling his 'name' is something of a test to see what circle of greatness someone has obtained. "Oh yes, that man. I am familiar with his work..."

Another major theme is the way other people motivate his work. After his 'performance' people just stand around and wave to tell him that they love his work and that he's great. He mentions this as though it confirms the value of his work ("Do you, sir, find your work to be of value?").

Are we all not -in some sense- like this opera singer? Do we not all put on performances for others to see? Do we not boast about the 'kings' and 'emporers' of our lives? Are we not all restless about traveling to other lands (either in the memory of something past or the fantasy of something future)? Yet do we not all fail to live in the present? Is our boasting anything more than a distraction from our thinly-disguised self-loathing? Are our efforts anything more than acting?



Lyrics pulled off of elyrics.net.

Faithful Sayings

From the devotional library of Spurgeon:

It is a faithful saying.
2 Timothy 2:11

Paul has four of these "faithful sayings." The first occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The next is in 1 Timothy 4:6, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation." The third is in 2 Timothy 2:12, "It is a faithful saying- If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him;" and the fourth is in Titus 3:3, "This is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."

We may trace a connection between these faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redemmer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation-the blessings of the upper and nether springs-of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works. Thus we have the root of salvation in free grace; next, the privileges of that salvation in the life which now is, and in that which is to come; and we have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit. Treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The apostle of the Gentiles proved them to be faithful, they are fiathful still, not one word shall fall to the ground; they are worthy of all acceptation, let us accept them now, and prove their faithfulness. Let these four faithful sayings be written on the four corners of My house.

Charles Spurgeon
Morning and Evening Devotions
October 27th AM