Scripture

Stand before the LORD in awe, and do not sin against Him. Lie quietly upon your bed in silent meditation.

~Psalms 4:4. TLB

Quote

Yahweh is free to act or not act as He pleases.

Gerald H. Wilson

I believe in prayer. I do confess that I am not proficient in prayer but I do believe prayer works. I try to keep in mind that I am always at God’s mercy and never in a position to demand anything. God’s attributes are not influenced by our actions. We cannot make God more loving or less righteous. God is who He is and He never changes. There is not one thing that you and I can do to change Him. Whatever happens, He remains God. One of the reasons the song “I Can Only Imagine” captures my attention is that I can only imagine. I don’t know that I will stand before Him, I most likely will be on my face trembling in awe. I don’t know about you but for me, awe is hard to produce. Don’t misunderstand, God can put me in awe in a heartbeat but I can’t seem to generate it myself.

I do know this: God is not in my debt; He owes me nothing. My prayers are pleas; I don’t demand, I beg. The Israelites were an agricultural people when this Psalm was written and many scholars believe that the distress mentioned in verse one is a famine. The mention of silly idols in verse two indicates that the Israelites are shopping for a convenient god who can give them what they demanded. The Cannanites had multiple fertility gods to pray to for good weather and crops. This was an offense to Yahweh. It should be a lesson for us. In rain or drought, God is God. He will give us rain when He is ready and withhold it when He chooses. He is our life source, it is never to our advantage to look elsewhere for the things we need. The very things the foolish Israelites thought woud fill the void became a source of sorrow, not success. Money, power, sex, drugs, prestige, fame; none of these things will fill the void. In the end they only magnifiy the emptiness.

Extra

Warming back up at night; the cool nights would be ideal but only the rye grass will grow, the garden needs warmer nights. I don’t know why I worry. I asked one of the kids at Co-op if I would get my money back from my garden. He was honest, he said, “Probably not!” I do enjoy trying although I am not that good.

I hope you have a good Thursday and thanks for reading the blog.