Sometimes SILENCE is the most appropriate response!

I was struck by the fact that just after Peter, James and John witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus, they were moved to SILENCE. We would have excused them if they had wanted to tell the world - or in today's language, to post it on social media - but they sensed that their most appropriate act of worship was to remain quiet!

³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. - Luke 9

Perhaps the modern Church needs to grasp this principle of silence and awe – not to always feel the need to fill the gaps with sound. Of course, there is a time for songs and prayers, but there is also a time for silence and reflection. 

It is a sad reality that the actions of the 3 disciples were so opposite to the world in which we now live – in our world there is always noise. From the moment we wake up until the time we go to sleep; it is almost as if we need to fight just to appreciate a few moments of quiet. 

The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us:

Ecclesiastes 3:7 – “there is a time for silence and a time to speak...”

Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt - "...silence is the only adequate response to the Transfiguration the disciples witnessed."

Psalm 37:7 Be silent in the LORD’s presence and wait patiently for him.

What do you feel about this? I would love to know.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Stumbling along the path

"You suffered throughout your life, O Lord Jesus Christ, that I might be saved. And yet, even now, you continue to bear with me, as I stumble upon the path and constantly go astray. As often as I become impatient and wish to abandon your way, you encourage me and stretch forth your helping hand. Each day I increase your burden; yet while I am impatient, your patience is infinite." - Soren Kierkegaard

As I was reading through these words from Kierkegaard, I was arrested by the words 'as I stumble upon the path.' It reminded me of how I often long for my faith journey to be a strong powerful sprint, but in the end if seems to be more of a slow, stumble along the way. 

However, I am reminded that it is God's infinite patience that keeps me heading towards him. In his mercy he carries me home.

Psalm 37:24 - "Though we stumble we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand."

Living in Grace

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St Francis of Assisi - words of wisdom

At this time of the year many people in Church circles remember St Francis of Assisi. His ministry left an indelible mark on the church and changed the lives of many outside the formal structures of the faith. It is hard to sum up the many aspects of his life, but one gets some idea of his heart when we reflect on his wise words:

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.

While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.

May we do all we can to live our lives to the Glory of God.

Living in Grace

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"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." - Psalm 37:23-24

Do not Fret!

"Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;" - Psalm 37:1

I know that we don't use the word 'FRET' much anymore, but when we spend a little time dwelling on its meaning, one realises what a powerful word it is.

Fret can mean - “be constantly or visibly anxious” (verb)

Or it can mean - “gradually wear away something by rubbing/gnawing”

After doing a little digging around I realised it comes from an old English word ‘freton’, which literally means ‘to devour like an animal.’ And if we analyse, we conclude that this is what worry does to all of us – it eats us up from the inside. 

Question: What are you fretting about at the moment? Are you able to hand this over to the Lord?

Living in Grace

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Doing good where we can

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." - Psalm 37:3

My reflection on this verse is that I can so easily get distracted by the evil around me that I forget about the good I can do in my community. The word of wisdom comes to us today, urging us not to forget to Trust in God and keep our eyes on him. 

John Wesley coined these words, which are an inspiration to do good.

“Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”

May we place our trust in Jesus and keep on doing good wherever we can.

Living in Grace

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Starting where we are

"Where do we even start on the daily walk of restoration and awakening? We start where we are." - Anne Lamott

The future is often something we gaze at, believing that it will be better than the present. We pray for restoration and renewal, but we are not sure where it will come from. As Christians we hold fast to the belief that there is always hope in Jesus and that our time of revival can start today! 

As Anne Lamott writes, if we desire something in the future, the only way we can move towards it is by faith and simply walking one step at a time. 

Psalm 37:23 - The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.

Hebrews 3:5 - “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.

Living in Grace

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Better X than Y

Fill in your own words for 'x' and 'y' in the statement below:

"Better x than y." 

It is an unusual thing to think about, but we actually make these kind of decisions on a daily basis. Let me give you a few examples:

• Perhaps you wake up feeling exhausted and so you think - Coffee is a better option than Tea today! (Better x than y).

• You drive to work and find the traffic building up on your usual route - Better take the alternative route instead (better x than y).

• You stand at the aisle in the shopping centre deciding which groceries to buy - eventually you have to make a call - Better x than y.

Why am I saying all this? Well, let us take a read of Psalm 37:16

 "Better the little that the righteous have (x)
    than the wealth of many wicked (y);
for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous.

The formula of this part of Psalm 37 is more like a proverb than a song - it offers us a choice and the freedom to decide the outcome. For me, it leads to the ultimate reflection of my faith:

Following Christ is much better than living for myself and for the things of this world.

Better Jesus than the world.

Living in Grace
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Trust, Take, Commit

Much has been written on these 3 significant verses in Psalm 37.

"Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;    trust in him and he will do this:" - Psalm 37:4-6

However, I want to offer us a slightly different perspective on them today. I notice that each verse begins with a verb - a word that involves some kind of action on our behalf.  If call myself a God-follower I will need to put my faith into action. I do this by living out these 3 things:

1. Trusting in God

2. Taking delight in Christ

3. Committing my way to God

Each of Jesus' disciples needed to make a conscious decision whether they were willing to do this. There were times when some of the fringe believers drifted away because they couldn't live out these 3 things. Being a disciples of Jesus is not the easy option!

What do you think?

Living in Grace

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Peacemakers and Helping those in trouble

"Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
    a future awaits those who seek peace.
³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed;
    there will be no future for the wicked.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
    he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they take refuge in him." - Psalm 37

As I reflect on this part of Psalm 37, I am reminded of two parts in the Gospels. The first one is when the Psalmist says, "a future awaits those who seek peace" - I was wondering if it is possible to link this up with the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:9.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." 

The other part is from verse 40, which pointed me to the passage in John 8, where Jesus delivers the women caught in adultery from the hands of the religious fanatics - all they wanted to do was stone her, but Jesus saw her plight and rescued her from their grasp.

Do these verses speak to you at all today?

Living in Grace

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Do not Fret

"Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,    like green plants they will soon die away." - Psalm 37

"Fret" is not a word we use much anymore, but we understand that it means 'to worry.' However, I think it means more than that - the definition of 'fret' is to be 'be constantly or visibly anxious.'  So these words from the Psalmist invite us not to be always consumed with anxiety, especially in light of people who are wicked. The implication is that they will receive their reward in due course.

Jesus used the same sentiment when he spoke to his followers in his great sermon on the Mount:
 
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34

Question: What is it that you are worrying about at the moment? How does today's Psalm help you to deal with your anxiety.

Living in Grace
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37 - Taking it one day at a time

We have all heard the saying - "taking it one day at a time!" The meaning is simple:
"don't get ahead of yourself..."
"don't live in tomorrow, when there are pressing things for today..."
"take things slowly..."

The question in all of this, is "where are we going that we need to take it slowly?" David gives us some insight:

"Put your HOPE in the Lord.
Travel STEADILY along his path." - Psalm 37:34

The road we are trying to walk down, is God's path. We need to walk steadily and be reassured that God is with us. When our HOPE is in Jesus, we will not be disappointed.

Prayer: "Lord, help me to walk down your path and to keep walking in Faith. Let me not get ahead of myself, but stay close to you. Amen."

Living in Grace
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Psalm 37 - Don't worry about other people

We spend far to much time worrying about other people and what is going on in their lives, that we get side-tracked from dealing with our own issues and circumstances. David urges the people of God not to get caught up in worrying about the wicked and those "others", but rather to trust in God and to put our lives into God's hands. Solid advice I think!

Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun. - Psalm 37

Stop worrying about other people and turn to your Saviour. TRUST in him.

Living in Grace

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A word of encouragement

"The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,    for the Lord upholds him with his hand." - Psalm 37:23-24

These are words I had written on my arm as I ran the Comrades yesterday. I felt as if God had given me these words a few days before the race and I certainly needed these words of encouragement many times along the route. There were 2 particular times that I stumbled and wondered if I could carry on, but there were people around me who acted like 'angels' helping me. 

Next time you wonder if God is around, take a careful read of his word and see how the Spirit can use God's words of encouragement for your situation.

God bless you and thank you for all the prayers and encouragement along the way on Sunday. I needed those prayers.

Living in Grace
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Lectio Divina - Psalm 37

In our Church History class this morning, I reminded the students of an ancient spiritual practise called Lectio Divina (Divine Reading), which has been used by many Spiritual giants in the past. This discipline includes taking a portion of scripture, reading it, praying over it, reading it again and then allowing the Spirit to speak to you. Often what happens in these moments is that the Spirit highlights certain words or verses that you need to hear.

Today we used Psalm 37 and it was wonderful to see how God worked through this Psalm.
These were some of the thoughts that I found meaningful this morning:

²³ The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

Why don't you try this spiritual discipline sometime? Take a Psalm and give it a try.

Living in Grace

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Which one?

"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love." - Julian of Norwich

So which one of the three do you think most relates to your relationship with God right now?
Are you someone who is focused on the TRUTH?
Do you find that you are drawn to contemplating God through WISDOM?
Or are you at a place where you are experiencing the 'wonderful DELIGHT' in God?

I find that I move between the three quite often. There are moments where I need to see the TRUTH of God or to contemplate God through WISDOM. However, I confess that the best moments are those that I share in the DELIGHT of God.

Psalm 37:4 - "Be delighted with the Lord." (Living Bible)

Living in Grace
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Stumbling friend of Jesus

"O Lord Jesus, 
you who came to us
to show the compassionate love of your Father,
make your people know this love
with their hearts, minds and souls.

And to me, O Lord, your stumbling friend,
show your mercy.
Amen."

This prayer was written by Henri Nouwen and I love the honesty of it. After all, how many of us are likely to admit that we are 'stumbling friends' of Jesus?

Psalm 37:24 - Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

No matter what faces you today, may you know the mercy and Grace of Jesus.

Living in Grace
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