Tonight at Shabbat we looked at Psalm 6. David writes this Psalm as he is surrounded by enemies and is crying out to the Lord all night long. He is miserable and pleading for mercy. The main two verses we talked about were verses 6 and 9.
"I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears."--Psalm 6:6
The Rabbi posed this question, "Have you ever cried yourself to sleep?" Well, of course we all have at some point. Are we all human? We all have. I suddenly went back to a night when I was at home in Andalusia last. I was having a hard time with the "walking by faith, not by sight" thing. No need to go into the details. That about sums it up. I cried for several hours (not a good idea to inflame the sinuses since I was singing the next morning, but God was faithful to me and that didn't really have any affect) and during the night I realized that I needed some comfort from the Word. So, I went to that day's Psalm reading. It, too, talked about mercy and the spirit growing faint. But, I found a verse in that Psalm that night that I pleaded to God. I read it over and over.
"Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul."--Psalm 143:8
God is so good and He did bring me word of His unfailing love. Tonight we also read verse 9 of Psalm 6 which says, "The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer." He does receive our prayers. He hears our cries. Now on that night I was in the wrong for not living by faith. I wanted sight. I could have avoided that long night just by holding on. There was no need for the tears. They were tears of worry and doubt. But, I'm only human. It happens.
Tonight the Rabbi also reminded us of Psalm 30:5--"For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Beth Moore did a study on the fruit of the Spirit and used that verse when talking about joy. She wrote a little phrase to remind us what each aspect of the fruit does (Note: She says, and I agree, that there are not several fruits of the Spirit but they are all one fruit. You have them, or you don't. You can't choose to love and not have self-control, etc.) She says this: "Love never fails, joy cometh, peace rules, patience waits, kindness tenders, goodness does, faith fights, gentleness bows, and self-control stops." Wow. I needed to read those again. But, it is true. Joy cometh in the morning.
Today's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 1:1-8
I know, only eight verses. So far. I'm going to read some more after I make this post. Was it for lack of time? No. I have to say that I got hung up on verses 6-8. They mean something to me and God. I was hung up in a good way and I just couldn't stop reading it. "The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and to their descendents after them." Can't figure out what it means between me and God? Good. Cause you haven't been on my journey. You've got your own. :)
Today's Memory Verse:
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