Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭112‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Rules make you free.

Read that again.

The rules guiding a civil and functional society ensure freedom, safety and security.

True freedom is not unbridled. Without some restrictions, it’s chaotic, misguided without direction or purpose.

Only people ensured of safety and security and having purpose and direction are those who are truly free.

Commands and laws make it happen.

Where there is law, there is a lawgiver.

Legislatures may create the laws and commands that allow us to live and thrive, but those rules emanate from an even higher level promoting the common good.

We are indeed blessed and need to count and attribute each of them to the Lawgiver, the originator of the common good.

Rules make us free.

They alone won’t save you but they will set you free to be.

Read that again.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭112‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It seemed only fitting for a daylight savings post.

When you wake up today, it will still be dark out, darker than yesterday at this time

But for the upright, gracious, compassionate and righteous the light will again dawn on your dark morning to brighten your path and illuminate your mind.

It matters less what time it is but more what you do with it.

Stick to the script.

Be upright, filled with grace, compassionate to others, and righteous in your faith today and everyday.

It will make more of a difference to others than an outdated, artificial adjustment on your phone.

Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭106‬:‭43‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In the recovery world there’s an appeal for all who have become hopeless in relapse: Keep coming back.

Drug and alcohol chemical dependency we have been told is a medical condition, not an issue of will easily recorded as sin. But despite what we’ve been told, people do recover and stay clean and sober. Likewise, there are others who relapse and fail on repeat.

This passage, while not originally penned about addiction, poignantly characterizes the struggle.

All of us fight urges to exercise evil options over better ones.

And honestly, in a meeting you’ll hear that the clear and verifiable truth that people can and do recover was perhaps the most powerful and driving motivation behind the lasting rescue and recovery of the next afflicted.

Personal stories and testimonies are central features of a recovery meeting.

God is the same throughout the human condition whether it’s dealing with an addiction or any other fallen state of man.

He says with open arms: keep coming back.

He is in the business of healing hurts, habits and hang-ups and millions can testify that it is 100% true.

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law;

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭94‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The D word.

In childhood it was a bad thing. As an adult, it’s confirmation that God is still investing in you.

You’re like a profitable account deserving of endless contributions to create a greater and greater value asset.

Learning is life long, which more often than not happens not by doing things right but doing things poorly and experiencing such negative consequences, never to do it again.

Therein lies the blessing.

Even now, just like when we were children, we need instruction that clears a pathway to maturity and creates trust in the teacher and his imparting of divine knowledge of good and evil and the consequences of each.

But the teacher will teach only when invited to your classroom.

Our finite minds are poorly equipped yet too proud to accept or invite instruction.

Live and learn, or better yet, learn and live.

Life is a classroom that produces the best students because the best teacher cares enough to show up every morning to make his investments.

Some passages need no explanation.

Today’s takeaways and meditations just for you!

Enjoy these top hits of Psalm 90!

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts! Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭92‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-The Psalms aren’t always the beacon of hope we’d like them to be but if they’re anything at all, they tell us the truth about ourselves.

-Truth is, we navigate through finite decades here on earth dodging bullets and sometimes recovering from their injuries all for the learning experiences that lead us nearer to God

-In the big picture, our lives are but an instant on the flight into eternity.

– How you spend your own 70–80 years is critical to determining where that eternity will either be blissfully spent or tragically squandered.

-“Living your best life” is less about exiting fulfilled with earthly pleasures but about living through a sometimes troubled life and coming out on the other side of heaven because of it.

In spite of all this, they kept on sinning.

In spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭78‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-It seems with the passing of time, more and more people are seeking better reasons to believe.

-Verifiable miracles, unexplainable coincidences, parting seas and manna from heaven, we’re searching for greater and more contemporary reasons to sustain the faith we’ve long professed.

-“God said it and I believe it” is no longer enough.

So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'”—John 20:25

-The lineage of doubting Thomas is all but in our blood.

Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’-verse 29.

-It’s not that we lack miracles and evidences, it’s just a much greater challenge to live by faith.

Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”—Romans 10:17

-Seeking signs and wonders is a poor replacement for a robust study of the bible to build a fortress of sustainable faith.

-If your faith is on wobbly legs, I will venture so is your bible study.

-Faith without works.

It may be a misappropriation of that passage here, but like all things, if it’s something worth having, it’s worth putting in the work and letting go of the whine.

In our most troubled moments, we all look beyond this world and cry out the same plea to a Someone who might understand our pain and suffering, empowered to heal and restore.

The hope that God exists is in our DNA.

That yearning resides in all, especially even in the most doubtful when effort, luck, and logic fail us miserably.

Everyone has had or will have that moment of spiritual reality when having nothing left forces our hand to still find something more.

And the question whether there exists a God and if he has a purpose for your life I hope and pray will be met with the answer you need for that moment and every moment thereafter.

Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their house increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them.

-Coveting and idolatry are much bigger problems than we admit.

Though while they live they count themselves blessed— and people praise you when you prosper— they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭49‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-People aren’t satisfied in being content with what they have, and the enemy always reminds them of what they don’t.

-Though you and I are among the world’s wealthiest 1%, want for more and discontent is an everpresent evil wingman.

-The size of their caskets will all be the same because they can’t take it with them where theyre going.

Streets of gold with unparalleled beauty and wealth await those in the next life who put aside coveting and idolatry in this one.

Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭44‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Trust. Reliance. Security.

It’s all on you, until it isn’t

There exists a realm on earth you cannot see but on which you can fully rely. And it’s literally a gamechanger.

That’s its purpose.

To observe that realm in action requires us to flip a switch. Like turning on a light in a dark room, we then, with faith, see clearer God in action in our life versus stumbling around looking for a way out.

Like wearing glasses that illuminate the spiritual realm before us, our anxieties become powerless and we can see better and further where to go.

Light swiches and glasses are like tools to see the spritual realm but you have to wear the lenses and flip the switches to enjoy the privileges that come from being a child of God.

For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭48‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬