End of FLOW Celebration

The summer has officially ended as school started today. Thus our FLOW challenge is now complete. However, we do have a little celebration planned. Next Sunday, Aug. 30 in the Youth Room, we are going to have lunch for all those who did the FLOW challenge. Now you may not have been perfect. But if you tried to do the challenge throughout summer, then come at eat. We are going to talk a little about the challenge and discuss what we learned.

Plan to come next Sunday for our Final Flow Celebration.

Thanks for being a part of this blog!

The Word: Aug. 21 (Psalms 148, 149 & 150)

Well, we've made it through the entire book of Psalms! What is your reaction after reading, singing, praying, and meditating through these 150 psalms? Today's psalms express it best: each of Psalm 148, 149 and 150 begins and ends with the same phrase: "Praise the LORD!" These psalms are the pinnacle of praise for and about God. Psalm 148 (which has inspired many of our worship songs) calls on everyone and everything everywhere to praise God. This song expresses universal praise -- quite literally -- from the stars to the trees to the angels to the fish to the kings to the children. God is praised as the creator and the ruler of all. It is hard to read Psalm 148 silently. It is meant to be sung and shouted. Hallelujah!

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. -- Psalm 148:13

Alan

The Word: (Psalms 143, 144)

In Psalm 143, the psalmist reminds us that it is when we are in the depths of darkness that we seek the light the hardest. Sometimes, we don’t realize the true value of something until it is taken from us. Many of David’s psalms are filled with joy, but David finds himself losing hope and paralyzed with fear and depression. He had to fight to maintain a good attitude. He had struggles, but he always brought them to God. David reminds us that in our dark times we can cry out to God to help us, but we must move out of our own self will, take a step of faith, and walk in the will of God. David writes, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God." (Psalm 143:10) When we do that, the Lord will take us out of our distress and will rescue us with His unfailing love. In Psalm 144, David uses terms like rock fortress, tower of safety, deliverer, shield, and refuge to describe the characteristics of the Lord. He looks at the nature of God and wonders how He could love us, but concludes that He does and He is in control and will give us victory. David concludes with this statement, “Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord.”

The Word: August 18

Psalms 140-142 are all psalms of David crying out to God. 140 and 141, David is asking for deliverance from the wicked or from evil itself.  In Psalms 142, David is pleading for deliverance from those who pursue him.  I think that David understands that evil is never far away.  As God told Cain, sin crouches at the door and desires to have us.  David is King, a man after God's own heart, yet it seems that he knows not to let his guard down.  He pleads with God to protect his heart from being drawn towards evil. (141:4)

Evil is never far away.  We can't let our guard down because Satan desires to have us and the second that we think we have it all figured out, is the second that temptation will pounce on us.  Pray for protection for evil as David did.

Word: Aug. 17 (Ps. 137-139)

This is the last week of the FLOW challenge, as summer comes to a close and school starts. It has been good to seek the Lord this summer. In today's reading, I am intrigued by Ps. 139. It's a powerful psalm that I have read several times before, yet it struck me again. It talks about the intimacy and closeness of God's presence. Notice the different descriptions:
1. He knows when we sit and rise. (v. 2)
2. He knows our thoughts and words. (vv. 2-4)
3. He encloses us. (v. 5)
4. His Spirit cannot be escaped. (vv. 7-9)
5. He formed us in our mother's womb (v. 13)
6. He saw us when we are a "unformed substance". (v. 16)
7. He is with us when we awake. (v. 18)

Such descriptions of God's nearness might be scary if God was seeking to condemn us or hurt us. But when we know that God seeks us out of love, we find such descriptions quite comforting. To the psalmist, it is so comforting that he closes his psalm by inviting God to search him more intently to see if there is anything hurtful within him (vv. 23-24). When we know God's heart, it gives us confidence to invite God to shape us from anxiety to faith.

On a different note, I am surprised by the psalmist's language in vv. 20-22 as he speaks about his hatred towards his enemies (and God's enemies). This seems to be in direct conflict with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Love your enemies, Mt. 5:44). Any thoughts on how to reconcile these Scriptures?

The Word / Psalm 131, 132, 133, & 134

How is Sunday morning at your House? Is it a time of reflection or is it a time that resembles most other days of the week? So many times I feel as if I have not taken enough time to prepare myself for worship, and while reading Psalms 120-134 I began to think about how worship might be different if I stood on a step outside of the building and read Psalm 120 before moving to the next step and reading Psalm 121 and so forth. How would I worship differently if I moved slower and read 15 Psalms or 15 other verses from the Bible before sitting down to worship?

Psalm 131:2 "But I have stilled and quieted my soul" What a great way to approach God: with a quieted soul, ready to listen for His words.

I pray that we can slow down this next week and approach God with a quieted soul that is ready to focus on what He has for us through His word and His love.

John Clinton

The Word: August 14/ Psalms 128, 129 & 130

Today's psalms continue the beautiful "Songs of Ascents" that were used in public worship at the Temple. Each one is short and easy to memorize, and each focuses on one theme. Psalm 130 speaks about God as the God of redemption. The psalmist contrasts our sinfulness with God's holiness, but he doesn't show God as remote or unapproachable. Instead, he emphasizes God as forgiving, loving, and worthy of hope. Psalm 130 expresses our need (and our longing) for redemption and names God as our certain hope for redemption. The last verse is a prophecy fulfilled in Christ. Praise God for turning our hope for redemption into confidence of salvation!

He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
-- Psalm 130:8

Alan