Tag: God protects

• Psalm 94: My Foot is Slipping

  
  

  Psalm 94: My Foot is Slipping

  Wednesday, February 26, 2025

  My people, how can you be such stupid fools?
      When will you ever learn?
  God made our ears—can’t he hear?
      He made our eyes—can’t he see? (GNT)

  We continue our reflection on God’s ability and desire to remain in intimate relationship with us.

  Blessed the one whom you guide, Lord,
      whom you teach by your instruction,
  To give rest from evil days,
      while a pit is being dug for the wicked. (NABRE)

  We continue to ponder our willingness – or unwillingness – to allow God’s protection and guidance to guide us.

  If Adonai hadn’t helped me,
  I would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.
  When I said, “My foot is slipping!”
  your grace, Adonai, supported me.
  When my cares within me are many,
  your comforts cheer me up. (CJB)

  We continue to remember that God is the only secure place, the only sure refuge.

  God was my high mountain retreat,
  Then boomeranged their evil back on them:
      for their evil ways he wiped them out,
      our God cleaned them out for good. (MSG)

  We continue to remind ourselves that God turns harm into goodness, and that God turns plots back upon plotters.

  Today we spend time with Psalm 94 as we contemplate our reflection of God as a work of art, and why God’s loves us so dearly.

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  For a reflection on this psalm, click on the image from: https://stream.org/when-our-feet-start-to-slip-god-is-there-to-hold-us/ 

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  February 26, 2025

  God guides, God protects, security

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• Joy and Psalms 28, 30, 35 & 40 – Rescue

  
  

  Monday, November 29, 2021

  Joy and the Psalms

  Rescue

  The Book of Psalms calls us to praise God and these hymns created millennia ago still resonate with us as we ask for God’s help and intercession, bless and honor God’s name, mourn our losses and rejoice in our understanding of God’s goodness. In order to better understand these beautiful songs in this second Book of  Wisdom Books during this first week of Advent, or we can focus on the power of the psalms as we connect with God as sisters and brothers in Christ, as we seek a healing pathway on which we carry our lament to the Spirit, as we come together to praise and honor the creator God, and as we experience the surprise of God’s joy that protects and defends, rescues and saves.

  The following verses have been modified to give us mantras that we might hold on to as we move through our days and nights. If you are able, carve out a bit of Advent time this afternoon or evening to reflect on one or two of these verses and ponder what their meaning might be for us in your particular circumstances. Click on the scripture links and explore other versions of these verses. Share an idea about the surprise of joy in the dark places and times in our lives with a loved one, a neighbor or friend. And allow the surprise of joy to brighten each day as we move forward in the season of hope-filled waiting for the arrival of the Christ.

  Psalm 28 verse 7: The Lord protects and defends me; I trust in God who gives me help and makes me glad; I praise God with joyful songs. Do we think of sharing God’s joy with others?

  Psalm 30 verse 11: You have changed my sadness into a joyful dance, O God; you have taken away my sorrow and surrounded me with joy. Do we call on God’s joy when we are alone or suffering?

  Psalm 35 verse 27: May those who want to see me acquitted shout for joy and say again and again, “How great is the Lord! God is pleased with the success of his servant.”  Do we acknowledge God’s role in the joy that comes to us?

  Psalm 40 verse 16: May all who come to you be glad and joyful, O God. May all who are thankful for your salvation always say, “How great is the Lord!” Do we accept God’s presence in our lives and do we share the joy of this presence with others?

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  Image from: http://www.sermonspice.com/product/23132/advent-joy-candles-part-3

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  November 29, 2021

  God protects, God rescues, Psalm 25:27, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 30:11, Psalm 40:16

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• 1 John 3:1-3: God’s Children

  
  

  Friday, July 3, 2020

  1 John 3:1-3

  God’s Children

  See what the Father has bestowed on us that we might be called the children of God.  Yet so we are.  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know God. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.  We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like God, for we shall see God as God is.  Everyone who has this hope based on God makes himself pure, as God is pure. 

  At times we relish the idea of being children of God.  At other times we rebel against the obedience we owe to our loving parent.  None of our thoughts or emotions shock God for God already knows our anxieties, and our celebrations.

  God says: Nothing is really new to me and still I am fascinated by you.  I love to spend time listening to your thoughts and words.  And I love watching how you go through your days and nights.  I love protecting and guiding you.  I delight in healing and carrying you when you are weary.  I celebrate when you laugh.  I love everything about and from and in you.  Tell me how you feel when the world shuns you because of your closeness to me.  Bring me both your troubles and your joys.  I have already foreseen them but I want to hear your voice intertwined with mine.  And I want to curl you into my heart for you are my greatest happiness.

  No matter what we have done . . . no matter what we have thought . . . no matter what we have said . . . we are loved by God.

  Enter the phrase Children of God in the blog search bar and explore your own relationship with God.

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  Image from: https://www.freeimages.com/search/daughter-farmer-father

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  July 3, 2020

  God guides, God protects, God’s love

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• Psalm 121:3-8: Marking God’s Presence

  
  

  Monday, June 29, 2020

  Marking God’s Presence

  Psalm 121:3-8

  God will not permit your foot to stumble; God who guards you will not fall asleep.  Indeed, the one who guards Israel never slumbers, never sleeps.  The Lord serves as your guardian.  God is at your right hand to serve as your shade.  The sun will not strike you during the day, nor the moon during the night.  The Lord will protect you against all evil; God will watch over your life.  The Lord will watch over your coming and your going both now and forevermore. 

  We know that the pagan gods sleep.  Our God does not.  We know that the pagan gods mock and deceive humankind.  Our God does not.  We know that the pagan gods care more about themselves than they do the mortals whose lives they control.  Our God does not.

  God says: I love you more than you can imagine.  My heart aches when you are sad.  I grieve when you suffer in any way.  I rejoice when you laugh.  When the deserts of life wear you down I want to shelter you in my shade.  When evil prowls its earthly domain I am ever alert to warn and protect you.  I mark your lying down and your rising.  I mark your going out and coming in.  I mark your tears and your laughter.  I mark all . . . because you are all to me.

  It is too easy to forget that God is constantly with us.  We too quickly plan our day and leave God out of our activities.  We too often act as if we must protect and save ourselves.  When we mark our days with little “God appointments” . . . we also mark God’s presence . . . and we remember that to God, we are all.

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  To explore how to best mark God’s presence in our lives, type God Time in the blog search bar and examine your day in a new way.

  Tomorrow, retreating from the world for a little time . . .

  Image from: http://godsabundantblessings.com/

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  June 29, 2020

  Ephesians 3:18, God protects, God saves, pagan gods

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• Joshua 24:17: Out of the Desert

  
  

  Tuesday, September 24, 2019

  

  Joshua 24:17: It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes.  He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.

  There are many deserts in our lives and many places of captivity.  They sap our strength.

  There are many signs that God performs in his love for us.  They bring us hope.

  There are many protected journeys on which God shepherds us. We travel safely thorough enemy nations.

  God says:  I bring you out of the desert because I love you dearly.  I perform great signs and wonders for you because I cherish you deeply.  I make a way for you through dangerous places because I want to accompany you.  I protect you in each day’s journey because I want to abide with you.  I myself have brought you out of arid places to a fertile place where you will flourish.  I have great plans in mind for you.  I want to free you from that binds you and keeps you from celebrating your freedom in joy with me.

  When we feel trapped in our lives, we must ask God for freedom.

  When we face insurmountable obstacles in our daily journey, we must ask God to make a way for us.

  When we fear for our safety and fret over the enemies who will take us captive, we must ask God for protection.

  Enter the word Egypt into the blog search box for more reflections on making a journey with God’s protection, or go to the Journeys of  Transformation page and consider making a journey this coming week-end.

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  A re-post from August 31, 2012.
  

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  September 24, 2019

  desert journey, God protects, God saves

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