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Blooming Inspired Podcast | Episode 139 - Psalm 119 Trust & Obey (Revival Series)
Michelle continues her quest to discover keys to Revival in Psalm 119 reading verses 113-120 in the Passion Translation. Today, as we discover the keys of living from presence and trusting God in our passionate pursuit toward obedience from the heart. When we come into a right understanding of Who God is as we pursue Him through His Word - the keys of trust and living from His presence bring us into a place of reverence for His Holiness and Righteousness.
Show Transcript: Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives blooming alive. Good morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast.
Introduction
We're continuing to read from Psalm 119 with our Revival Series. We are reading in The Passion Translation today, beginning in verse 113. Let’s take a moment to go back and review what we talked about last Thursday.
Review
First, we uncovered the keys of gratitude, joy and being refreshed, we also began to see how obedience brings us to a place of freedom in Christ. Then we learned that stepping out by faith, trusting God’s revelation-light, helps us to walk a path that will lead to obedience, joy, rest and righteousness which brings us right into today’s topic.
Today’s Reading
Before I get to that, I want to share a brief story from last week with you. My husband is an anytime-anykind of sports fan and more than two decades ago he spent time working with a sheet metal company that helped with the building of what is now Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX.
If that sounds familiar to you, it should because it is where our home team, The Texas Rangers, have played major league baseball, since the early 90s.
My husband remembers fondly working on a portion of the center field Coca-Cola visual screen board and watching the first games played in the stadium from that lofty perch. A couple of weeks ago I called into a radio station and won tickets to last Wednesday night’s game. There are only 29 home games left in the regular season and that 29th game will be the last at Globe Life Park if the Rangers don’t make the playoffs.
Though the Rangers were handily defeated by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week, we enjoyed the atmosphere and the cool breeze blowing through the stadium even on a very hot Texas summer day. As the night wore on and each time Elvis Andrus, veteran Short Stop, came to the plate to bat they played his intro song… “The Baby Shark Song” If you have kids or grandkids you may be familiar with this song.
Elvis picked it actually to honor his own child each time he comes up to bat… You may recognize it… Little kids singing, Baby Shark! Doot-Doo-Ta-Doo-Doo-Doo… Baby Shark… And off to our right in a neighboring section is a middle aged man standing up and doing the Baby Shark dance. Every. Single. Time.
The next day, I was moving through my day and found myself singing, “Baby Shark!...” Yep. It was a catchy little tune of very few words. Which brings me to today’s reading.
The heading over this Psalm 119:113-120 is “Trust & Obey!” I don’t know about you, but as soon as I read those words my mind began to sing the chorus of an old hymnal standard:
[Singing] “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
Anybody else have that response to hearing those words. I even looked up the lyrics to read through them and there is no doubt in my mind that though those words do not officially appear in the text of this reading… They totally apply and that song must have been inspired by Psalm 119.
As I sang the song and considered the lyrics, I began to consider that word Trust in the Hebrew. The definitions I’m about to share came from The Complete Word Study Dictionary (OT) (Copyright © 2003 by AMG Publishers. Database © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.)
I found that in the KJV of the Bible, the word trust appears 163 times (134 OT, 29 NT). So let’s take a look at a few Hebrew words and their context to better understand this idea of trust from a Biblical perspective.
Taking a Detour
Put a marker in your Bible at Psalm 119 and turn over to Judges 11:20:
Judges 11:20 (NKJV)
“But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.”
In this verse, the Hebrew word translated TRUST is Strong’s H539ʾāman which is defined as “be firm, to build up, to support, to nurture, to establish.” It carries the idea of “providing stability and confidence.” This same word is translated BELIEVE in Deuteronomy 9:23:
Deuteronomy 9:23: (NKJV)
“Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice.”
In the Hebrew, there is this intrinsic connection between belief and trust, without belief we will not trust God, and if we don’t trust God our obedience will not please Him. I want to establish this up front today because I believe God is going to highlight these truths for us in detail as we complete our reading today.
The next Hebrew Word that is translated trust can be found in Psalm 2:12:
Psalm 2:12 NKJV
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
In this verse the Hebrew word is H2620 ḥāsāh. This word is defined as, “take refuge, literally seeking a tree’s shade… Of Yahweh (God), He is a shield providing refuge, and refuge is sought under His wings.”
A safe place, a place of refuge and shelter where one can be secure and certain they will not be harmed. God is your safe place, a hiding place of refuge for you when the enemy and the world presses in. To trust Him is to seek shelter from Him, and find our residence in His presence.
The next Hebrew Word that is translated trust can be found in Psalm 4:5:
Psalm 4:5 NKJV
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.”
This word is the Hebrew word H982 bāṭaḥ. It is defined as “to trust, to be confident in, expressed as feelings of safety and security that is felt when one can rely on someone or something. Also to be confident, secure and without fear.”
Love Casts Out Fear
In the book of 1 John, we read that God is Love. It is not just a feeling, it’s who He is. Not just a character trait, but in fact, you cannot know God unless you first know His Love. And in Chapter 4 we read that His perfect love casts out fear. God is perfect love, agapeo, in the Greek. A love that moves beyond mere expression and lives within us, becomes our being. When we trust in Him, believe in Him - we must also know Him as love. And in that love - there is no fear.
Let’s look at a couple of other verses that carry special meaning to me where trust is translated from the Hebrew word, bāṭaḥ:
Proverbs 3:5 NKJV
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;”
This verse resonates so loudly with me, especially in light of the definition which is to be confident in, with feelings of safety and security when one can rely on someone or something. If you listened to this podcast for any length of time you’ve heard me talk about losing my oldest child. As the 14th anniversary of his passing will be upon us in the next month, I feel it is an appropriate time to share how God used this verse to comfort my son in a dark season of his life, just a few months before his death, and then turned my heart to it again and again as I grieved His passing.
Trusting the Lord
Trusting God took on a whole new meaning when I began to walk out the days following my worst confessed fear: The death of my child. I had to trust Him for my next breath, that He would take care of my family when I wasn’t even able to think or feel anything but the most unimaginable pain.
I had to trust God’s goodness and love, choosing to lean not to my own understanding because there was no way I could reconcile that a Good God would allow my family to suffer such a painful reality apart from faith in His truth and His promises.
A few months before Justin passed away, he became angry as we had grown used to in our house. He often expressed his anger in a fit of rage that would come to blows with my husband or I, or he would destroy our property. That day he went outside, bent a golf club into a pretzel and then kicked a huge dent into the side of my car. My husband, his step-father, called the police as we’d been advised to do by our leaders at church. My son was handcuffed in my front yard and hauled off to the county jail. And, the one thing Scott and I had agreed on when they left was that we would not provide the bail to get him out of jail.
A Promise To Keep
We’d been thwarting consequences as things escalated in his life that year before and it was time for Justin to face the reality of his choices. He spent seven days in jail before striking a plea deal with the county prosecutor to come home on probation.
While in jail, Justin met with the chaplain who gave him a Bible. The day he returned home he came in and thanked me for sending him letters with Scripture in them and encouraging him to seek spiritual counsel from the chaplain when we spoke on the phone.
He asked me for my Bible. I handed him my favorite book and sat across the room. I watched as my son who struggled to read turned easily to the passage. Used his finger to find the exact scripture on the page and then read it aloud to me without missing a word. Proverbs 3:5-6 became his life verse. I had no idea, in that moment, how it would minister to me and carry me in the days following his death.
A Birthday Blessing
A few years later, I gave each member of our family a special gift. A framed birthday blessing with a Scripture that contained their birthday month and year. I also included their name meaning and a personal note of encouragement based on the information in the scripture and name definition. As the year closed, I thought to myself, I probably should do one of those for Justin.
I began to look up verses of Scripture with the verse reference 3:11 since his birthday was March 11th. As I did, I didn’t really find anything that resonated until one day I sat praying as I usually did when the girls were at school and Scott was at work. I stood to clean house and a small card I had framed with Proverbs 3:5-6 printed on it caught my eye. I walked over and read the familiar words. Tears filled my eye and it was like my eyes were drawn to the numbers in the reference. It felt as if God whispered a sweet word in my ear, Justin already had a birthday blessing - God gave it to Him. Proverbs 3:5+6 is 11. In that moment, I could feel my Poppa God holding me as I wept bittersweet tears of both grief and joy mingled in the same moment. Each time God brought me to a place of revelation in that season. A small piece of healing took root in my heart as I learned to trust Him more. Which leads me to this next verse:
Psalm 52:8 HCSB
“But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house the Lord;I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.” (My memory)
This verse became life to me the year following the Birthday Blessings. My husband and I went into a rough season in our marriage. It was truly a storm of life that could have destroyed us. But, God.
We were walking out our healing in marriage when Scott took an opportunity to work out of town. I was completely uncertain about the idea of him working several states away from home while we were overcoming trust issues in our relationship.
I agreed to him going out of town on one condition, if I needed him to return home that he would - no questions asked. He agreed and left on a warm fall day to work out of town for several months.
You Don’t Trust Me
That weekend I was preparing to go to church when I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You don’t trust Me.”
By this time in my life, I knew a prompting from the Lord when it landed on me. I stopped what I was doing and argued a bit. “Of course I trust you. I know almost every verse in the Bible about trusting you.”
And as quickly as I quipped those words out loud to Him in response, I heard. “No you don’t. If you trusted Me, you wouldn’t worry about people.”
Those next few months were filled with index cards covered in Scriptures about trusting God. Psalm 52:8 became a life verse for me. I wanted to know how to trust God in a certain sort of way. Not just from my head - knowing His promises and believing the were true. But, from my heart even when my circumstances couldn’t see Him --- that my heart would know and trust Him. Today, I can boldly say I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of MY GOD; I trust in His unfailing love forever and ever!
Psalm 119
Now let’s get to today’s reading, why don’t we, and see how all this comes together? Turn back to Psalm 119:113 and let’s begin.
Verse 113: I despise those who can’t keep commitments, for I passionately love your revelation-light!
Have you ever found yourself in a place where you didn’t feel like you could trust anyone around you? Brokenness brought on by betrayal can be a very lonely place. A time when we have to passionately pursue God and His Light of Truth, Jesus, as our safe place of refuge.
Verse 114-115:You’re my place of quiet retreat, and your wrap-around presence
becomes my shield as I wrap myself in your word! Go away! Leave me, all you workers of wickedness, for you can’t stop me from following every command of my God.
Unless we are willing to seek refuge in God during those seasons when people wound or betray us - we will find ourselves like a ship lost in a sea of wickedness. But, when we trust in God, and obey His commands. Seeking Him as our hiding place and living from His very presence in our daily lives. The world will not seem so tempting a place and we will not be snared by the enemy’s schemes. Nothing will be able to stop us from obeying God’s Word - not even the reality of pain could stop us from offering mercy and grace to those who hurt us.
Verse 116-117: Lord, strengthen my inner being by the promises of your word so that I may live faithful and unashamed for you. Lift me up and I will be safe. (do you hear that trust?) Empower me to live every moment in the light of your ways.
Do you see how the Keys of Trusting in Who God is, and Living from His Presence will bring us to a place of confident obedience as we walk in trust, living from beneath the shelter of His wings? When we live from confidence and belief in God’s Word, trusting His presence we will walk empowered by His grace and love to live every moment of our lives in obedience to who He is. His perfect love will not only cast out fear, but it will cover all shame as we live faithfully before Him.
From Foolishness to Holy Fear…
Verse 118-119: Lord, you reject those who reject your laws, for they fool no one but themselves! The wicked are thrown away, discarded and valueless.That’s why I will keep loving all of your laws!
These two verses feel like the psalmist is reminding himself that he would be foolish to choose to disobey God - no matter how significant the temporary gain or pleasure might seem. He is committing himself to walk in God’s ways and to find the true value of life - that is only found in a deeply intimate relationship with God. He finds that loving God through His Word keeps Him from straying into foolish disobedience to God.
In coaching one of the things we focus on is helping our clients seek self-awareness. Not self-focus, but self-awareness. To be aware of what they are doing, who they are being. and what they may need to learn in order to move forward in their lives.
I feel like this is what God is highlighting for me in this passage of verses. That a key to understanding, growing and living from His presence is this idea of understanding exactly what is at stake when I do and when I don’t -- that this key is Awareness. The more we become aware of how we are showing up in our lives and the lives of others alongside, awareness of His presence in our lives and how we respond to His Presence becomes a pathway to not only freedom, but living from the awareness of His holiness… That righteousness of God we could never hope to attain - no matter how moral or right we feel - unless, we come into intimacy and revelation of the person of Jesus who takes away our sin and offers us His robe of righteousness in exchange.
Obedience Pursues Holiness
Verse 120: My body trembles in holy awe of you, leaving me speechless,for I’m frightened of your righteous judgments.
As we conclude today, I am reminded of the awe-inspiring moment Isaiah had before the throne of God when he cried out, “Woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips…” And God’s generous response was to purify Isaiah from that unrighteousness so that He could be a prophet to the nation of Israel and foretell the coming Messiah who would indeed put an end to our sin and suffering apart from God. (See Isaiah 6)
I don’t know about you--- But I want to live this way! When we come into the revelation-light of God’s truth and His Word. When the person of Jesus Christ, His Father in Heaven and the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us become more real to us than the world around us - we cannot help but want to live from their presence in our lives. To pursue their holiness, their truth and their transforming power in our lives. We will begin to abide in their presence and holiness and the imputed righteousness of Christ! His righteousness will empower us to walk in victory through obedience every step of the way.
When Revelation brings Revival, it will transform us with Righteousness and that should RE-FORM the way the think, live, act and respond to both God and the world around us. It’s a lofty challenge but a promising one, when we walk in light, truth and victory we find the words of Christ are true, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” (See Matthew 5)
What is it you are hungering and thirsting for today? And, by extension how is God filling you in this season?
Lord, God, we ask you to empower us to live our lives aware of Your presence and Your Holiness in our lives. That as we seek You, we would hunger and thirst after righteousness, trusting and believing that Your promise is that we will be filled by You as we do. I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I’d love to hear from you. Visit us on Facebook: @bloominginspired and drop a comment on this podcast post or send us a direct message. You can also visit our website BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and learn more about how we equip and empower women to walk in their role and reign in God’s Kingdom. You can fill out our contact form there on the website and let us know what’s resonating, or share any questions we might be able to answer for you about the podcast or ministry of Blooming Inspired Network.
A few weeks ago I shared about an upcoming online Prophetic Conference I would be doing in August with Michele Turman, and wanted to let you know that we have had to postpone that event due to scheduling conflicts that have arisen, but we are looking for a new date and will let you know when we reschedule and how you can register and join us in seeking to hear God’s voice through the prophetic gift of the Holy Spirit.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow for our next episode of Accidental Hope Podcast with Jennifer Eikenhorst. She is our Ambassador of Hope who continually seeks hope and builds community from a faith perspective with those who have suffered loss through accidents or trauma. Her show airs right here on the Blooming Inspired Podcast network at 2pm (CT). You can find more about Jennifer and her show at facebook.com/accidentalhope
Close
Again, we’d love to connect with you through our website and social media. Be sure to like, share and subscribe to our website and social media posts. You can find us at facebook.com/bloominginspired, on instagram @bloominginspired and on Twitter @bloominspirenet as well as by subscribing to our website: BloomingInspiredNetowrk.com. That’s all the time we have for today, please join us for Accidental Hope tomorrow and our next episode of Blooming Inspired Podcast each Tuesday and Thursday at 11am (CT)! And remember, Blooming Where You’re Planted Is The First Step To Living Your Wildest Dreams, So Live Your Life Blooming Alive!
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By Michelle Bentham
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Michelle continues her quest to discover keys to Revival in Psalm 119 reading verses 113-120 in the Passion Translation. Today, as we discover the keys of living from presence and trusting God in our passionate pursuit toward obedience from the heart. When we come into a right understanding of Who God is as we pursue Him through His Word - the keys of trust and living from His presence bring us into a place of reverence for His Holiness and Righteousness.
Show Transcript: Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives blooming alive. Good morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast.
Introduction
We're continuing to read from Psalm 119 with our Revival Series. We are reading in The Passion Translation today, beginning in verse 113. Let’s take a moment to go back and review what we talked about last Thursday.
Review
First, we uncovered the keys of gratitude, joy and being refreshed, we also began to see how obedience brings us to a place of freedom in Christ. Then we learned that stepping out by faith, trusting God’s revelation-light, helps us to walk a path that will lead to obedience, joy, rest and righteousness which brings us right into today’s topic.
Today’s Reading
Before I get to that, I want to share a brief story from last week with you. My husband is an anytime-anykind of sports fan and more than two decades ago he spent time working with a sheet metal company that helped with the building of what is now Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX.
If that sounds familiar to you, it should because it is where our home team, The Texas Rangers, have played major league baseball, since the early 90s.
My husband remembers fondly working on a portion of the center field Coca-Cola visual screen board and watching the first games played in the stadium from that lofty perch. A couple of weeks ago I called into a radio station and won tickets to last Wednesday night’s game. There are only 29 home games left in the regular season and that 29th game will be the last at Globe Life Park if the Rangers don’t make the playoffs.
Though the Rangers were handily defeated by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week, we enjoyed the atmosphere and the cool breeze blowing through the stadium even on a very hot Texas summer day. As the night wore on and each time Elvis Andrus, veteran Short Stop, came to the plate to bat they played his intro song… “The Baby Shark Song” If you have kids or grandkids you may be familiar with this song.
Elvis picked it actually to honor his own child each time he comes up to bat… You may recognize it… Little kids singing, Baby Shark! Doot-Doo-Ta-Doo-Doo-Doo… Baby Shark… And off to our right in a neighboring section is a middle aged man standing up and doing the Baby Shark dance. Every. Single. Time.
The next day, I was moving through my day and found myself singing, “Baby Shark!...” Yep. It was a catchy little tune of very few words. Which brings me to today’s reading.
The heading over this Psalm 119:113-120 is “Trust & Obey!” I don’t know about you, but as soon as I read those words my mind began to sing the chorus of an old hymnal standard:
[Singing] “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
Anybody else have that response to hearing those words. I even looked up the lyrics to read through them and there is no doubt in my mind that though those words do not officially appear in the text of this reading… They totally apply and that song must have been inspired by Psalm 119.
As I sang the song and considered the lyrics, I began to consider that word Trust in the Hebrew. The definitions I’m about to share came from The Complete Word Study Dictionary (OT) (Copyright © 2003 by AMG Publishers. Database © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.)
I found that in the KJV of the Bible, the word trust appears 163 times (134 OT, 29 NT). So let’s take a look at a few Hebrew words and their context to better understand this idea of trust from a Biblical perspective.
Taking a Detour
Put a marker in your Bible at Psalm 119 and turn over to Judges 11:20:
Judges 11:20 (NKJV)
“But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.”
In this verse, the Hebrew word translated TRUST is Strong’s H539ʾāman which is defined as “be firm, to build up, to support, to nurture, to establish.” It carries the idea of “providing stability and confidence.” This same word is translated BELIEVE in Deuteronomy 9:23:
Deuteronomy 9:23: (NKJV)
“Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice.”
In the Hebrew, there is this intrinsic connection between belief and trust, without belief we will not trust God, and if we don’t trust God our obedience will not please Him. I want to establish this up front today because I believe God is going to highlight these truths for us in detail as we complete our reading today.
The next Hebrew Word that is translated trust can be found in Psalm 2:12:
Psalm 2:12 NKJV
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
In this verse the Hebrew word is H2620 ḥāsāh. This word is defined as, “take refuge, literally seeking a tree’s shade… Of Yahweh (God), He is a shield providing refuge, and refuge is sought under His wings.”
A safe place, a place of refuge and shelter where one can be secure and certain they will not be harmed. God is your safe place, a hiding place of refuge for you when the enemy and the world presses in. To trust Him is to seek shelter from Him, and find our residence in His presence.
The next Hebrew Word that is translated trust can be found in Psalm 4:5:
Psalm 4:5 NKJV
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.”
This word is the Hebrew word H982 bāṭaḥ. It is defined as “to trust, to be confident in, expressed as feelings of safety and security that is felt when one can rely on someone or something. Also to be confident, secure and without fear.”
Love Casts Out Fear
In the book of 1 John, we read that God is Love. It is not just a feeling, it’s who He is. Not just a character trait, but in fact, you cannot know God unless you first know His Love. And in Chapter 4 we read that His perfect love casts out fear. God is perfect love, agapeo, in the Greek. A love that moves beyond mere expression and lives within us, becomes our being. When we trust in Him, believe in Him - we must also know Him as love. And in that love - there is no fear.
Let’s look at a couple of other verses that carry special meaning to me where trust is translated from the Hebrew word, bāṭaḥ:
Proverbs 3:5 NKJV
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;”
This verse resonates so loudly with me, especially in light of the definition which is to be confident in, with feelings of safety and security when one can rely on someone or something. If you listened to this podcast for any length of time you’ve heard me talk about losing my oldest child. As the 14th anniversary of his passing will be upon us in the next month, I feel it is an appropriate time to share how God used this verse to comfort my son in a dark season of his life, just a few months before his death, and then turned my heart to it again and again as I grieved His passing.
Trusting the Lord
Trusting God took on a whole new meaning when I began to walk out the days following my worst confessed fear: The death of my child. I had to trust Him for my next breath, that He would take care of my family when I wasn’t even able to think or feel anything but the most unimaginable pain.
I had to trust God’s goodness and love, choosing to lean not to my own understanding because there was no way I could reconcile that a Good God would allow my family to suffer such a painful reality apart from faith in His truth and His promises.
A few months before Justin passed away, he became angry as we had grown used to in our house. He often expressed his anger in a fit of rage that would come to blows with my husband or I, or he would destroy our property. That day he went outside, bent a golf club into a pretzel and then kicked a huge dent into the side of my car. My husband, his step-father, called the police as we’d been advised to do by our leaders at church. My son was handcuffed in my front yard and hauled off to the county jail. And, the one thing Scott and I had agreed on when they left was that we would not provide the bail to get him out of jail.
A Promise To Keep
We’d been thwarting consequences as things escalated in his life that year before and it was time for Justin to face the reality of his choices. He spent seven days in jail before striking a plea deal with the county prosecutor to come home on probation.
While in jail, Justin met with the chaplain who gave him a Bible. The day he returned home he came in and thanked me for sending him letters with Scripture in them and encouraging him to seek spiritual counsel from the chaplain when we spoke on the phone.
He asked me for my Bible. I handed him my favorite book and sat across the room. I watched as my son who struggled to read turned easily to the passage. Used his finger to find the exact scripture on the page and then read it aloud to me without missing a word. Proverbs 3:5-6 became his life verse. I had no idea, in that moment, how it would minister to me and carry me in the days following his death.
A Birthday Blessing
A few years later, I gave each member of our family a special gift. A framed birthday blessing with a Scripture that contained their birthday month and year. I also included their name meaning and a personal note of encouragement based on the information in the scripture and name definition. As the year closed, I thought to myself, I probably should do one of those for Justin.
I began to look up verses of Scripture with the verse reference 3:11 since his birthday was March 11th. As I did, I didn’t really find anything that resonated until one day I sat praying as I usually did when the girls were at school and Scott was at work. I stood to clean house and a small card I had framed with Proverbs 3:5-6 printed on it caught my eye. I walked over and read the familiar words. Tears filled my eye and it was like my eyes were drawn to the numbers in the reference. It felt as if God whispered a sweet word in my ear, Justin already had a birthday blessing - God gave it to Him. Proverbs 3:5+6 is 11. In that moment, I could feel my Poppa God holding me as I wept bittersweet tears of both grief and joy mingled in the same moment. Each time God brought me to a place of revelation in that season. A small piece of healing took root in my heart as I learned to trust Him more. Which leads me to this next verse:
Psalm 52:8 HCSB
“But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house the Lord;I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.” (My memory)
This verse became life to me the year following the Birthday Blessings. My husband and I went into a rough season in our marriage. It was truly a storm of life that could have destroyed us. But, God.
We were walking out our healing in marriage when Scott took an opportunity to work out of town. I was completely uncertain about the idea of him working several states away from home while we were overcoming trust issues in our relationship.
I agreed to him going out of town on one condition, if I needed him to return home that he would - no questions asked. He agreed and left on a warm fall day to work out of town for several months.
You Don’t Trust Me
That weekend I was preparing to go to church when I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You don’t trust Me.”
By this time in my life, I knew a prompting from the Lord when it landed on me. I stopped what I was doing and argued a bit. “Of course I trust you. I know almost every verse in the Bible about trusting you.”
And as quickly as I quipped those words out loud to Him in response, I heard. “No you don’t. If you trusted Me, you wouldn’t worry about people.”
Those next few months were filled with index cards covered in Scriptures about trusting God. Psalm 52:8 became a life verse for me. I wanted to know how to trust God in a certain sort of way. Not just from my head - knowing His promises and believing the were true. But, from my heart even when my circumstances couldn’t see Him --- that my heart would know and trust Him. Today, I can boldly say I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of MY GOD; I trust in His unfailing love forever and ever!
Psalm 119
Now let’s get to today’s reading, why don’t we, and see how all this comes together? Turn back to Psalm 119:113 and let’s begin.
Verse 113: I despise those who can’t keep commitments, for I passionately love your revelation-light!
Have you ever found yourself in a place where you didn’t feel like you could trust anyone around you? Brokenness brought on by betrayal can be a very lonely place. A time when we have to passionately pursue God and His Light of Truth, Jesus, as our safe place of refuge.
Verse 114-115:You’re my place of quiet retreat, and your wrap-around presence
becomes my shield as I wrap myself in your word! Go away! Leave me, all you workers of wickedness, for you can’t stop me from following every command of my God.
Unless we are willing to seek refuge in God during those seasons when people wound or betray us - we will find ourselves like a ship lost in a sea of wickedness. But, when we trust in God, and obey His commands. Seeking Him as our hiding place and living from His very presence in our daily lives. The world will not seem so tempting a place and we will not be snared by the enemy’s schemes. Nothing will be able to stop us from obeying God’s Word - not even the reality of pain could stop us from offering mercy and grace to those who hurt us.
Verse 116-117: Lord, strengthen my inner being by the promises of your word so that I may live faithful and unashamed for you. Lift me up and I will be safe. (do you hear that trust?) Empower me to live every moment in the light of your ways.
Do you see how the Keys of Trusting in Who God is, and Living from His Presence will bring us to a place of confident obedience as we walk in trust, living from beneath the shelter of His wings? When we live from confidence and belief in God’s Word, trusting His presence we will walk empowered by His grace and love to live every moment of our lives in obedience to who He is. His perfect love will not only cast out fear, but it will cover all shame as we live faithfully before Him.
From Foolishness to Holy Fear…
Verse 118-119: Lord, you reject those who reject your laws, for they fool no one but themselves! The wicked are thrown away, discarded and valueless.That’s why I will keep loving all of your laws!
These two verses feel like the psalmist is reminding himself that he would be foolish to choose to disobey God - no matter how significant the temporary gain or pleasure might seem. He is committing himself to walk in God’s ways and to find the true value of life - that is only found in a deeply intimate relationship with God. He finds that loving God through His Word keeps Him from straying into foolish disobedience to God.
In coaching one of the things we focus on is helping our clients seek self-awareness. Not self-focus, but self-awareness. To be aware of what they are doing, who they are being. and what they may need to learn in order to move forward in their lives.
I feel like this is what God is highlighting for me in this passage of verses. That a key to understanding, growing and living from His presence is this idea of understanding exactly what is at stake when I do and when I don’t -- that this key is Awareness. The more we become aware of how we are showing up in our lives and the lives of others alongside, awareness of His presence in our lives and how we respond to His Presence becomes a pathway to not only freedom, but living from the awareness of His holiness… That righteousness of God we could never hope to attain - no matter how moral or right we feel - unless, we come into intimacy and revelation of the person of Jesus who takes away our sin and offers us His robe of righteousness in exchange.
Obedience Pursues Holiness
Verse 120: My body trembles in holy awe of you, leaving me speechless,for I’m frightened of your righteous judgments.
As we conclude today, I am reminded of the awe-inspiring moment Isaiah had before the throne of God when he cried out, “Woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips…” And God’s generous response was to purify Isaiah from that unrighteousness so that He could be a prophet to the nation of Israel and foretell the coming Messiah who would indeed put an end to our sin and suffering apart from God. (See Isaiah 6)
I don’t know about you--- But I want to live this way! When we come into the revelation-light of God’s truth and His Word. When the person of Jesus Christ, His Father in Heaven and the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us become more real to us than the world around us - we cannot help but want to live from their presence in our lives. To pursue their holiness, their truth and their transforming power in our lives. We will begin to abide in their presence and holiness and the imputed righteousness of Christ! His righteousness will empower us to walk in victory through obedience every step of the way.
When Revelation brings Revival, it will transform us with Righteousness and that should RE-FORM the way the think, live, act and respond to both God and the world around us. It’s a lofty challenge but a promising one, when we walk in light, truth and victory we find the words of Christ are true, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” (See Matthew 5)
What is it you are hungering and thirsting for today? And, by extension how is God filling you in this season?
Lord, God, we ask you to empower us to live our lives aware of Your presence and Your Holiness in our lives. That as we seek You, we would hunger and thirst after righteousness, trusting and believing that Your promise is that we will be filled by You as we do. I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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A few weeks ago I shared about an upcoming online Prophetic Conference I would be doing in August with Michele Turman, and wanted to let you know that we have had to postpone that event due to scheduling conflicts that have arisen, but we are looking for a new date and will let you know when we reschedule and how you can register and join us in seeking to hear God’s voice through the prophetic gift of the Holy Spirit.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow for our next episode of Accidental Hope Podcast with Jennifer Eikenhorst. She is our Ambassador of Hope who continually seeks hope and builds community from a faith perspective with those who have suffered loss through accidents or trauma. Her show airs right here on the Blooming Inspired Podcast network at 2pm (CT). You can find more about Jennifer and her show at facebook.com/accidentalhope
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