
Delight Yourself in the Lord

Thoughts on life and faith after unexpected life changes at an advanced age

We have had good and bad experiences with product guarantees. Sometimes, the business fervently stands behind their product and goes above and beyond in their efforts to satisfy the customer in rectifying the issue. Other times, the business seems uncaring toward the customer.
Psalm 35:27-28 says, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant. Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.” What an awesome truth it is to know that God delights in ensuring our welfare. He will always go above and beyond what we deserve to ensure our well-being through His grace. This is another truth to be thankful for and another reason to praise Him.

Businesses generally have quality and service standards that they expect their employees to consistently meet. Yet you can go from one of their locations to another and find vastly different levels of service and quality. That’s because employees put in different levels of care for their quality and service performance.
Psalm 33:4-5 says, “For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.” There is no place on earth where you can go and not be surrounded by the full measure of God’s steadfast love. Everything God does is faithful to His nature, His promises, and His Word.

The apprentice listens to the master’s teaching and then watches the master work. He doesn’t begin to do the work himself until the master believes that he is ready. Then the master watches the young craftsman until he demonstrates the skills necessary to do fine work. The apprentice, for his part, must find a skilled craftsman from which to learn, as demonstrated by the work of the master. Joining a skilled craftsman in his work is essential to the success of the apprentice.
Acts 11:17 says, “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” If you want to do God’s work, first look and see where God is already working around you. Then, join in that work and God will use you to do great things. God uses those who are without a famous name to do great things by the power of Jesus’ name.

Have you ever been in the presence of someone who seems to command the audience around them? Perhaps it was a celebrity whom everyone is seeking to meet and know. But maybe, it was someone with great confidence and boldness that seems to command the respect of others.
Psalm 29:2-3 says, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” Never lose the feeling of wonder of our awesome God. Listen for His voice through His Word and through His majesty over His own creation. His glory overwhelms all other forms of power and influence.

Sometimes we don’t know what we should pray and how we should say it. God doesn’t put any special requirements on prayer, He just wants us to come. We have little problem speaking our minds to other people, but when it comes to speaking of our needs to God we hesitate. God gives us a relationship with Himself and just like any other relationship, He wants to hear from us frequently. What we say in prayer and how we say it, means little in comparison to coming often to God and expressing our needs and acknowledging His goodness.
The prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 28:2 says, “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.” The psalmist gives us three essentials for prayer; that is confession of our sins, asking for God’s favor, and recognizing who God is through praising Him.