Trusting God with the Future - Solace from the Psalms - Martin Wiles

For thousands of years, people have found comfort in the Psalms. No matter what emotion you are experiencing or fight you're facing, the psalms have something important to say. For the next little while, Love Lines from God will feature, "Solace from the Psalms." We hope you enjoy. And please share them with a friend. 

The LORD will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Psalm 138:8 NLT

I knew she was there; I simply couldn't see her.

My daughter and I enjoyed several years of hiking when she was a preteen. She was young and fast. I was approaching 40 at the time and slower. She normally led, but remained close—except when my middle brother and son joined us. My brother was fast as my daughter, but my son was slow like me. They enjoyed outwalking us. We knew they were ahead but couldn't see them until they stopped for us to catch up. It was always comforting when we did.

My future is similar. I know it's ahead even though I haven't visited it. I call it tomorrow, but tomorrow never truly arrives. When I think it has, it's today all over. I also can't see into it. It's the unknown even though I assume it's there.

The psalmist was equally sure he had a future and that God controlled it.

From my viewpoint the future is uncertain, but I try controlling it anyway. Through savings, retirement funds, educational funds, Social Security contributions, or possession accumulation.

God's viewpoint is different. He sees my future, lives in it, and guarantees its certainty. Regardless of how many years it contains, He controls each one.

Our challenge and responsibility are trusting God with the unknown. When we do, it is no longer uncertain or frightening. Rather it’s exciting. He promises to perfect His plans for our life. And since He knows and engineers our future, that's a simple thing for Him to accomplish.

Trust God to complete His plans in you.

Tweetable: Are you trusting God with your future?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, enable us to trust You with our future.

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Sin List - Solace from the Psalms - Martin Wiles

For thousands of years, people have found comfort in the Psalms. No matter what emotion you are experiencing or fight you're facing, the psalms have something important to say. For the next little while, Love Lines from God will feature, "Solace from the Psalms." We hope you enjoy. And please share them with a friend. 

If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:3 NIV

Others who knew him better called him “Diesel,” but we students called him the “grocery list” professor. And with good reason.

He was my most lenient college professor, but also the one whose tests were terribly difficult. The reason? Lists. I passed pop tests only by studying every list I encountered while completing homework. A’s on tests required extensive preparation. On test day, I could only hope my short term memory survived because that’s as far as any information ever made it.

The author of the psalm was glad the Lord didn’t like lists, and I am too. If God kept a list of my sins, I’d buy stock in paper. And if He held the list against me, I’d be doomed.

Fortunately God doesn’t keep a record. At least not for those who ask forgiveness. Unfortunately, I can’t always say the same. If I’m not careful, I’ll hold on to hurts others have inflicted on me and formulate a plan on how I can exact even more pain on them.

Instead of storing wrongs in my short term memory, I tend to rehearse them, which shoves them into my long term memory. Once there, they are permanently ingrained. I may not consciously ruminate on them, but under the right circumstances they can be regurgitated.

God is more efficient. Once asked, He deletes my sin list and then allows Himself to forget. What God does instantly for me, I have the responsibility of doing for others the same way—releasing them from the debt they owe for the wrongs they have inflicted.

Who needs your forgiveness, and what’s keeping you from giving it?

Tweetable: Has God erased your sin list?

Prayer: Merciful God, when we’re tempted to make a list, give us an eraser instead.

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Made by God - Solace from the Psalms - Martin Wiles

For thousands of years, people have found comfort in the Psalms. No matter what emotion you are experiencing or fight you're facing, the psalms have something important to say. For the next little while, Love Lines from God will feature, "Solace from the Psalms." We hope you enjoy. And please share them with a friend. 

Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Psalm 90:1 NLT

Strolling through the store, I picked them up one by one, searching for their origin.

Clothes made in Taiwan, the Philippines, Canada, Vietnam, and the United States. Drinking glasses manufactured in China. Towels and washrags produced in Korea. In any retail store, the world is represented.

Having purchased items manufactured by countries worldwide, I’ve discovered the quality is not identical. Pants made with cheaper cloth are normally too small while ones produced with higher quality cloth are sometimes too large. One manufacturer guarantees their product for life while another offers a short warranty—two years is a lifetime.

Bodies have one manufacturer. The tag in my shirt may read, “Made in America,” the one in my trousers, “Made in China,” and the one on my undergarments, “Made in Taiwan,” but my body tag reads, “Made by God.” And a God of variety no less. Notice the various shapes, eye colors, hair colors, heights, noses, ears, and feet. (Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?)

“Made by God” entails uniqueness. Not the kind resulting in snooty attitudes but the type reminding us God’s acceptance is ultimately all that matters. There’s not another like you. DNA testing proves it.

With the proper care, our bodies will last as long as God plans. A relationship with Him enacts a lifetime guarantee extending into eternity. Whatever God created you to be, He constructed you to do. 

Discover what God has planned for you.

Tweetable: Have you discovered God's plan for you?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, enable us to fulfill Your purposes for our lives.

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Thanking God … Regardless - Solace from the Psalms - Martin Wiles

For thousands of years, people have found comfort in the Psalms. No matter what emotion you are experiencing or fight you're facing, the psalms have something important to say. For the next little while, Love Lines from God will feature, "Solace from the Psalms." We hope you enjoy. And please share them with a friend. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 NLT

Growing up, “giving thanks” was normally associated with a meal blessing.

I appreciated food, but it never dawned on me how thankful I should be. Young children don’t usually pay attention to newscasts about famines and starving people. I was no different. Mom cooked, and it was more than enough.

Nor do I recall thanks making it into my prayers very often. These I associated with asking. Like any young boy, I had a list of wants and confused them with needs: new bicycle, money, records, a shotgun for hunting, fishing poles, etc.

Thankfulness is an essential part of worshipping God. The early Pilgrims of America were grateful for Squanto’s help and showed it by inviting their Indian neighbors to a harvest feast. The psalmist found a reason to thank God through reflecting on how God protected His people through their wilderness travels following exile in Egypt.

The psalmist invites us to thank God because God is good. God’s goodness isn’t determined by the nature of the circumstances. What we label “bad” is not necessarily viewed as such by God. Many restrictions placed on me by my parents I labeled bad, but they didn’t. They knew the desired result. What I considered awful was actually for my good. God functions similarly. He doesn’t initiate or allow anything into our life that isn’t good or can’t be used for our good.

Our reasons to thank God are innumerable. Among them is His goodness, His enduring love, and His redemptive power. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ completely satisfies our thirst and alleviates spiritual hunger pains. The greatest exodus is deliverance from sin’s slavery and is accomplished by accepting Christ’s gift of forgiveness.

Responses to life events lead to bitterness or thankfulness. Though God disciplines disobedience, He restores the repentant and rewards obedience. God’s power can transform bad times into blessings and set us on pathways of fruitfulness. Even His discipline is an expression of His goodness and reason to thank Him.

Tweetable: Are you thanking God ... regardless?

Prayer: Lord, lead us to thank You in all and for all circumstances.

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Celebrating God’s Goodness - Solace from the Psalms - Martin Wiles

For thousands of years, people have found comfort in the Psalms. No matter what emotion you are experiencing or fight you're facing, the psalms have something important to say. For the next little while, Love Lines from God will feature, "Solace from the Psalms." We hope you enjoy. And please share them with a friend.  

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. Psalm 92:1 NLT 

Retirement years weren’t always celebrated—and with good reason. There were none.

People worked until they died or became physically incapacitated, at which time they depended on family and savings. Then a reason for celebration happened. While the United States of America was in the grips of economic depression, Congress passed a law creating the Social Security system. Income now flows in a person’s senior years.

Social Security and retirement savings give reason to celebrate our latter years, and the worship experience is the believer’s opportunity to celebrate God’s goodness. Unfortunately, worship becomes drudgery when performed for the wrong reasons, such as coming because of rote tradition instead of a heartfelt desire to encounter the living God. Or showing up at church out of guilt, hoping the songs and sermon will alleviate emotional pain.

The psalmist’s picture of worship is radically different. Worship celebrates God as Sovereign ruler and Savior. It entails joy over His provision of our daily needs and celebrates His promise to work good from all life’s circumstances—the enjoyable and unenjoyable. This only occurs when we’ve examined our heart’s condition prior to the experience and come desiring to encounter God, not merely fulfill a duty.

Worship also celebrates God’s eternal qualities. Our earthly future and eternal destiny are in His hands. Worshipping God in the present prepares us for an eternity of the same but at a higher level. But if we’re not intentional, temporal responsibilities and attractions can sabotage our loyalties.

Those who master worshipping God effectively flourish like trees and bear fruit into their old age. Worship isn’t about carrying on a family tradition, but celebrating an individual relationship with a living Lord. One that transforms the way we think, feel, and act.

Enter into worship with anticipation.

Tweetable: Are you celebrating God's Goodness?

Prayer: Father, may our worship be vibrant, exciting and heartfelt as we realize we’re worshipping a great and glorious God.

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