What does it mean to be “like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and who leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.”? Psalm 1: 3.
This sounds really good.
I want to be like a tree planted by a stream – constantly being fed, never feeling empty,
I want to yield my fruit in season – do all the good things God has planned for me to do, always feeling right on target with the purpose God has for me here.
I want to avoid having my leaves wither – how can I live this marathon of faith well all the way to the end? No burnout, no wandering for me?
And I want to prosper – only in God’s eyes. I don’t need money, fame or people’s acceptance. I’ve got an audience of One. He’s the only one who counts.
God is very clear about how to make this happen in my life. Blessed are those “whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm 1: 2.
When God translates this in my brain I hear his encouragement, telling me to continue to read, study and memorize his Word. I’m in my 14th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible and he’s telling me to keep it up, I’m on the right track. I just don’t read the Bible, I blog about it so I have to think about what I read and apply it to my life. I find his truth as it applies to my life truly ‘delightful’. It’s just what my soul is looking for.
I also participate in different Bible studies throughout the year so I’m meditating on his word by myself in the morning and several times ‘day and night’ with other people.
God has given me a life-long goal of memorizing scripture. It took me over 4 years because I have a really terrible memory, but God and I partnered up and he has written 2 entire chapters of the book of James on my heart. He uses these words constantly to guide me and let me know he is right beside me.
No wonder I have lost that ’empty’ feeling I used to have! I’m blessed as I watch God grow his fruit in my life. I plan to be reading the entire Bible each year for the rest of my time here on earth so I can end this journey well.
And today, I can feel my Father God cheering me on.
Hear me, LORD, and answer me, I need you. I am a faithful servant who trusts you – save me.
You are my God, have mercy on me as I call out to you all day long. I trust you, God. Please give me joy.
You are so good. When I walk close with you, your love and forgiveness overwhelm me. There is no other god like you. Everything you have created joins together to worship you. You are great and marvelous. You alone are God.
I want to learn all about you, LORD, so I can build my life on your truth. Give me an undivided heart which is focused on loving and honoring you.
I will praise you, God, with all my heart forever.
Each day I feel your great love for me. Keep me safe.
I am surrounded by arrogant and confused people who don’t believe in you, God. But I know you are a compassionate and gracious God, overflowing with love and faithfulness.
Open my eyes to what you doing, God. Have mercy on me and save me just like you have done for those who have gone before me. Show me your goodness, LORD, so that others around me will see what a great God you are.
The LORD takes care of me each day. He provides everything I need.
My Father guides me on the right path – he knows what is best for me. He gives me exactly what my soul longs for as I walk closely beside him.
I can always trust my Father’s guidance.
Even when I’m going through the darkest, most painful times of my life, Father, I have no fear. You are with me. You comfort me.
You pour out blessings on my life. Even those around me who don’t want the best for me can see how well you take care of me.
You fill my mind with your truth as I continue to study your Word and grow in my knowledge of you.
I am overwhelmed by your love for me. Your goodness and grace fill all the days of my life here on earth. And I am 100% certain of what happens to me when my time here on earth is done – I will go to live with my Abba Father forever.
I love the picture I get in my mind when I read 1 Chronicles 29: 10-20. King David is standing in the middle of more than 300 tons of gold and 638 tons of silver along with 675 tons of bronze with his arms stretched out, praising God saying “It’s all yours”.
I think about this passage whenever I find myself focusing on my money and my stuff.
Do you see that ‘my’ word crop up? The truth is – it’s not mine. Everything I have has been given to me by my Father God. He owns everything. I am just taking care of what he has given me while I’m here on earth. And I give some back to him because I’m grateful for all that he has given me.
So I echo back King David’s praise to my Father God today –
It’s all yours, dear Father. Yours is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours.
Wealth and honor come from you alone for you rule over everything.
Power and might are in your hand and you decide who is made great and given strength.
Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone soon without a trace. But you, dear God, give us significance. You call us your sons and daughters and you delight in us.
It’s time to tell you something that is a really big deal to me…..
but I couldn’t talk about it.
If you have been following my blogs, you know that I’m not sentimental about very many things but I am sentimentally attached to my wedding ring. My husband and I are in our 43rd year of marriage and I think right around year 15 we switched out my teeny, tiny, cheap wedding ring that was all we could afford since we got married when we were still going to college. We bought a nice ring – I described it as exchanging my ‘chip’ for a ‘carrot”. Then we started a tradition of every 5 years growing the ‘carrots’ or adding additional small rings. My ring became a symbol to me of all the blessings and hard work involved when you stay married over many decades.
Our 35th wedding anniversary was 4 days after my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty. Obviously, there was barely a mention of our anniversary. After the dust settled and we could take a breath, we went and added a bunch of small blue sapphires to my ring – a way to always remember Davey. That was when my ring became the only jewelry I regularly wear other than my blue memorial bracelet with Davey’s name on it.
It was also when my ring took on a higher level of importance to me.
If you’ve been following me, you also know I regularly take my ring to a major jewelry store to be cleaned and checked because they insure the stones if one of them should fall out. Three years ago I took it in and a stone was loose so they sent it in to be fixed.
A couple of days after dropping it off, I received a call telling me the ring – along with a whole box of other’s people’s jewelry – was stolen. I couldn’t believe it! I never take the ring off except at night and there is only one place it goes when I take it off. I never take it off because I don’t want to lose it. The manager of the jewelry store cried with me on the phone and then told me they would replace it. I was surprised what a good job they did of replacing it – it looked like my old one and they actually added some value to it. It didn’t make up for not being ‘my ring’ but there was nothing else to be done.
The new part of this story starts last November when we were in Phoenix mainly to spend time with our grandchildren who live there – Davey’s two children. The last day we were there, I woke up, got dressed and reached for my ring in the ring box I always put it in at night when I travel.
It wasn’t there!
I immediately knew I was in big trouble because I had absolutely no where else I could look. No where I would put it. There is no scenario that makes sense in figuring out why it wasn’t in that box.
We were staying in an Airbnb and I spent several hours that day looking everywhere for my ring. I spent most of that time in the area around the night table next my bed where my ring box was because that is the only place I took it off. I spent a lot of time facedown on the floor with a flashlight hoping to see a sparkle show up somewhere.
Nothing. So we went home. I let the owners of the place know I had lost it in case they found it. They contacted me a day later saying they looked everywhere and couldn’t find it. I continued having the feeling that the ring wasn’t gone so I looked through all of my bags and suitcases – every pocket, every corner – several times. Nothing.
I also discovered that the loss of my ring was not covered under my home owners insurance unless I had a special rider. I’m sharing that information in case you didn’t know it.
So I got out my mother’s wedding ring and just told myself I was fine – I would wear her ring for the rest of my life. It’s a great ring. But I wanted my ring. I found out I couldn’t talk about – it was just too much. The last of my three older brothers had just passed away, leaving me the only one of my immediate family left. I lost my mother and father, all three of my older brothers, and I had lost my son. Losing my ring took me over the edge and I felt I had hit the place where I had lost way too much, I couldn’t talk about.
The only person I talked to about it was God – and I talked to him often. Whenever I was upset about my ring, I would tell God, ” I know you know where my ring is, and I want you to give it back to me.” When I was in a better mood, I would ask him to give it back to me and I would add a ‘please”. I continued to do this for months.
Then, last month in March, we went back to Phoenix to spend time with our grand children and friends. We stayed at the same Airbnb and I felt that my ring was there, it was not gone. So I continued to look for it all over including getting facedown on the floor with a flashlight by my nightstand which was the only place I would have taken it off. Nothing.
We came home to Denver and started unpacking. Right before we left our Airbnb, I saw a pair of socks on the floor in front of my nightstand and I grabbed them. I had used these every day as my ‘travel slippers’. I stuck them in a side pocket of my backpack – a pocket I never usually used.
While unpacking, I grabbed the socks out of the side pocket and threw them in the clothes hamper. I noticed something else was in the pocket so I looked – and there was my ring!!
Unbelievable!
I yelled to my husband who was in the bathroom- “Guess what I just found!” He could tell it was a big deal so he said, “Your ring!” Yep – there it was, in this side pocket of my backpack in one of those open, netted pockets that you put a bottle of water in.
How did it get in there?
I can tell you some of the waysit didn’t get in there –
I know for certain it wasn’t in that pocket when we got home from Phoenix in November. I looked in every corner and pocket of every bag, suitcase, backpack, several times – including that pocket.
I know for certain it wasn’t in those socks. I wore them every day and they were sitting right where I was laying facedown on the floor several times that week with a flashlight looking for my ring.
I have decided I will probably never know how my ring got in that pocket. I will never know where it was for 4 months.
I have no idea how I lost it, but I definitely know Who gave it back to me.
I ask for a pure heart, O God! I want my life to be focused on you.
Keep me close by your side and grow your spirit within me. Bring back the joy I felt when I first asked you to be Lord of my life. Give me a faithful heart so I stay near you. Then I will tell others about your saving grace and I will share the truth you have revealed to me.
Please lift the burden of my guilt about my sins and rebellion from me, O God, and I will sing of your goodness forever. When I open my mouth, Lord, let it be to praise you.
I know you don’t want me to just ‘show up’ at church because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to give money to the church just because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to read the Bible just so I can check it off of my reading plan for the year.
O God, you are my God. I am searching for you with all my heart.
My soul needs you. My whole being longs to be close to you in this empty, weary and very confused world. I treasure the precious time I get to spend with you.
I have personally witnessed your power and glory. I praise you for your love which makes this life worth living.
I will lift my hands and heart up to you in praise for as long as I live. Only you can fill the emptiness inside of me and make me sing for joy.
In the darkest part of the night, I remember how much you have loved me in the past and how much you have promised to love me in the future. My heart sings for joy as I cling to your promises and feel your arms around me, holding me safe and securely to your side.
The Evil One and his team are all around me, Father, trying to ruin me. But I know you are fighting my battles, God, and you have already won the war.
I rejoice in you, God. All who know the Truth know you. Liars will be silenced.
I will lift my praise to you for the rest of my life, Abba Father.
I will share this great news with everyone I know. Everyone needs to hear this – there is no one and no thing that compares to the LORD!
Say it with me – God is good, all the time!
When I talk to God, he answers me and takes my fears away.
The light of God’s love shines out of us, his children, and we are never ashamed. When we are lost in a pile of problems that we created, we can call on God who rescues us. His angel protects us and sets us free!
Try him and see! God is good!
My Father God is a safe haven and a provider for me and for everyone who has faith in him. Those who look strong on the outside are actually weak and empty on the inside if they don’t have faith in God.
God’s children have everything they need.
Listen to me –
respect and honor the LORD and you will live a life filled with good days. Stay away from lying and all evil. Be a peacemaker.
God watches over those who do what is right. He hears our cries. God is always close to the brokenhearted.
But God turns his face away from those who do evil.
When we have faith in God, we will still have trials but God walks beside us every step of the way – giving us peace and strength.
The wicked get what they deserve. The LORD condemns anyone who opposes the people who love him.
God rescues his children – he is a safe refuge that is always available to us.
even people who don’t love God will turn to him, pray to him, cry to him. This is because our souls know who he is even if our minds won’t acknowledge it. He created us and the heart he molded inside of us cries out to its maker when we’re in significant trouble.
In Judges 10, the Israelites are on one of their downward spirals of sin. They have stopped serving God and have started serving Baal…..again. So God let the pagan kingdoms who also served Baal crush them and oppress them.
It was bad.
So the Israelites cried out to God and he replied, “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble.” Judges 10:14.
Sometimes, as a Good Father who wants to teach us life lessons, God says this same thing to us today. If we have placed things other than God as our top priority, they are our gods. Why don’t we go to them to save us?
If we put money ahead of God in importance in our lives, there will be situations where God lets us learn the hard way that money is not our security. It disappears, it turns into a nightmare when we use credit, and the stuff we buy with it only makes us happy for a little while. Have you and I learned this yet?
Relationships – people are flawed. Unconditional love only comes from God. My spouse, my children, my relationships cannot be my first priority. God didn’t create our lives to work that way. When we put him first, he helps us with everything else and its much better than we could do on our own. Have you and I learned this yet?
Careers – money, recognition, power, prestige often distract us from God. Sadly, tragically, we can find that we were struggling so hard for so many years to climb up what looks like the ladder to success only to find that the ladder we are so desperately climbing is up against the wrong wall. At the end, there’s a huge, disappointing fall. Have you and I learned this yet?
Anything we put before the One True God in our lives becomes a false god as we serve it and love it and focus on it. These false gods will be no help when the bottom falls out of our lives. When tragedy blows our lives apart. Then our hearts will cry out to our Creator God just like the Israelite’s hearts did.
The Israelites had been taught well and they knew exactly what to do to get back in line with God. They repented and got rid of their false gods. And God responded by helping to deliver them from their enemies. They still had to fight and struggle (consequences for their bad decisions) but God gave them victory.
God has told us he is a jealous God and he will not tolerate his people serving other gods. When its big and bad – and there are always times in our lives when its big and bad – none of these false gods are going to be of any use to us.
Time is the great leveler – we all have 24 hours in a day. You and I choose how we’re going to spend these 24 hours. What are we going to do? How are we spending the majority of our time? Using a Biblical term, I would say that you and I are ‘serving’ whatever or whomever takes up the most of each of our 24 hours.
A lot of us serve ourselves. Looking out for #1. Do I like it? Does it benefit me? Do I wanna do it? Do I feel like doing it? What’s in for me? Oh, yeah. These questions come pretty easy because we use them a lot. We may not say them out loud but we use them in our decision-making.
Many of serve our debts. We have to work extra hours or extra jobs to pay for all of the stuff we already have. We’re upside down on cars and houses. When we’re not working, we’re worrying about paying the bills. The best wisdom about our money I’ve ever heard is – “The secret in managing your money correctly is not in how much you make. The secret is in how much you spend.” Truth.
Some of us serve our hobbies – like sports or exercising or shopping. While we’re shopping today we’re planning about the next time we can go shopping. Or we’re not happy unless we’re biking or walking or running or working out. Or before the game we’re watching on TV is over, we’re flipping to the next channel for the next game and then the next game and then the next.
We all choose who or what we will serve.
Joshua makes this very clear to the Israelites as he throws down a challenge. “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.
You and I need to make a conscious choice, not just roll through our lives spending our precious time on things that have no eternal value. We don’t want to get to the end of our lives with hearts full of regrets and emptiness, realizing we never made a choice – we just let the world push us to a place we never wanted to be. Or maybe we get there and realize looking in the rear view mirror that we made a lot of choices – but they were the wrong ones.
I have made my choice and I know to the bottom of my soul that it’s the right one. I have laid down any ‘idols’ I was serving at the feet of the One, True, Living God and now it’s all about him.
How about you? If you have any doubts about the choices you have made in how to spend your short dash between birth and death here on earth, there is no better time than right now to start a new chapter in your life labelled, “The most important thing in my life: my love relationship with my Father God”. Notice I didn’t say anything about religion. Religion to me means all the manmade traditions and rules. That’s not what I’m about.
Make a decision today to put God first in your life. You won’t regret it.
Come with me on a Journey through the Bible 