Posts Tagged: today
DTEB, “The Most Important Day of Your Life: a Day Called ‘Today’”
“Psa. 95:1 ¶ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Psa. 95:2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psa. 95:3 For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
Psa. 95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
Psa. 95:5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Psa. 95:6 ¶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
Psa. 95:7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
Psa. 95:8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
Psa. 95:9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
Psa. 95:10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Psa. 95:11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”(Psalm 95, English Standard Version)
“Like Jesus, Today is often crucified between two thieves: Yesterday and Tomorrow.” (Source unknown)
The Bible talks a lot about today. Psalm 95 is a command to sing to the LORD. Ample reasons are given to do so. However, in verse 7, there is this crucial word “today”. “Today, if you hear his voice . . . .” Then the psalmist turns to history, an incident that happened on the way from Egypt to the promised land. After seeing many miracles in Egypt and along the way, the Israelites still didn’t really trust God. The problem wasn’t God. The problem was the human heart. Specifically, the Israelites “hardened their hearts” and grieved God.
The upshot of all this was that they put God to the test. They wanted to see even more miracles. They went astray, not geographically, but in their hearts. God got royally ticked off and swore an oath. “No rest for you!” he said.
How can a psalm that begins so positively end so negatively? Well, I guess that’s what happens when we willfully harden our hearts and go astray. Ancient Israel had no monopoly on such hardness and heart-straying. It can happen to any of us. Keeping a tender and grateful heart toward God is not easy, but if we want to enter into the rest that God gives, it is absolutely essential. It is a daily task. Why? Because our hearts can get hard and go astray in a day—or even a small part of the day. The most important day of our lives is always Today.
THE PASSING OF SUMMER AND THE FLOW OF LIFE
Here is my journal entry for this morning.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Where has this summer gone?!?
But then I feel that way toward the end of every summer I’ve lived so far. I doubt that feeling is going to change at this late date.
However, I more than half suspect that I am asking the wrong question. The question I ought to be asking is this: What am I doing, right now, with this day? Am I filling it with worthwhile attitudes and tasks? Am I doing what I need to be doing at any moment? Am I enjoying the day? Am I making the day enjoyable for others, as much as it lies within my power to do so?
If so, my perception of the passage of time merely indicates that I am enjoying my life and living well.
On the other hand, if I am wasting time regretting the passing of time, I’m just passing the time in an unhelpful manner.
So, today, by God’s grace, I will work hard, laugh whenever I can, cry if I need to, have some fun, make life more enjoyable for everyone with whom I come into contact (especially Sharon), learn something new, and generally live well.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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