Have you ever been hiking at night? If the woods are dense enough, almost no moonlight or starlight penetrates the thick canvas of the forest roof. When you turn your headlamp on, the immediate area in front of you lights up, and everything else is draped in blackness. You can see clearly for maybe thirty feet, then after that it tapers quickly back into pitch black. There’s a certain amount of faith that you have to walk in when you are night hiking. You have to trust that the trail will take you where it is supposed to go. You have to have faith that the trail itself is safe, even if it runs alongside a step cliff or next to a rushing river. You trust that the noises you hear are really just big squirrels and not hungry bears looking for tasty, out of shape and slightly plump, stray hikers. So you hike in faith, knowing for sure only what lies 30 feet in front of you and hoping that you’ll reach your campsite before Roscoe the Mountain Man jumps from the shadows to demonstrate to you his deep knowledge of the movie “Deliverance.” It really is exciting. Believe me. Try it sometime. Well, I am on a night hike of sorts right now, figuratively speaking. All of us that have entered into this amazing adventure that is following Christ are on night hikes. Our destination is certain: the Kingdom of God. Our trail is firm: the Path of Righteousness and the Way of the Cross. Our light, The Holy Spirit, illuminates all that we need to know in order to navigate through the world that is shrouded in the darkness of sin. The path that I am currently on is not one that I ever thought that I would take. It is a crazy trail that already has seen miracles, struggles, leaps of faith, and mighty acts of God. And we're only at the beginning. My hiking companions are my wife Brandie, and my three sons, Sam, Jack and Luke. It is a journey that we would love to share with all of you, if you want to read along.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Psalm 73

Here is another incredible Psalm. It begins with the psalmist's confession that he was close to stumbling away from the Lord. The psalmist was envious of the wicked. While he suffered, they prospered. Being righteous did not seem to have any benefits, while being wicked seemed to offer everything: good health, wealth, and influence.

And then the pivot point of the Psalm:

16But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Being in the presence of God, the psalmist realizes that God does indeed bless the righteous and that the wicked will not always prosper. But here is the biggest revelation of the Psalm and what actually had me in tears today:

21When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.

24You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

So there it is. When we are brutish and beastly toward God, He is still lovingly holding us. He is our portion, our strength, our savior, and brings us into His glory. Amen!

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