Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Commentary

  • Psalm 119:115 – Leave!

    Psalm 119:115 – Leave!

    Leave me you evildoers
    that I may obey the commands of my God.

    Being harassed as you try to do good can be a problem. Both bad influences, those who by word or example lead you toward bad behavior, and bullies who try to pressure you into doing wrong are a reality. That’s what I think the Psalmist is saying here. “I want to follow God’s commands. If you’re not on that program, go away!”

    This reminds me of the very first verse in Psalms:

    Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of evildoers, nor does he stand in the way of sinners, nor does he sit in the seat of scornful people.

    Psalm 1:1 (my translation)

    And in that case too, the next line talks about the man’s delight in God’s law. Good advice, I think.

    But this made me think of another situation, one in which someone claims the wicked as an excuse, but is actually responsible. This is the person who wants to do something wrong and then finds an evildoer to use as an excuse.

    “But everyone is doing it” was an excuse many of us used in our youth. “How can I resist if I’m the only one?”

    As adults and even leaders, we often replace this with the excuse that other people, or the other “side” does certain things, so it’s OK for us. Sometimes this is presented as a necessity. In order to match those other guys, which I call the “infernal they,” we have to use the tactics or that they do. We’ll be weak and lose if we behave well.

    There’s a view of war that suggests that we really can’t fight a war without becoming more like our enemy. I suspect that is true. If you get into the fight, in which winning is important, you will often find yourself embracing tactics that you might have rejected at the start. The question is, I think, what happens to your soul in the process?

    Psalm 1 suggests a few things. Speaking of the blessing that results from not following the counsel of the wicked, the righteous person is compared to a tree planted by streams of water. “Whatever he does will prosper,” ends this blessing.

    “Not so the wicked,” the Psalm continues. Their description ends up with the opposite. “The way of the wicked will perish.” Following the temptation to become more like sinners in order to have success is predicted by the Psalmist to result in failure. I see the path coming to an end.

    How we do things matters. The process matters. We can ramrod an idea through our church council, pushing people around in order to get our way, but what does that do to the longer term work of the church. Henry Hazlitt, an economist, in his book Economics in One Lesson says that every error in economics results from looking at things over too short a period of time and/or too narrow a range (I paraphrase).

    The choice of destructive tactics may make you a winner in the short term, but in the long term, you, or more likely others, will pay.

    Keep away from me, evildoers. In fact, keep away from my mind. I don’t want to think about the success of evildoers nor to be tempted by their methods.

    What tactic tempts you that cannot be reconciled with godly living?

    (Featured image was created in Adobe Express using two separately generated images. The engine for image generation in Adobe Express is Firefly.)

  • Psalm 119:114 – Hope

    Psalm 119:114 – Hope

    You are my hiding place and my shield,
    In your word I place my hope.

    My meditations went today to the word hope. Hope is important. Hope is easy to lose.

    When the psalmist places his hope in God’s word, he is placing it not just in the law-giving power, but in the creative power that stands behind those laws and makes them real.

    For me, that comes down to the hope that comes from believing that the world is not pure chaos, that there are natural laws and that natural laws lead to many of our moral and ethical laws. We can work with the hope that good actions will tend to produce good results. It’s worthwhile to make an effort.

    In ancient near eastern mythology creation was often symbolized as a fight between chaos and whatever God was credited with establishing order. Order allowed planting and harvesting. It allowed building, growth, and provision for a future. Genesis 1:2 reflects this pattern with darkness over the face of the deep (tehom) and God’s spirit/wind moving above it.

    Then God’s Word comes, and light shines into the darkness. As God continues to speak order is created from the chaos. Because of that chaos, humanity can find a place to live, and grow, and yes, create, as one made in the image of the ultimate Creator.

    We sometimes see grace as working counter to this. We do not reap what we sow, but what another has sown. At the same time, grace speaks the same victory over the chaos, the same offering of potential. The one who planted a garden in Eden and there placed the first man and woman, also provides a way of escape for those caught in the chaos.

    The challenge is to find those small victories over the forces of chaos, to believe they are possible, to reach out for them, and receive them. God provides the hiding place and the shield.

    In the chaos that threatens your life today, remember the Word who has defeated it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:113 – Hate and Love

    Psalm 119:113 – Hate and Love

    Lawbreakers I hate,
    But your instruction I love!

    Well, now. That’s harsh!

    Commentary on verses uses “hate” and “love” often centers on explaining that these two words don’t always mean the same thing. For example, Malachi 1:2-3 includes the words “Jacob I love, but Esau I hate.” This again sounds pretty harsh, but commentators point out that the Hebrew words “love” and “hate” can mean something like “chosen” and “rejected,” even if that relates to selection for a role.

    That’s sort of correct, as long as people realize that “love” and “hate” in Hebrew also include the emotional preference and a range of meanings. And in case you’re trying to make “hate” too gentle in that particular instance, Malachi 1:4b says “They will be called a country of wickedness, a people with whom the LORD is angry for ever.” This is a fairly energetic form of rejection.

    Sometimes we’re looking for harsh. It brings clarity. The popularity of movies such as the early Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and a number of adventure movies show this by their popularity. What do these movies have in common? There are good guys and bad guys, and we know which is which. We also know that the bad guys lose and the good guys win. We like it to be that way.

    Then reality sets in. A reality in which the good guys and the bad guys overlap and sometimes change places, and we can’t always be sure who wins, at least in the short term.

    One reason we really like fiction that has a clear line between good and evil is that real life doesn’t generally work out that way. We are usually flawed people working with other flawed people and trying to make things work out reasonably well. We often can’t agree on what is good and evil.

    There’s a passage from one of my favorite Science Fiction writers, David Weber, in his book A Rising Thunder. Someone is looking at the difference between shades of gray and black and white (the long, tall niece in the passage sees more black and withe).

    “Well, usually, that’s what it is.” Benton-Ramirez y Chou’s tone was suddenly much more serious. “But sometimes it isn’t, and my long, tall niece here has a point.” He smiled a little sadly at Honor. “Comfortable or not, when those ‘sometimes’ come along, the only coinage history seems willing to accept is our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

    David Weber, A Rising Thunder (ePub Edition), 308.

    And that’s why we like fiction, like many of Weber’s books, where the lines are much more clearly drawn.

    I think it’s important, while recognizing our own faults and failings, to also realize that there are lines that we should not cross, things we should and should not do, and that we should be willing to back those lines with our emotions and actions.

    Sometimes “harsh” is also “true.”

    What lines are you facing? What lines might you need to draw?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:112 – I Choose

    Psalm 119:112 – I Choose

    I choose to keep your statutes
    absolutely forever.

    My meditations went in one direction and then I encountered a blog post that tangentially relates to this verse. I want to call attention to that and comment, and then I’ll return to what I was actually meditating on during the day and not just for the last 10 minutes!

    The article is on Crossway, and is titled Do the Psalms Contain Self-Righteous Boasting? (Psalms 7, 17, and 26). The article is extracted from the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 5. The article bounces a bit off of C. S. Lewis’s book Reflections on the Psalms, amongst other books. The key point is to challenge the idea that some Psalms are self-righteous. I recommend reading the article, but even more reading Lewis’s book.

    I bring this up to point out that there is no reason to assume that all the Psalms reflect perfect, theologically correct ideas. The Psalms tell us about the worship life of Israel, which was no more likely to be perfect in all ways than our own is. I would suggest that the most important error that the Psalms would need to avoid would be giving a false impression of the people who are praying, lamenting, praising, worshiping, and exhorting. I believe one of the greatest blessings of the Psalms is its reality.

    This doesn’t mean we can’t get valid theological points in the Psalms. The Psalms are much quoted in the New Testament, and have been a great blessing to many in different faiths over the years. I believe this value is enhanced by authenticity.

    This is something we should emulate in church leading and teaching. My own pastor comments most weeks about how he has to preach his own sermon to himself before preaching it to the congregation. That’s an attitude that I value, as I know him and I know this isn’t an act. This is what he believes and practices. He tells the congregation where he has failed during the week. This authenticity, rather than weakening the message as some might think, makes it much more effective.

    I think we all have a story in our lives of being falsely accused, and proclaiming our innocence. We like to tell stories of when that innocence was eventually proven. Realizing that we have failures doesn’t mean we can never claim to be right, either in beliefs or in practice. Realizing our failures means we know that we are not always right, and we can be corrected. But it’s quite possible to honestly pray, “Look, Lord, I didn’t do anything to deserve this! Avenge me! Make things right again!”

    Usually by the next morning we may realize that we have done more failing than we imagine, but nonetheless, we may well claim innocence, and claim to be the ones wronged, with some validity.

    And that leads me to what I was actually meditating during the day. No, comments on the number of words I expend on something I only considered for a few minutes are not welcome!!

    This verse states an intention that no human is likely to be able to accomplish. Keeping the whole law is a very difficult, even impossible thing to accomplish. But here’s where I look at perfectionism, and having high goals.

    Perfectionism requires one to try for a goal that is never to be accomplished. “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” There’s a reason for that. Two things often happen to a perfectionist. The first is that, being certain that perfection is required, whether by God or ones own mind, the person simply decides that whatever he does is, in fact, perfect. From that perspective, one can look down on other people, rejecting all possible evidence that one is not superior. That’s one form of self-righteousness.

    Alternatively, one may simply give up on trying at all. If perfection is required and I can’t attain it, why try at all? This results in carelessness and apathy.

    One can also set a goal somewhere between. “I have to be this good, but not perfect for it to be acceptable.” The problem with lowering the standard is that we tend to fall below whatever point to which we have set the standard. Then we keep lowering it to make it possible.

    Whether it is our own psychology at work or our belief in God’s requirements, any of these approaches can be very instructive. Failure to attain the standards we set for ourselves can attack our very identify.

    But both in Israelite religion and in Christianity you have a high standard for living, but at the same time the recognition that attaining this is not humanly possible. Even when he did not attain to perfection in keeping the law, the Israelite knew that he was still one of God’s people, God’s chosen. That was who he was.

    Now if you determine to keep God’s statutes forever, and plan to do it on your own, and judge yourself by your success at this enterprise, things will not go well. But once you find your identity in belonging to God, something which cannot be lost through your failures, you can make a determination, and keep right on pressing on the upward way.

    After all, as this Psalm concludes in verse 176, “I have one astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant ….” Then you can confidently determine again to stay on the path. God’s got it. God’s going to get you in the end!

    What should you determine to do today? What failures should you put behind you?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI. I particularly like the fact that it looks like the guy isn’t really connected to the mountain he’s climbing and should at any moment be falling with nothing to stop him.)

  • Psalm 119:111 – Inherited Testimony

    Psalm 119:111 – Inherited Testimony

    I have inherited your testimonies forever,
    for they are my heart’s joy.

    This is a very rich text, getting a great deal into a few words. But my meditations took a path that would have surprised me when I first took a look at this today.

    When I read this, my focus was on forever, and then I thought of the history of God’s testimonies and how I, as a Christian can claim them. One critical element, I believe, is claiming God’s heritage without denying it to those who first received it. This is a matter of attitude. It is also a matter of reading scripture. The theme of “blessed to be a blessing,” not to mention numerous texts in 2nd Isaiah (chapters 40-55) tell me that God’s blessing is not intended as a possession in the exclusive sense. At the same time, if I receive a blessing because of someone else’s efforts, it is rude of me not to acknowledge those who received it and transmitted it.

    That is, after all, how “testimony” works. One tells another, and the testimony is passed on. Psalm 78:1-8 (and the rest of the Psalm) is a powerful example of this, citing four generations of passing on the wonderful works of the LORD.

    I was in a study group the other night, and mentioned some of the things I remembered my parents doing that had formed my own faith. One of the members commented that it was frightening to think that 40 years from now someone might be mentioning the impact his parenting had on his children. It’s worth considering.

    But there’s another point. What if you fail to acknowledge those who have passed on faith, good habits, knowledge, and experience, and pretend that you did it all yourself? My parents made sacrifices so that I could be the person I became. They gave me that opportunity.

    I can read the Psalms because people in Israel recorded and preserved the text. But beyond that, I can enjoy the Psalms because Israelites, and then Jews, experienced life, often difficult life, and recorded their thoughts and their walk. They left something for their children, but also for the entire world. I need to acknowledge that.

    This heritage of knowledge, faith, and life experience is not a limited commodity. It’s not an economic good. It’s not in short supply. Unless. Critical unless. Unless we fail to acknowledge it and pass it on.

    So tonight I’m thankful to many in Israel and Judah, and Jews dispersed through the world, for the preservation of the history of faith from which so many can benefit. Often in the face of death, they held on, they kept the record, and provided an example to all.

    It’s your heritage forever. Thank you for telling me about it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:110 – Trap

    Psalm 119:110 – Trap

    The wicked have set a trap for me,
    but I have not veered from your precepts.

    A couple of famous Bible stories come to mind as I read this. The first is Samson and Delilah. Over and over she begs him for the secret of his strength, and each time she invites his enemies to attack. One wonders why Samson never figures out that it isn’t a good idea to tell her. Or perhaps he always knew it wasn’t a good idea, but let himself get led astray.

    The story, as odd as it may seem, deals with human nature. I mention frequently on my computer services blog that computer hacking is rarely like it’s presented in the movies. It’s usually based on human engineering. Early in my business I went to an office to repair a computer. When I got there I was pointed to the computer and the user went into another room. I sat down and got to work. I was nearly done when she got back.

    Suddenly she said, “Oh! I forgot to give you my password!”

    “I’m almost done,” I replied.

    “How?” she asked.

    I pointed at the sticky note on the wall just to the right of her monitor on which the password was prominently written. That surprised her a bit, but did not surprise me. It’s human nature. We talk about wanting security, but what we really want is convenience. We don’t want to go to the trouble of looking up our password in a book or in an encrypted file. So we take a shortcut.

    This leads me to an attack form called an “MFA Fatigue Attack.” When I first heard that name, I immediately loved it. It so speaks to the human nature issue. “MFA” is multi-factor authentication. Many of you will have been pressured to apply MFA to various of your accounts. I sincerely hope you have given in to this pressure, as it’s an important improvement in your security.

    But there’s a trick that the bad guys play, which is to ask you, often in a text, for your MFA code. Most people will ignore this request or refuse it the first time. But if the attacker keeps going, some users will give in from fatigue and send the code. Then the attacker can get into the account.

    This is a perfect example of the sort of thing that could be a trap in your life. You are asked over and over to do something. You know better, but just to get everyone to shut up, you go along. Usually it’s a bad idea. But you do it anyhow.

    The wicked (or just mischievous!) set a trap for you and you did veer from the proper path.

    Sometimes the consequences are severe.

    The other story this immediately reminded me of was Daniel 6, where officials in Babylon set a trap for Daniel. This one is more straightforward. Rather than wearing Daniel down over time, these officials took the head-on approach. They contrived to get a decree that would require Daniel to violate his commitment to his God.

    It’s worth noticing the trap that was set for Darius. That was an oblique attack, leveraging his pride and desire to be thought well of, indeed worshiped, to get him to make a decree that he might otherwise have realized was a bad idea.

    Daniel does not fall into the trap. He sticks to his path. The lions’ dinner is delayed and Daniel freed.

    It’s worth thinking about both kinds of trap. The confrontation that challenges our courage, or the “fatigue” trap which tests our focus and endurance.

    Be alert for all those traps!

    (Featured image credit: Delilah, betrayed Samson by revealing the secret of his strength to the Philistines for money By Daniel. Licensed from Adobe Stock.)

  • Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    My life is in my hands continually,
    yet I do not forget your instruction.

    What I’d like to say, and first thought about saying was that it might be better to say, “My life is in my hands, so I don’t forget that you, God, are in charge.”

    The fact is, however, that we need to remember God’s instruction(s). I want to emphasize, as always, that it is not on the basis of keeping up with God’s instructions that we become part of the family of God. But we have a need to make good decisions at all times, and the time when we are most likely to forget what we have learned from God’s instructions is when we are most at risk.

    This morning, Jody had a problem with her heart. It scared me. I got very tense. I had a hard time making decisions. I forgot to pray. Part of the time I forgot to think. And it wasn’t even one of the worst moments we’ve had over the last few years. Talking to a few people helped me settle down. Praying helped settle me down. (I frequently note that prayer is much more about changing me than about changing my circumstances.)

    Now Jody is fine, though I’m still a bit nervous. But it was precisely during that time when I’m watching numbers related to her health and thinking they’re not going where they’re supposed to that I need to remember God’s instructions.

    Now you may be wondering where in the Bible I find something about how to deal with pulse rates, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and such things. No, there is not a book of “Cardiac Care.” The idea is to find a way of thinking, a way in which I can process problems. I then need to apply that way of thinking to various problems.

    We talk a lot about breaking bad habits. I think we need to talk more about developing good habits. Good habits set you up to do the right thing when the wrong thing happens.

    I recall reading in Jacob Milgrom’s 3 volume (2200 pages!) commentary on Leviticus, that the Torah has clearly been written as a teaching tool. (I paraphrase from memory.) I didn’t really understand that until I took a group of Christian young people to visit a Synagogue for their Religious Education, which was on Sunday morning. A Rabbi talked to the young people I had brought together with theirs.

    On this occasion, he chose to talk about the command that is found in Exodus 34:26(b) and elsewhere, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” This refers, of course to a baby goat. Not quite as astonishing. But yet you may ask why such a law would exist.

    Well, in Judaism, the Rabbi told us, this was where the rules on eating meat and dairy products together came from. The young people were generally mystified. What good is this rule? Why should anyone keep such a law? What’s the purpose?

    The Rabbi explained that this is a rule that tells us we have a choice in what we do. We are not subject to our passions in all things. We can choose to live one way and not another. I deduce that you put this rule into practice in order to become accustomed to doing things according to rules, that you have a habit of following rules.

    I think that’s the point of remembering God’s Torah, or instruction. When it becomes a question of life or death, when decisions are coming at you faster than you can handle them, when you don’t know the way out you have a way in which you think of things.

    I was discussing a decision with a friend some years ago, looking at two courses of action. Both appeared acceptable, but I was uncertain which one to take. Then ethics took hold and I suddenly saw that one of the courses of action would likely lead to things I knew were wrong. I hadn’t seen certain consequences. Suddenly I knew. Only one choice was in accordance with God’s instruction.

    What instruction from God will guide you at a moment of decision?

  • Psalm 119:108 – A Freewill Offering

    Psalm 119:108 – A Freewill Offering

    Accept with pleasure the freewill offering of my mouth, LORD,
    and teach me your judgments.

    Most translations treat the “freewill offering of my mouth” as praise, though I note that the LXX translates it quite literary as “voluntary [gift] of my mouth.” I don’t say this is wrong. In fact, Psalm 119 itself can be seen as an offering of praise, offering thanks and praise to God for the various aspects of God’s word and law.

    But I think that a freewill offering of our mouths, and specifically what comes out of our mouths may be more than that. I’ve heard any number of preachers say that we’re willing to surrender everything to God, but we stop when it comes to our wallets. I think we stop before offering our speech, and by extension what we type, to God.

    Is everything you write the sort of thing you would think was good and left a positive record. I don’t refer to the vigorous presentation of opinions that are important to you. There are those who consider any sort of firm opinion as impolite. I’m not talking about firm. I’m not talking about strongly expressed. I’m talking about things we say that are harmful.

    • A group of church members in a Sunday School class run down their own church to a visitor
    • Mistaking the speaker for the day for a visitor, rather than a new member, a church member makes a litany of complaints about “this church” to which the visitor would surely not want to belong
    • A member of the church staff complains about other staff members in the hearing of people who are not responsible for dealing with staff issues
    • A shopper is rude to the person manning the checkout lane because they are in a hurry and mildly inconvenienced
    • A driver flips the bird at another driver whose driving skills are suboptimal
    • A parent yells at a child instead of correcting them firmly but kindly
    • We speak as if our disagreements in any area make another person less worthy of respect as a human being, created in the image of God
    • Because we believe someone is sinful, we fail to respect their full personhood as human beings and God’s children

    In 1 John 4 we read:

    Beloved, let us love one another,
    for love comes from God,
    and everyone who loves has been born of God
    and knows God.
    The one of does not love does not know God,
    because God is love.

    If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen is not able to love God, whom he has not seen.

    1 John 4:7-8,20, my translation

    Now how did I get to loving God and our fellow humans from a freewill offering from our mouth?

    I believe that lips expressing love will be giving the right kind of freewill offering, because God is love, and our love for God is shown by our love for one another. That offering will be determined by what is in your heart, “because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, my translation).

    What is going to come out of your mouth today?

    (Featured image credit: By Wattana, licensed from Adobe Stock.)

  • Psalm 119:107

    Psalm 119:107

    I’m weakened by so much trouble,
    Bring me back to life according to your Word.

    The Message manages a rather good translation of this verse, I think, expressing the feeling of the poetry well.

    Everything’s falling apart on me, GOD;
    put me together again with your Word.

    Psalm 119:107 (MSG)

    As I write this I feel the pressure of just keeping up. I am trying to keep a business going while being a caregiver for two people. In fact, “the pressure of keeping up” implies that I’m doing better than I am. I’m not keeping up. People who have expectations are very nice to me, and I’m grateful for that, but the feeling of not accomplishing what I think I should, what I expected to accomplish weighs on me.

    I don’t write this as a complaint. I complain to the Lord, as did the psalmist. I tell the Lord what’s wrong. Here I am, despite everything. In fact, objectively I can look at things that have improved. Objectively, I can compare my situation to others, and I know that there are those who have greater difficulties than I do. I pray that God will guide them.

    I feel every word of this verse. I use the word “weakened,” which is not used by most translations. It’s an option available as a translation of the word used here, often translated “afflicted.”

    What is one to do when faced with a situation in which one feels too weak to deal with things that are necessary?

    The answer comes in the second half of the verse. The one who created you is also the one who sustains you. That’s the only ultimate answer. There are many things that are done within that. I can never accept that it is right to skip one single thing that I actually can do. I don’t say, “Look, God, I quit. You do it.”

    But there’s the other side of that, and that is to recognize the point at which I have done what I can and have come to the point where I must stop and take time to rest and be restored.

    Pray today with me that God will identify clearly the stuff to do, but also, critically, the stuff not to do.

  • Psalm 119:106 – Determination

    Psalm 119:106 – Determination

    I have sworn and I will uphold it
    that I will keep your righteous judgments.

    Not everything in scripture is something you ought to do. Even if it’s written by a good person.

    Let’s consider for a moment Jephthah’s oath as he heads off to battle with the Ammonites. You’ll find the whole story in Judges 11. He promises to offer the first creature that comes out to meet him when he comes home as a whole offering to the Lord (verse 31). When he returns, he is first met by his daughter, his only child (vv. 34-35). It is possible that you shouldn’t follow the example of this rash oath.

    On the other hand, you might think a rash oath, or asking for a sign, or various similar things are always wrong. Then there’s the story of Abraham’s servant who was looking for a wife for Isaac. He asked for a sign in a way that I might question, but the Lord honored his request for that sign (Genesis 24:10-27).

    Now you might think I’m preparing to say that this verse represents a bad idea that we shouldn’t follow. How can a Christian who believes in grace and rejects any form of salvation by works accept a statement such as this. Shouldn’t I be finding a way around it?

    I do actually have a way around “it,” if by “it” you mean that this verse means our eternal salvation is tied to our ability to keep an oath such as this. But in this life we still live in a world in which you reap what you sow, and that’s if you’re fortunate or blessed. Frequently, you’re reaping what someone else has sown. I heard a tragic story today of a young man killed by a drunk driver. The driver sowed and the young man reaped.

    Grace, and with it the love of God and the fact that God views us as his children, tells me that we remain children of God, that God loves us and is near to us when things go terribly wrong, and we remain God’s children. Grace hasn’t abrogated the law of sowing and reaping. What it has done is tell us we remain in Christ. We belong to God.

    It’s a good thing to make choices. It’s a good thing to determine to do right, or just to do better than we have on something. Every morning I have a list of things I’m going to try to get done. My life right now is very unkind to schedules. I can’t really change that. So when I make a mental list of things I’m going to try to do, I know that I’m very likely not to have the time I am hoping for. But I don’t know that. So I try.

    If I got up in the morning and said, “I’m going to be interrupted so many times today that I won’t get anything done, so I might as well just not bother,” I’d get much less done than I do. The determination is important, even knowing that it’s not going to be fulfilled.

    Why don’t I leave some things off, so that I can feel better at the end of the day with more of my list checked off? Or maybe all checked off?

    Because as soon as I take my eye off the goal, I start falling back. I determine to do what might be possible of all goes well. When reality intervenes, I recognize reality and readjust the list. Well, that’s another determination. I determine to recognize reality, and that based on interruptions, I have to adjust. Accomplishing that is hard. I want all that stuff done.

    The psalmist is expressing his determination. He’s promising to do. Somewhere along the line, he, like the rest of us, likely didn’t keep up with that.

    When that sort of thing happens to you, you have two options. You can pick yourself back up and keep your eyes on the prize, no matter how distant it is, or you can be discouraged and decide not to bother. You can decide to bring the goal down to your level.

    The psalmist is giving an example of aiming high. He has an answer for those bad moments to. Spoiler alert! He ends the Psalm by saying he has gone astray like a lost sheep and asking God to seek him. That’s a knowledge of God’s grace.

    What will you make your goal today? When life intervenes, will you remember the God who seeks you?

    (Featured image credit: ID 337125867 | Ambulance Accident Scene ©
    Yaroslaf | Dreamstime.com)